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      • Why we hate the creeping suburbs

        Dec 2021
        Developers, Development, Housebuilders, Housing, Undesirable Housing
        This is the second ‘Barrattification of Britain’ article which set HemingwayDesign off on its now two-decade long urban design and housing adventure. It was the Barratification and Wimpeyfication of Britain tirades that resulted in Wayne Hemingway being asked to appear on Newsnight in a debate with national housebuilders. Immediately after that we were approached by […]
      • Right now cities are devalued. But never waste a crisis, this is a time to secure their future liveability

        Oct 2020
        Affordable Housing, Architecture, Britain, City, Developers, Economy, Housebuilders, Housing, Masterplanning, Retail, Urban Design
        On Covid and the future of cities When I moved to London in 1979 the population was 6.75 million. England’s capital city had experienced a decline from 8.9 million over 4 decades (see graph here). A heady cocktail of air pollution (there was even a song called A Foggy Day (In London Town), by Gershwin […]
      • Boris Johnson must resist the urge to build, build, build back the same

        Jul 2020
        Developers, Development, Government, Housebuilders, Housing, Masterplanning, Politics, Urban Design
        A response to Boris Johnson’s “Build Build Build” mantra My (increasingly bushy) eyebrows raised somewhat last week when Boris Johnson stood in front of his podium with his latest three worder “build, build, build” and his promise to cut red tape around infrastructure – and raised even further when the chancellor promised to cut stamp […]
      • Wayne talks housing on Radio 5

        Jul 2019
        Affordable Housing, Architecture, Britain, Developers, Development, Housebuilders, Housing, Masterplanning, Purpose, Regeneration, Undesirable Housing, Urban Design
        Did you know that twice as much land in the UK is given to golf courses as to housing? Wayne went on Wake Up To Money on BBC Radio 5 Live in July 2019 to talk about the state of housing in Britain, and what we can do to improve communities in the future. You […]
      • Smaller homes make developers rich – but they are shrinking our lives

        Aug 2018
        Developers, Development, Housebuilders, Housing, Masterplanning, Urban Design
        The UK builds some of the smallest homes in Europe and this greed must be stopped in its tracks. The average house has lost 20% of its space since the 1970s as austerity warps planning processes and greed rules the market. On any given week, if you can bear to look, you’ll see dispiriting news […]
      • Regeneration… aided by visionaries

        Aug 2018
        Coastal Regeneration, Housing, Regeneration, Urban Design
        Witnessing the power of driven and passionate individuals getting things done when it comes to regeneration. We have a significant portfolio under our belts of delivered / completed, impactful regeneration and urban design projects and I am often asked “what is the key to good design and the original good principles not being ‘value engineered’ […]
      • Blackburn Green Hills is off and running

        Feb 2018
        Blackburn, Community, Developers, Development, Green Space, Housebuilders, Housing, Interior Design, Purpose
        The opportunity to design a housing development in Blackburn was something that energised Gerardine and Wayne. I often get asked for my career highlight and my answer for the past decade or so has been The Staiths South Bank in Gateshead, our first housing development. It was one of those rare projects that, despite the […]
      • The Stranglehold On The UK House Building Industry

        Jan 2017
        Affordable Housing, Britain, Developers, Development, Housebuilders, Housing, Masterplanning, Purpose, Undesirable Housing, Urban Design
        We have always called for the housing industry to not be dominated by the large / mega-scaled housebuilders like Taylor Wimpey, Barratts and Persimmon.  The housing crash of 2008 devastated the small and medium sized housebuilding sector resulting in today just 26% of new homes being built by this part of the housebuilding industry as […]
      • I am not enjoying my run with the dog this morning

        Jun 2016
        Affordable Housing, Architecture, Britain, City, Developers, Development, Economy, Equal Opportunities, Government, Housebuilders, Housing, London, Undesirable Housing
        Brexit and building the right kind of homes get an airing here. Its 7 am and I have just come back from running with my dog Minnie in my local London park and am feeling conflicted. Over the past few months the numbers of rough sleepers in the park has increased substantially. They are not […]
      • Do We Seek Out Projects That Are Full Of Conjecture?

        Apr 2016
        Coastal Regeneration, Developers, Development, Green Space, Housing, Regeneration, Staiths, Urban Design
        You don’t make change by taking the easy route. Having been following the furore surrounding the planned Garden Bridge over the Thames and it’s got me wondering. At HemingwayDesign are we suckers for projects that have conjecture surrounding them or is it that the most impactful projects are often immersed in significant difficulties? When I […]
      • Designers Returning To The Scene of Their Exploits

        Mar 2016
        Design, Developers, Development, Fashion, Housing, Purpose, Red or Dead, Retail
        A young Kate Moss and low cost housing all in one blog. A couple of weeks ago we posted the above photo on the HemingwayDesign Facebook page of a housing development, The Bridge Dartford that we led the design and master planning of a decade or so ago. The comment posted by user Paul Read […]
      • What’s All This Obsession With Retail?

