It is widely accepted that across the UK there is a housing shortage, so finding solutions to this is becoming increasingly important. Often proposals for housing are for out of town developments. However, for these new developments infrastructure, amenity and other community services are needed and have to be considered in the development proposals, all of which take time to come to fruition. Further, occupants of these new housing estates are more likely to need a car to access services, especially if there is no existing public transport, so the 20-minute neighbourhood idea (everything you need within 20 minute walk) has to be supported by out of town retail developments. This makes it harder for traditional high streets to succeed in difficult economic circumstances.
We've mentioned in previous posts that adapting traditional town centre buildings to provide residential accommodation is not a new idea and comes with the benefit of existing infrastructure and services being in place. A comment piece from the Architects Journal highlights the benefits of 'densification' to revive high streets.
Click the link below to access the article.
Could a solution to the housing crisis also save our high streets