Re-building trust in newly built homes

The housing minister, Grant Shapps, has announced that this autumn a new competition will be open, giving communities a chance to design their own neighbourhoods. The government will receive help and design advice from Sir Terence Conran. The main aim is to increase people’s confidence in buying newly built houses, as according to polls, three-quarters of people would embrace more housing in their area if they knew it was better designed.

This is in close connection with another recent housing plan aimed at encouraging new builds and drawn up by Oliver Letwin, the prime minister’s head of policy, along with Grant Shapps and chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander. The plan stipulates lowering the proportion of affordable housing that private developers must include in large projects.

What the housing minister wants to prove by the autumn competition is that, “House builders can finally tackle the belief that new-builds are potential ‘homes from hell’, proving the pessimists wrong and clearly demonstrating how well-designed and built their properties really are.”

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