MIPIM 2017: Manchester is putting on a confident performance at this year’s event, writes John Badman, director, CallisonRTKL.
With plans for significant growth and a vision to be one of the top world cities by 2025, the city is confident but what’s most heartening is that it also has a clear plan.
At the “Housing the Metropolis” event this morning, talk was of housing and the rise of build to rent as a successful model for the future. The message was loud and clear that Manchester is leading the way at pushing developers to achieve the highest possible standards
As a pioneer of the build-to-rent model, Manchester has the opportunity to demonstrate how lazy designs and a “one-size-fits-all” approach is not the way to go and will not be tolerated – hence the publication of the landmark Manchester Residential Quality Guidance at the end of last year.
We can be much more creative in how we design homes in our towns and cities. Of course, we must provide homes for the workers, but not everyone who needs a home is in their mid-20s.
With an ageing population still in work, we need to provide homes for people at every stage in life. Needs are different as we grow older – let’s design with each generation in mind.
The over-65s have housing wealth of more than £1tn tied up in homes with no mortgage debt, with over half of this age group – some 3m households – living in homes that are bigger than they need and unsuited to their changing needs and lifestyles.
By designing better housing for older people – homes they want to live in – we can free up large family houses and create mobility across the housing market.
