Design Quality Under Pressure: Delivering Good Development In Today’s High-Density, High-Cost World

Housing delivery has become increasingly challenging. Rising development costs, together with increasing policy and regulatory requirements, are placing greater burden and risk on developers. At the same time, ambitious targets to address a national housing crisis are often pushing higher densities, creating tension between delivery and design quality. 

However, in many respects, design standards have continued to improve. Environmental performance and the quality of new homes are more closely regulated and scrutinised than they were a decade ago. The recently published National Planning Policy Framework also promotes a design-led approach, particularly when optimising site capacity. 

The question is: how can we achieve good-quality design while still delivering the homes we need? 

REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS ENCOURAGE PROVEN DESIGN SOLUTIONS 

The Building Safety Act and Gateway process encourage developers to favour proven, repeatable design solutions over more bespoke or context-led approaches. Known construction systems and standardised details offer the greatest chance of approval, reducing the time required to move through the planning process and achieve Gateway approval. 

Equally, changes to fire safety requirements have often necessitated fundamental redesigns. Schemes have been reconfigured around additional stair cores, lifts and other fire safety measures. In some cases, this has required overriding previous design solutions. 

There is therefore a risk that design quality becomes increasingly homogenised, with architectural expression and local distinctiveness shaped more heavily by regulatory certainty and approved technical solutions. 

HIGHER STANDARDS, CHANGING DEVELOPMENT MODELS 

This regulation and planning policy landscape has developed over the past decade to ensure homes deliver better environmental performance and a higher quality of life for residents.  

Design scrutiny has changed schemes in practical ways. Single-aspect north-facing homes, for example, have largely been designed out. Dual-aspect homes are widely encouraged, while expectations around internal space, daylight, sustainability and fire safety have all increased. 

At the same time, often as a response to these measures, the types of homes being delivered are evolving. Traditional residential schemes have become harder to make viable, while build-to-rent, purpose-built student accommodation and co-living have grown. While these models can often accommodate higher densities than traditional housing, they generally rely on achieving a critical mass to make schemes viable for developers and attractive to prospective residents. So, as design standards and development models evolve, managing scale and density in ways that achieve consent while maintaining quality is paramount. 

A GOOD HOME DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN A GOOD PLACE 

Design quality doesn’t stop at the front door. People experience development through the building as a whole, including relationships to other buildings, streets, public space and landscape design. For a house to be a home in a larger development, it needs to positively affect local character and the residents’ experience. 

As developments increase in size and complexity, there are greater opportunities to improve efficiency through standardisation. Repeating materials, forms and façade treatments across individual buildings and a portfolio of schemes can reduce costs, simplify construction and improve certainty. This approach brings both trade-offs and benefits. When handled poorly, it can make developments feel visually dominant and out of scale with their surroundings. When executed well, it can deliver attractive, innovative places at scale while controlling spend and managing developer risk. 

Central to success is ensuring there’s a clear vision for a place that draws on its local context, existing buildings and landscape features. Otherwise, the development may meet every technical standard without creating a convincing whole.  

CREATING LASTING VALUE THROUGH PLACEMAKING 

Placemaking is critical to the long-term success of high-density development. Schemes that create indistinct or poorly functioning places can quickly become obsolete, as was the case with many post-war housing estates. By contrast, our work on Kidbrooke Park Road North in Greenwich shows that high-density, 100% affordable housing can be combined with high-quality placemaking, sustainability and design excellence. Designed by HTA for Greenwich Council and Greenwich Builds, the scheme has been recognised with both the Mayor’s Prize at the NLA Awards and a Housing Design Award. 

Smithfield in Birmingham also illustrates this in practice. The £1.9 billion regeneration project will transform 17 hectares of Birmingham city centre, delivering more than 3,000 homes as part of a mixed-use neighbourhood. Working alongside masterplanners Prior+Partners, we provided heritage and townscape advice on proposals adjacent to Grade II* listed St Martin’s Church and the remains of the moated manor that formed the historic seat of the Lord of the Manor of Birmingham. 

Through extensive engagement with key stakeholders, including Birmingham City Council and Historic England, the site’s heritage assets became central to the masterplan. The principal public space reflects the historic form of the former moated manor, while the plot layout creates new views of St Martin’s Church. The scheme shows how large-scale, high-density development can accommodate substantial growth while reinforcing local identity, creating distinctive places and delivering lasting value for the city. 

QUALITY IS SHAPED BEFORE DESIGN BEGINS 

Having a clear vision is critical to delivery. Successful developments start with a clear understanding of who they are for and what they need to achieve. That clarity helps design teams distinguish between essential qualities and desirable additions, allowing investment to be focused where it will have the greatest impact.  

Schemes can and should incorporate methods of standardisation to improve efficiency and create more certainty in the delivery process. Equally, design should look to draw on the positive aspects of its surroundings to ensure it becomes embedded in the townscape.  

Establishing a strong understanding of planning and regulatory requirements, alongside the character and context of a place, at the outset creates time to explore alternatives and resolve tensions before they become costly constraints. In our experience, this reduces the risk of major redesign, improves confidence in the development strategy and focuses investment where it will create the most value. 

CHAMPIONING GREAT DESIGN, INSIDE AND OUT 

Good development can be delivered in today’s high-density, high-cost world. 

However, doing so requires a broader understanding of design quality. As standards for individual homes continue to improve, the quality of the wider place is becoming an equally important consideration. The most successful schemes recognise this early, balancing placemaking, design and strategic thinking with the commercial realities of viability and delivery.

As our Historic Environment and Townscape team marks its 20th anniversary, helping clients strike the right balance between cost efficiency and high-quality places remains as important as ever.