Designer Wayne Hemingway talked to RICS in January about what's wrong with today's new houses.
When it comes to house-building, things are not moving at the pace that I would like to see. The present situation, where too few houses are being built to meet the demand, is bound to work in the favour of producing property below the standard that I think we deserve.
The public knows they are not being offered the best quality housing. Between 65% and 70% of house buyers prefer to buy second hand, and that is not just about taste.
A lot of people think, 'It's not for me. It's not the quality I want and it's not the ambience I want'. People are not daft, but they say, 'At least there's a good school nearby. At least I won't have to live with mum and dad, and I'll make some money in the future'. The fact that it's an investment clouds the issue.
We are building the same number of houses as in 1956, and the houses are smaller. If you actually work it out per square foot, we are building less than we did in the 1950s.
If you look at the number of houses being built since the 1950s, it is roughly the same, despite the fact that the population has risen substantially and we have three times the amount of inward migration as emigration.
When it comes to the £60 000 house, the concept of encouraging house-builders to work with designers to create something that is more sustainable and affordable is fantastic. However, to call them £60 000 houses is ridiculous because most of them will not be on sale for less than £200 000.
The main thing is that good designers are working with house-builders. I hope that the Richard Rogers link-up with George Wimpey results in happy people living there and Richard Rogers designing more houses.
