As we become ever more design-savvy about the form and function of our homes,
Britain's volume housebuilders - particularly suburban developers - have
largely responded by... well, hardly upping the ante at all. Up and down the
country, from Caithness to Cornwall, vast estates of so-called “Noddy
houses” continue to appear in defiance of the landscape and local
architectural traditions.
Yet there also appears to be a small new breed of houses built by volume
developers that are arresting to look at, well-designed and more
sustainable. One of these is Princess Gate, a development of 17 two-storey
houses and six flats on the site of the former Princess Margaret Rose
Hospital on the outskirts of Edinburgh, which has so far garnered the
Building of the Year at this year's Edinburgh Architectural Association
Awards, as well as being the first volume housing development to appear on
the Best Building in Scotland 2007 shortlist for the RIAS Andrew Doolan
Award.
One of the key catalysts for the evolution of this atypical development is the
insistence by planners that any new building on the site - which was bought
by Taylor Woodrow - should have ambitions to achieve the same quality as its
predecessor, a listed, modernist orthopaedic wing by Morris and Steedman
Architects.
As a result, the developers appointed Malcolm Fraser Architects to not only
come up with an aspirational scheme but also one that would get through
planning.
“Being a site with a listed building on it gave us a certain amount of freedom
and to its enormous credit the developers went with that,” says Malcolm
Fraser. “Taylor Woodrow was very good to work with and we're very happy with
the result.”
So, what sets Princess Gate apart from its clone-home contemporaries? For
starters, the development responds directly to its gentle, south-facing
sloping site with views of the Pentland Hills. The houses are ranged in a
series of short terraces stepping down the slope, allowing sunlight in and
views out to the south. In the upper terraces, the principal living spaces
sit on the first floors, to catch the view and all of the sun; while in the
lowest terraces, ground-floor living spaces have the uninterrupted view.
Inside, the houses are organised around a lightwell and open stair, which
draws light and people through the homes, and off which the rooms are
organised.
All the terraced homes have south-facing gardens with primary or secondary
“family-room” living spaces opening on to them. The houses are also
organised around a series of short courts that each resemble a mews.
Finally, at the top of the site, a three-storey block of flats is set
against the existing belt of Scots pine trees, while at the foot of the site
is a shared green.
“It's my plan never to move,” admits Carol Sinclair, who lives in one of the
three-bedroom terraced houses with her husband, Cameron Wilson, and their
daughter, Christie. “In fact, there's still a sense of excitement about
living here among all the residents. We had a communal barbecue on bonfire
night and everyone was saying how much they love living here. One of my
neighbours even said that she felt like she was on holiday - it's such a
relaxing place to live in.”
Before moving to Princess Gate, Sinclair and her family had lived in a new
volume-built home in Livingston. “It was a detached house with a reasonable
garden - all the things you think you want in a house - but the reality was
that the rooms were small. Looking back, I think it actually dampened my
spirit,” says Sinclair.
“Cameron's an architect and he had clocked there was this interesting
development, so we went to have a look. We initially visited the Princess
Gate show house last thing on a Friday afternoon and I thought, ‘my God,
this is fantastic'. So we arrived the next morning at 9am with our
chequebook and reserved the plot with the best view of the Pentlands.”
Sinclair and Wilson clearly have no regrets about their £372,000 investment.
“I forgot how fundamentally important it is to be connected to the outdoors
and to have light. Light is so good for the soul,” says Sinclair. “The light
just spills through as there's a big skylight across the stairwell; and with
the south-facing windows there's a real connection to the outside world. It
has a great, open-plan design, relatively high ceilings for a new build and
the finishes are beautiful too, with high-quality materials. I feel like a
gushing, blushing bride when I talk about it.”
Sinclair is not the only one who has been enchanted by her new domestic deal.
“It's everything we had hoped for,” says Jan Ferguson of the four-bedroom
house that she shares with her husband, Bruce Vernon, and their two young
children. “It's a very easy house to live in because the design has been so
well thought out. Every last inch of space has been thought about and
maximised - there's no wasted space.”
Ferguson and her family had previously lived in a nearby detached 1930s house,
but it wasn't long before she became distracted by the unusual development
happening along the road. “The early development on the site was very
traditional volume houses and I just wouldn't pay the money for them,” says
Ferguson.
“But at the end I saw something different going up and was intrigued. I popped
into the sales office and was shown a scale model. As soon as I saw the
model, I had a gut feeling that I wanted this house. I loved the layout and
the open plan. It was an emotional decision to buy off-plan, not one based
on what type of investment or return we'd make.”
“For what we got for our £395,000, I think it's great value for money,” says
Ferguson. “Our home has the main living area downstairs and I'm so glad
because with small children having all the public areas downstairs is so
much easier. Upstairs we do have a small reception room and we currently use
that as a playroom. That's the great thing about these houses, they're so
flexible. You can make the spaces exactly what you want.
“It has converted me to living in a contemporary house,” she admits. “I had
never heard of Malcolm Fraser at the time and we bought it purely based on
the fact that we loved it. I think there's a huge market for houses like
these; developers just aren't brave enough. All our families and friends
think our house is incredible, and when you talk to anyone living here - and
there are young couples, a retired couple, families with children - nobody
has a bad word to say about it.”
Fraser himself is also convinced that developments like Princess Gate make a
lot of sense, not only for a discerning market, but also for developers. “I
think people are way, way ahead in wanting the simplicities of good design
over the traditional, standard suburban boxes,” he says.
“But there is an assumption that good design costs and it's deeply ingrained.
It's taken a long time for even our clients to see that the sites we've
designed for them have performed very well on the market - albeit that
they've marked them as risky and perhaps haven't pursued as high a price for
them as they might otherwise have. The first property to be resold on this
development made an uplift of £78,000 after only 10 months.
“What I find frustrating is that there's money to be made,” says the
architect. “The density of this development is twice that of the adjacent
standard housing boxes, so the developers make more money per hectare of
land they develop - and it's more sustainable because there are more people
living together. If volume housebuilders with architects like us can achieve
density with amenities - amenity of sunshine and shared space and communal
facilities - then they can make more money doing that and use less of the
greenbelt in doing it.
“Developments like Princess Gate are not the norm, but they should be, because
they deliver the government's housing agenda, create happier communities and
make developers more money.”
“Hopefully, the more we can show that these developments make money, the more
the market will relax and the more volume housebuilders will do it.” Here's
hoping.
