15-minute London in 10 takeaways
The second event hosted by the Key Worker Homes Fund — ‘The answer is above our heads: the economy of location, liveability and longevity’ — sparked much-needed debate about the role of the 15-minute city in London, the future of airspace development, and how we deliver homes for key workers.
Here are our top ten takeaways:
#1 — Hundreds of thousands of homes mandated in the London Plan will exist in the airspace above municipal buildings.
- 80% of the city of 2050 already exists. Let’s make use of it wisely. This is our approach.
- Claire Bennie calculated the potential for 150,000 new homes in the airspace above London’s existing housing stock. That’s 4% of existing stock, or a whole ‘New Town in the sky’.
“We’re essentially adding a new town in London’s airspace.”
#2 — The 15-minute-city should be about making it possible for key workers to live close to where they work.
- 66% of you agreed:
“The perception of time and distance in London is relative to the energy of the individual. Key workers are engaged in jobs which are typically more exhausting and stressful, so the balance between energy and distance is critical [for these services].” — Attendee
#3 — Airspace development is quick and causes little disruption. Noone needs to move out, even temporarily.
- There is no need to decant people from their homes during the installation process. Drop us a line to ask about our community engagement practice.
#4 — MMC (Modern Methods of Construction) presents the best value and quality design.
- This is how we do it.
- MMC is widely accepted as the mainstream construction technique now.
#5 — Dense does not mean tall. Building upwards will not create a city of towers.
- Massing is proportionate. Skyroom’s approach is design-led. Scroll down here for an illustration of our approach or get in touch to find out more.
#6 — Enabling works reduce building maintenance and operational costs for landlord and tenants.
- Some believe that “many municipal buildings are better off being demolished”. We don’t. Skyroom has a #Retrofitfirst approach.
#7 — Airspace development unlocks value for landlords and returns tangible benefits to residents.
#8 — Newly built homes should actively service the city’s ecology and biodiversity ecosystems.
#9 — Lower land values for ‘airspace’ give Local Authorities and Housing Associations the agency to boost the ratio of genuinely affordable homes on their sites.
#10 — The power to prioritise key workers is in the hands of Local Authorities. We are calling for 1) councils to design or reintroduce specific planning policies to support key workers 2) councils and Housing Associations to push key workers up the priority ladder in allocating homes.
- Through the Key Worker Homes Fund, Skyroom is continuing to make the case for prioritising key workers.
- Public sector employers have been, and can be part of the solution once again. Access to recruitment and retention data would enable Local Authorities to respond to local needs.
- An overwhelming majority think key worker wellbeing is a mainstream issue:
