Housing secretary Michael Gove has signalled a major new emphasis on aesthetics in building design, declaring that he will step in to halt “ugly” housing developments.
Addressing the Centre for Policy Studies’ Margaret Thatcher Conference on Growth, Mr Gove attacked constructors for “using a restrictive pattern book with poor-quality materials”, adding that “the aesthetic quality of what they produce is both disappointing and also not in keeping with the high aesthetic standards that may already exist”.
New design codes will make it clear that firms can “secure planning permission if you build in a way that is consistent with those design codes,” while failure to do this will see the powers of government intervention being used.
Some may respond that it is little use if a new home looks good if it is likely to fall short when it comes to building air tests and other assessments, but nothing Mr Gove said signalled that such areas would be compromised. Moreover, it may be argued that the criticism of “poor quality materials” by the minister is directly relevant to the sound and air standards of buildings.
For all the rapid changes at the top this year, the government has held to a theme of wanting to improve building design standards. A review of the National Planning Policy Framework started in March and Mr Gove, who was briefly out of government after quitting Boris Johnson’s regime in its later days and being overlooked by Liz Truss, has now returned to the topic.
Indeed, last month he said only aesthetically pleasing new homes would be acceptable enough to established communities to prevent the kind of widespread objections that would stymie and ultimately thwart the 2019 Conservative manifesto pledge to raise house building to 300,000 a year.
The emphasis on aesthetics may find some quiet support in other high places. When he was the Prince of Wales, King Charles was a major critic of what he saw as unattractive architectural design, once famously calling the extension to the National Gallery a “monstrous carbuncle”, although he later rowed back on these comments.
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