The private sector can help to realise urban regeneration – if attitudes change. Elaine Cavanagh reports from the EG/Taylor Woodrow round table
Greenwich Millennium Village – centrepiece of the Greenwich Peninsula regeneration project – was the apt setting for the Estates Gazette/Taylor Woodrow Property Co round table debate, which set out to explore the issue of how to bring new life to derelict urban landscapes. Unsurprisingly, the wish list for regeneration was topped by cash, both to aid regeneration directly and to adequately fund the necessary stimuli – primarily a comprehensive masterplan.
The guest list for the event comprised senior level professionals from the worlds of development, research, architecture and agency.
Having made their way past the cranes and hard-hatted workforce that symbolise the new life being brought to the one-time wasteland of the famous Thames loop, they were champing at the bit to discover whether the same vision could be turned into reality elsewhere.
The event was chaired jointly by Alasdair Nicholls of Taylor Woodrow Capital Developments and Lawrence Higgins of Estates Gazette. Also attending were: Ralph Luck of English Partnerships – the force behind the Greenwich Peninsula project; Graeme Tully of Drivers Jonas; Ken Bartlett, adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation; Alex Lifschutz of Lifschutz Davidson; Katie Kopec of Jones Lang LaSalle; Ricky Burdett of the London School of Economics; and David Tannahill of the Peabody Trust.
Can the private sector deliver?
A series of points were up for discussion, the first of which brought the debate very close to home. Taking the Greenwich Millennium Village as an example, the panel was asked, could or would the private sector deliver the government’s vision for urban regeneration – from the perspectives of design, social mix, physical content – and what was the ideal?
Taylor Woodrow’s Alasdair Nicholls kicked off the discussion with a clear declaration. “Yes we can do it,” he said. However, there was a qualification: “It depends upon a change of attitude by all those involved in property and development.”
EP’s Ralph Luck took a different view, tantalising his audience with the opening words: “Perhaps I can play semi-devil’s advocate.”
He continued: “There is a school of thought that says traditionally, the housing developer designs houses for the individuals. But they are not actually thinking about how those people living there will work as a community, how they will interact.
“We find the housing developer is not interested in providing the commercial element and other services until the development is there and they can achieve the rates they need. Should they not be looking at it the other way round?” he asked.
There had to be “chimney pots” in place first, responded Nicholls, who added that there needed to be a shift in the skill basis in order to accommodate early construction of specialised facilities.
Alex Lifschutz, who has been involved in luminary regeneration projects such as Coin Street on London’s South Bank, cautioned: “Even if we reached that stage, there is the question of ‘are builders developing the right houses?’ to be addressed.
Traditional housing developers do not seem to understand the market, even before you get to issues of lifestyles. “And there are not many good housing schemes done by traditional house developers,” he said, swiftly adding: “Greenwich Millennium Village is not a typical scheme in any way.”
Move away from little boxes
JLL’s Katie Kopec pointed out that plans for the village had changed, explaining that, when it was first envisaged, “there were lots of little boxes involved”.
“It was very different from what is being built today. There has been recognition that in today’s market people are prepared to live in something much more urban, much more dense. Thoughts of leafy suburbs have gone.
“If you are going to regenerate a city you must give a rebirth of the city,” she said, warning, however, that that needed time. “You cannot change these things overnight. Regeneration is a long-term process.”
Nicholls agreed: “You must have vision. The Peninsula has vision and, at the moment, people are being asked to commit to something that isn’t there.”
Joseph Rowntree’s Ken Bartlett expressed some concern about the ability of the Peninsula to merge with the rest of London. He compared the project with a town in Germany where redevelopment of a former factory site had begun in 1991. But, despite its newness, the mixed development – carried out by subsidised private housing builders – looked as if it had been a part of the landscape for several decades.
He felt that, judging by the Rogers Report “wish list”, that had not yet happened – even in areas where there was a strong lead on CPOs. “I’m involved at the moment in Tower Hamlets – and working on CPOs that will take about 18 months, despite the fact that everyone agrees they should happen.”
LSE’s Ricky Burdett said his answer to the question of whether the private sector could or would deliver the government’s vision for urban regeneration would be “no”. “Lifestyle changes are not reflected in the design style of housing,” he said. Change needed to be discussed and articulated and turned into a product.
Lifschutz responded: “I’m not sure it needs cultural change – it needs influence from abroad because, if you cannot do it, someone else needs to come in and do it.”
Bartlett described some examples of innovation from home and abroad – these included ING, Rowntree and Norwich Union. And Drivers Jonas’ Graeme Tully highlighted a Railtrack project at Brighton railway station, which fitted the model that was being championed at the round table.
Burdett responded: “Peabody and Rowntree are great. But we are years behind Holland in this area.” He added that an enormous amount of effort and investment was needed – channelled through the likes of the RDAs.
Profit – and the North and South’s respective abilities to deliver one – came under the spotlight. Lifschutz believed that most housebuilders would continue to build one product if they made a profit from that – and that if they owned large landbanks, other people would be prevented from getting into the market.
Peabody’s David Tannahill contrasted this with the Dutch system whereby land was released on a strategic basis.
EP’s Luck asked for the debate to be shifted away from London. His organisation, he said, was now working on schemes in the northern coalfields – and that meant deciding what was right for the area and for the community.
“We know there are issues of density that have to be addressed. To attract certain people we have to build three- and four-bedroom houses. We have to get the balance right,” he explained.
