House Builders By Royal Appointment
An unexpected alliance between house builders and the Prince Charles-sponsored Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment was announced this week that sees most of the industry’s big names queuing up to have their developments officially ‘recognised’ by the foundation as meeting its traditional design principles.
The Home Builders Federation said it had entered into a joint commitment with the foundation to promote design principles pioneered at the Prince’s Poundbury development and would be working to promote these principles among mainstream house builders.
Most of the biggest names in housing – Barratt, Bovis, Bellway, Redrow, Persimmon, Bryant, Berkeley and others – featured on the first recognised list of 11 schemes this week, with locations as varied as London’s Swiss Cottage and a retirement scheme in Cupar in Fife.
Hank Dittmar, chief executive of the foundation, explained that the recognition of these schemes amounted to the setting of a benchmark for the best of UK housing design. A statement from the Foundation added that this benchmark would form the basis of an industry-wide programme of design education to be delivered through the Home Builders Federation – you have been warned.
[RIBA Practice Bulletin No. 383]
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