        Feb 2016
        Developers, Housing, Retail, Shopping, Urban Design
        Questioning planning orthodoxy is what we do and have always done.  Most housing developments we work on at HemingwayDesign have a “mixed use” element. “Mixed use”, in simple terms, means “a development that blends a combination of residential and commercial, cultural, leisure services, institutional, or industrial uses”. In terms of good urban design practice, in […]
      • Golden Years

        Jan 2016
        Affordable Housing, Britain, British Culture, Equal Opportunities, Government, Housing, Purpose, Society
        Universal Basic Income and the passing of David Bowie in one blog? You bet. This weekend I was getting myself in a mood about how difficult it seems for young people to start up with the carefree abandon that Gerardine and I had when we set out on our journey at the turn of the […]
      • Council Houses and Me

        Jan 2016
        Affordable Housing, Architecture, Blackburn, Britain, Design, Developers, Development, Housebuilders, Housing, Interior Design, Undesirable Housing
        Our appreciation of the history of council housing and its value to society. In 2014 I was reminded of my first Blackburn home by Sarah Thompson who emailed me with her proposal for an interiors book about ex-council houses. When someone emails you with an idea for a book about how a new generation are […]
      • A New Year, Same Old Housing Shortages

        Jan 2016
        Affordable Housing, Developers, Development, Government, Housebuilders, Housing, Society, Undesirable Housing, Urban Design
        We started 2016 campaigning as we always do. The front page headline on the New Year’s Eve edition of the Guardian last week was:“Revealed: house builders sitting on 600,000 plots of land.“ This is part of the sorry UK house building situation that has been a contributing factor to housing un-affordability and shortages for the […]
      • Is This Why Architecture Isn’t Included In The Creative Industries?

        Dec 2015
        Architecture, Developers, Development, Housebuilders, Housing, Undesirable Housing
        Crap architects get a mouthful in this blog from 2015. When it comes to working out the value of the creative industries, much to the chagrin of some architects, the value of the work coming out of architectural practices is not included. My hobby is running (often with my dog Minnie) and when I am […]
      • Vast Majority of People Looking to Buy a New Home Won’t Consider Buying a New Build One

        Nov 2015
        Affordable Housing, Architecture, Blog, Developers, Housebuilders, Housing, Undesirable Housing, Urban Design
        A decade and a half after we started to bemoan the state of new build housing in the UK, there is still a need to be noisy on this subject matter. It’s over 15 years ago since I coined the phrase the “Wimpeyfication and Barrattification of Britain” and started to publically criticise Britain’s mass housebuilding industry for […]
      • Actually…Yes, Please Take Us Back To The 70s

        Nov 2015
        Blog, Housing, Urban Design, Wayne Hemingway
        We opened our mouths on societal issues in the 80s, 90s, 2000s and carried on right through the 2010s.  “Corbyn wants to take us back to the 70s of strikes and rubbish piled in the streets”, has been one the hysterical cries from the bullying Sun and other gutter press who seem intent on trying […]
      • The Staiths…Wow!

        Oct 2015
        Design, Developers, Housing, Purpose
        We’ll take any chance to pop back to one of our favourite projects. I popped into our first housing development The Staiths South Bank in Gateshead in early October 2015, almost 15 years after we first started to design it. Gerardine and I have often wondered if it is the highlight of our careers. Not […]
      • Alan Sugar Emigrating?

        Oct 2015
        Affordable Housing, Britain, Developers, Housebuilders, Housing, Urban Design
        We are not afraid to speak out and say it like it is Very sad at the moment how decent folk in the public eye are increasingly being vilified in the popular press. I abhor the way Charlotte Church is being treated after she was brave and full of passion for a fairer society on […]
      • Something for the new Mayor of London to sort out

        Jul 2015
        Affordable Housing, Architecture, Housing, London, Town Centres, Urban Design
        Oh how we hate this selling of new homes in London to “buy to leave empty” investors overseas. This is a plea to the Mayor of London to do something about it. Read The Guardian’s news story, 200 Flats Worth £140m Sold In Just Four Hours and the Independent’s take on it here. Surely it should be seen […]
      • Bravery and a Can Do Attitude

        Feb 2015
        Culture, Design, Developers, Housing, Regeneration, Urban Design
        A recurring theme – bravery is one of the most important aspects of regeneration. Last week I was tasked with giving a talk on: “Bravery and a can do attitude” at the Somerset County Council’s Staff Awards. The premise being that with all the cutbacks in central government funding, these are hard times for councils.  […]
      • 5 Million Reasons To Make Housing Disabled-Friendly

        Nov 2014
        Affordable Housing, Developers, Development, Equal Opportunities, Housebuilders, Housing
        Our thoughts on housing and disability  We talk a lot about how many homes there are in the UK. We know we urgently need to build more affordable homes in the right locations because they’re essential for a balanced, productive and happy society. But we talk a lot less about what kind of homes we […]
      • It takes people to build decent housing and successful communities

        Sep 2011
        Affordable Housing, Britain, Developers, Development, Housebuilders, Housing
        If you were to look at the housing need numbers compared to what is actually being built the it is easy to argue that the housing industry is still on its backside and there hasn’t been the predicted reversal in the shedding of the housebuilding workforce that took place at an unprecedented rate. It seems […]