Potential of deprived areas
In deprived areas, there needed to be an understanding of what the private sector would get from a project, he added – and the process needed a structured approach.
The South East did, nevertheless, have its own areas that were in need of regeneration, said Luck – one being the Medway Towns. However, bad luck there had turned out to be something of a blessing in disguise.
“The local economic development officer was criticised when he suggested that the closure of the Dockyard and some of the MOD premises was the best thing that ever happened to the area. But, in fact, he was absolutely right because it meant the area diversified instead of relying on two markets.”
JLL’s Kopec, meanwhile, highlighted work in Ravenscraig near Glasgow, where the future of the former steelworks is under consideration. “What the area is crying out for is housing of all types,” she said. “We need to consider how we can turn the area into a new town.”
She said there was a need to build in the commercial side that would “make the glue”.
Lifschutz said it was important to build a holistic picture and understand how repopulating an area would affect it.
Nicholls agreed: “It comes back to someone having an overview rather than a piecemeal approach. Without that you will not get the integration of uses.”
The debate moved on to the role of long-term regeneration – something generally seen as important. But Peabody’s Tannahill said: “There is no long-term vehicle within the private sector with which to develop sites such as the Greenwich Peninsula.
“One private developer involved in another site has made it clear that its aim is to get in and get out. That is not compatible with long-term regeneration.”
JLL’s Kopec also highlighted the issue of investment and said there was a need to educate the funding institutions.
“We need to get more people investing in mixed-use developments and iron out some of the uncertainties that surround them,” she said.
Lifschutz suggested that introducing a rental market might make mixed-use regeneration developments more attractive to long-term institutional investors.
Part of the success of many European examples of regeneration development, according to Burdett, lay in the definition of “long term”. Drivers Jonas’ Tully, however, believed mixed-use developments in the UK were also becoming more acceptable to investors.
Providing the type of housing that would appeal to potential residents also meant overcoming planning hurdles. Burdett said government intervention through demonstration projects was needed – such as the Millennium Village showhouses.
But Tully responded: “At the end of the day, demonstration projects have to get planning permission and there is a lack of skills within local authorities in terms of dealing with such projects.” Taylor Woodrow’s Nicholls illustrated the point. “We come across this again and again,” he said. “We cannot build a scheme that we believe is big and bold.”
And there was another problem – local authorities frequently do not have the cash, said Tully, to be able to produce a masterplan – the nature of which enabled the Greenwich Millennium Village to turn from vision to reality. Tully suggested this was a role in which the RDAs could assist.
EP’s Luck also stressed the importance of a masterplan. “It’s more important than the external envelope,” he said. But, added JLL’s Kopec: “A masterplan has to have commercial reality.”
Tully highlighted the additional problem of land assembly, saying that this was a major issue that had not been fully grasped.
However, Bartlett said examples were emerging of a collective approach of a different kind – but similarly aimed at encouraging urban regeneration. He said some property owners in the WC2 area of London recognised they could not invest in an area that had declined. They had realised that, together, they could press for improvement.
“There have been a number of examples of this,” explained Bartlett, citing Paddington Basin and Coventry Street as well. “These groups – a combination of the public and private sector – can put pressure on local authorities to do something about the decline.”
Finally, the discussion panel turned its attention to the White Paper and the Urban Task Force and addressed the issue of whether they would give public-private sector projects real teeth.
Tully believed that there would be no shortage of policy-making, but the big question was, “where would the money come from?”. Although SRB funding was available, other sources had been lost.
“There is a need for another opening of a door to match private funding,” he declared.
And EP’s Luck suggested that the private sector should be allowed to put more money into infrastructure.
Burdett said that one thing the Urban Task Force had achieved was the linking of urban regeneration to social, fiscal and commercial issues. But he questioned what would happen in situations where local authorities were unco-operative.
“What are the instruments that we could use to hit them with?” he asked. “We all love the idea of high-density development, but what are the real bars, the real constraints?”
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“In today’s market people are prepared to live in something much more urban, much more dense. Thoughts of leafy suburbs have gone” Katie Kopec, Jones Lang LaSalle European director – in charge of King’s Cross regeneration for JLL |
“You must have vision. The Peninsula has vision and, at the moment, people are being asked to commit to something that isn’t there” Alasdair Nicholls, Taylor Woodrow Capital Developments – development partner with Countryside on Millennium Village |
“I’m involved at the moment in Tower Hamlets – and working on CPOs that will take about 18 months, despite the fact that everyone agrees they should happen” Ken Bartlett, adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation |
“Issues of density have to be addressed. To attract certain people we have to build three- and four-bedroom houses. Ralph Luck, English Partnerships’ Greenwich director |
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“One private developer involved in another site has made it clear that its aim is to get in and get out. That is not compatible with long-term regeneration” David Tannahill, Peabody Trust |
“At the end of the day, demonstration projects have to get planning permission and there is a lack of skills within local authorities in terms of dealing with such projects” Graeme Tully, head of local authority team at Drivers Jonas |
“Traditional housing developers do not seem to understand the market, even before you get to issues of lifestyles. And there are not many good housing schemes done by traditional house developers” Alex Lifschutz, Lifschutz Davidson |
“What could we hit them with? We all love the idea of high-density development, but what are the real bars, the real constraints?” Ricky Burdett, chair of cities, architecture and engineering at LSE and member of the government’s Urban Task Force |
