In an attempt to tackle the UK’s housing shortage, an important new government policy – The New Homes Bonus – has been drawn up to reward local councils each time a new home is built.  The rewards, based on the council tax band of individual properties, offer monetary bonuses for each of the first six years the property is occupied.

According to the government, “The New Homes Bonus addresses the disincentive within the local government finance system for local areas to welcome growth. Until now, increased housing in communities has meant increased strain on public services and reduced amenities. The New Homes Bonus will remove this disincentive by providing local authorities with the means to mitigate the strain the increased population causes. This will ensure that the economic benefits of growth are returned to the local authorities and communities where growth takes place.”

The premise is ostensibly good, however, as today’s Channel 4 news Fact Check report reveals, there is a problem: the scheme will disproportionately benefit affluent areas such as Surrey where there is a greater demand for high-cost ‘larger executive homes’.   In turn, local councils in more deprived areas in the North of the country and in London boroughs such as Hackney, will receive a lesser amount of ‘bonus’ money to fund vital public services.

Government subsidies will offer local councils in areas such as Waverly and St Albans an average of £1,567 per new build; however councils in poorer areas such as Liverpool, Tower Hamlets and Hackney will receive an average of £1,268. 

As Cathy Newman explains, “linking the New Homes Bonus to council tax is flawed”.  Rather than focus on meeting demands for affordable homes and social housing; the scheme rewards those councils that provide high-cost accommodation for already affluent areas with a higher monetary incentive.  As outlined in the Channel 4 News report, the policy has already received criticism from communities and organisations who are worried that the scheme will discourage the building of new flats and social housing developments in poorer areas, as the financial return will be an average of 26% less.  As well as this, the scheme will perversely favour the construction of executive housing and exacerbate the north-south divide, according to housing experts. (Jamie Doward, The Guardian, 27 February 2011)

Anyone who has ever been to Redchurch Street will be shocked to see LondonNewcastle’s ‘regeneration’ proposals. Follow the links below to see their ‘design-orientated’ plans to monopolise the skyline of an area characterised by low-rise buildings, independent retail and market stalls. The company’s high-rise, mixed-use development would be sorely out of place and has been met with a mixture of ridicule, disgust and disbelief by local campaigners such as open-shoreditch.

http://www.londonewcastle.co.uk/#/developments/future/huntingdon-shoreditch

http://www.huntingdonestate.co.uk/

“OPEN Shoreditch member Jago Action Group is taking up arms against the gross over development of the Huntingdon Estate, the light industrial estate bordered by Bethnal Green Road and Redchurch Street, next to the Tea building. Developers Londonnewcastle are so passionate about the neighbourhood that they want to bless this low-rise mixed residential quarter with a 25-storey tower block.

In a cynical bid to buy off Tower Hamlets development committee, Londonnewcastle proposes to build affordable housing squidged between two busy railway lines half a mile from the gleaming tower block. The ‘fact’ sheet issued in support of the development application omits just one really crucial fact: the Huntingdon Estate application is for a 25-story tower block. And neither do the pictures tell the real story, as only eight floors of the proposed tower can be seen.

In a covering email, the developers claim to be ‘tremendously passionate about the location, the area and it’s possibilities…’ There’s no doubting their passion – to dig themselves out of the large hole in their balance sheet, as a result of taking an option on the site at the height of the property boom. Faced with a site cost of double what’s it’s currently worth, Londonnewcastle is desperately trying to claw back potential losses by bequeathing the neighbourhood a monument to its folly.”

 Above excerpt quoted from the article ‘ditch The Block’ – http://open-shoreditch.blogspot.com/

Design and Media Communication Meeting Report

Development of NEOgate, Design Code, Visual Communication and Target Group Analysis

17. May 2011, New Cross, London

The human being has a “need” to accumulate and forget, as well as a need, whether simultaneous or successive, satisfaction and dissatisfaction, disequilibrium, discovery and creation, work and play, speech and silence. ______ Henri Lefebvre, UrbanRevolution

After discussing Henri Lefebvre’s Urban Revolution we realized that we were particularly drawn to his idea of spatial dialectic. From this concept we gained a specific understanding of a possible production of space, which inspired our plan and visual communication for the NEOgate development. According to Lefebvre, space is not merely a social practice, but a product with economic value. With this in mind we started planning the development, which deliberately embodies spatial dialectics, in order to meet the desires and needs of a particular target group. The name of our target group ‘bohemian bourgeoisie’ already implies that their lifestyle and attitude is based on a dialectic approach. Our next step was an analysis of our target group and its position in the economic market. During our phase of research we looked at upcoming and fashionable areas in London and noticed in how far creative communities can function as a catalysator for urban regeneration. Artists and other creatives are often forced to move into poorer areas of a city in order to afford accommodation and living. Creative communities have the potential to turn their local environments into new, exciting and desirable places of living. Particularly members of the ‘Bohemian Bourgeousie’ are attracted to artistic milieus, because they aspire to be seen as creative individuals. With the “Bobo’s” comes the capital, which raises the economic value of the area. Inspired by this observation we developed the NEOgate concept, which is based on the idea of the fabrication of an ‘artistic mileu’ to attract potential investors. One of our unique selling points would be that we are offering a dialectical space, which fulfills our target group’s demands. Through the Design Code, we present NEOgate as a development with a homogenous and yet heterogeneous character. One that is not so much informed by the history of the area but one that provides for an adventurous and safe u-topic experience. The masterplan will set out a vision; a vision where profit and luxury come first and where democracy, freedom and governance are a priority. A sustainable and thriving artist lead community will be demonstrated in all its manifestations built on five principles:

1.Economic Wealth

2. Focusing on image, consumerism, and lifestyle

3. Movement and Flow

4. Environment

5. Governance

During our research we focused on two different types of real estate development: NeoBankside and Heygate Real Estate. The word-play NEOgate highlights the idea that the area between Elephant and Castle and NeoBankside (Tate Modern) will form a new and exciting cultural quarter in South Side of the river Themes. The NEOgate logo refers to both the NeoBankside and Lefebvre’s work Urban Revolution. For the NEOgate’s visuals (which include language) come in form of artist’s impressions, we once more made use of Lefebvre’s spatial dialectics.