9 December 2015
Council Leaders from across the UK have been urged to become ‘champions’ of self and custom build housing at a high-level Summit held at Downing Street today.
New research undertaken by the National Custom & Self Build Association (NaCSBA) has found that supportive Council Leaders can make a huge impact, and play a big role in helping to boost initiatives to enable more people, including those with low incomes, to build their own homes.
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At present about 10,000 homes are directly built or commissioned by people in the UK every year (roughly 8% of all new homes). In most other countries the proportion is nearer 50%. This is why there is strong backing to increase the number of opportunities here, and why the UK Government has committed to at least double the number of homes built this way by 2020.
The research and development team from NaCSBA has spent the last year looking at how other countries build much higher numbers of self and custom built homes, particularly more affordable homes. The research was funded by The Nationwide Foundation, an independent charitable funder that aims to create decent affordable housing for people in need. NaCSBA was given a grant to investigate how this form of housing could be developed to tackle the UK’s shortage of affordable homes.
One of the clearest lessons from the NaCSBA research team’s work is that political backing from senior Council Leaders can have a significant impact. For example, in the Netherlands a recent initiative that focuses on recruiting Council Leader champions has doubled the number of homes constructed this way in three years. Proactive support from the Mayors of Strasbourg, Berlin and Vienna has had a similar impact.
There is also strong evidence emerging across the UK. For example the most successful Right to Build ‘vanguard’ councils have proactive Council Leaders.
To help councils take forward their initiatives NaCSBA is today launching a comprehensive online ‘toolkit‘ that provides detailed technical advice on how local authorities can better support communities that want to build their own homes.
The Leaders attending today’s Summit heard from a number of senior politicians including the Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis MP and Richard Bacon MP, the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group that encourages this form of housing. The presenter of Channel 4’s Grand Designs, Kevin McCloud, also addressed the Summit, together with Lord Gary Porter, the chair of the Local Government Association.
Housing Minister, Brandon Lewis said: “We want to see custom and self build grow significantly and believe it can play a role in helping deliver the homes people want to meet their aspirations of home ownership.
“We are determined to increase housing supply and I want to thank NaCSBA for assembling their Toolkit and the Nationwide Foundation for supporting its research programme.
“And the vanguard councils have shown the important role local authorities play in helping double the number of custom build and self build homes by 2020 – so anyone who wishes to design their dream house can do so.”
Mr Lewis also said that he was willing to look at the idea of recruiting a custom and self build taskforce to work with planning and housing teams and help realise more custom and self build projects.
Richard Bacon MP said: “People are attracted to building or commissioning a home because it enables them to get a tailor-made property that exactly matches their needs. Self build and custom build homes are often much more affordable too. We need to build more housing in the UK and self and custom build homes can play a significant part in this.
“The Summit will demonstrate to councillors that self build offers greater choice to local people and that projects can be done at a large scale as an excellent way of addressing local housing needs. I look forward to our discussions and I am very grateful to the Prime Minister for hosting this event in Downing Street.”
Lord Porter, LGA Chairman said: “Self build and custom build both provide routes into home ownership for individuals and groups and have a part to play in solving the housing crisis.
“A strong market for custom and self build is good for local economies and councils across the country are taking action to encourage custom and self build housing in order to kick start growth and meet local housing needs. This includes making their own land available, requiring a percentage of new development sites to be custom and self build and offering financial and technical support to bring forward serviced plots.
“Driving the custom and self build agenda forward is best achieved through strong political and managerial leadership at a local level and through sharing best practice across local government.”
Mario Wolf on behalf of NaCSBA said: “We’ve witnessed first-hand how important local leadership is to get initiatives off the ground. If all Leaders were as proactive as the best we would easily double the number of self and custom homes in this country.
“The Custom and Self Build Toolkit that we are launching today has been a year in the making and responds to what our councils have asked for. It offers advice on a range of issues and showcases scores of excellent international and UK examples to illustrate what can be achieved. I’ve been encouraged by the enthusiasm of many of the UK councils we have spoken to as part of our work, and I believe the Toolkit will help them in their work.”
Kevin McCloud MBE, Chair of HAB Housing and presenter of Channel 4’s ‘Grand Designs’ said: “It’s vital the self and custom build sector in the UK learns from international best practice. Most European countries build many more homes this way and have developed innovative processes for facilitating a wide range of opportunities – from modestly priced, ready-to-go serviced plots through to large urban apartment blocks commissioned collectively by groups of self builders. Many of these homes are more economical to build, they are nearly all constructed to very high energy standards, and they provide a diverse range of tailor-made homes to match the precise needs of their occupants.
“The new Toolkit will help councils in the UK understand the numerous ways they can facilitate more opportunities here too. It will also be invaluable to housing associations, communities that want to build together and to small builders and developers that are keen to support this emerging sector.”
