Let’s Build Community Density

‘Community Density’ is a development which is designed for communities, with the spaces, housing types, services, and infrastructure that communities need. It’s not defined by scale but rather good design collaboration and placemaking, while creating an opportunity for the perception of high-rise buildings to be high quality placemaking.

Most importantly, it delivers for today’s and tomorrow’s residents, without being hamstrung by the concern that there isn’t the infrastructure to support the development.

In simple planning terms, ‘Community Density’ is guided by local authorities’ development expectations for a site, such as: roof garden, renewable energy, common hold, duplex and family apartments, underground parking, commercial, and service spaces. If the proposed development includes them all, therefore reflecting community needs, the project will be granted planning permission.

This will ensure that land, especially brownfield, is used to its fullest and placemaking is at the heart of the development process, thus giving local people confidence that projects are delivering for them.

For developers, who often require great levels of funding and considerable forward planning, it will not only create commercial certainty, but stop the perverse case where designs change many times to meet discretionary planning systems and then change again when it is realised that planning delays have made the agreed design unviable due to regulatory, material, and labour cost increases.

In many countries, density is embraced as a desirable way of living, with high-quality buildings and thriving communities. Unfortunately, in the UK, density is often associated with high rise, soulless blocks of flats where anti-social behaviour is created.

In the National Federation of Builders’ (NFB) ‘We Need to Talk About Community Density’, we explore how and why density works for communities, using examples of revered developments, such as the Allt-Erlaa in Austria which George Clarke often cites as a social housing success story. Or Eden Tower in Singapore, exampling what can be achieved on a limited sized plot.

We also investigate how community needs can be integrated into buildings old and new, thus challenging the flawed narrative that ‘dense means dull’.

Ironically, many people flock to dense developments on their holidays, returning home to tell friends “our hotel had it all, we didn’t need to leave,” And even in the UK, any tall building with a roof terrace is deemed ‘executive living’ when it’s just a positive design feature.

Well-designed density creates vibrant and thriving places that are a breeding ground for community, while staying true to the 15-minute cite concept by placing no limits on growth opportunities. If we plan to build up, particularly in our major cities, then doing so with ‘Community Density’ ensures we are not passing the housing and placemaking crisis onto the next generation and beyond by wasting valuable land.

It really is as simple as ensuring the planning system enables good design by giving developers confidence that if they deliver local needs, they get permission to build.

Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy and Market Insight, said:

“Community Density just makes sense for all. Overcrowding is tackled with bigger apartments, Rooftops are used for sports, commercial spaces and retail. Parking is retained underground. Affordable housing becomes more viable. A council can spread its needs across the area, using individual developments as a tool for placemaking. And developers can make design decisions based on planning certainty.

If we waste the chance to embed community density as a principle of delivery, the housing crisis in all its forms will continue into the next generation and beyond. Let’s stop fearing tall buildings and instead ensure they represent better places for people to live and thrive.”