Housing and infrastructure - two sides of the same coin

The ICE's 2019 annual State of the Nation report focuses on how to better connect infrastructure and housing.

[edit] Introduction

The report was produced by a multi-disciplinary steering group chaired by ICE Vice President Rachel Skinner. It explores the opportunities for delivering housing and infrastructure together and in a more integrated way.

[edit] Outlining the challenge

There has been a gap between housing supply and demand for many years now and, as a result, the UK government plans to build 300,000 homes per year in England by the mid-2020s. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will have their own targets to reach.

While there is political consensus – and growing public support – for the need to build more homes, it is not enough to consider them merely in terms of numbers. Housing and infrastructure, when not considered holistically, can put significant strain on existing networks and affect local communities.

There are also issues with securing enough investment to ensure infrastructure and housing can be delivered together well, while developments are also being built without due consideration of the future needs of society, including climate change.

[edit] What the ICE team found from its evidence gathering

Over the summer of 2019, the ICE policy team spoke to over 170 stakeholders, including many from its membership, about the problems and solutions to delivering housing and infrastructure in a more integrated way. As part of this, it held nine regional evidence-gathering sessions, speaking to stakeholders in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and across the English regions.

The team heard that infrastructure is primarily planned at a national level with limited alignment between budgets, funding streams, data and local and regional needs, often leading to poorly-planned housing developments with inadequate infrastructure provision.
A disjointed approach to phasing infrastructure and housing is exacerbated by utility companies having limited scope to look outside of their asset management periods to forward-fund infrastructure, often leading to delays or sites becoming unviable.

There was consensus that the Housing Infrastructure Fund funding is working well, but improvements could be made to the process and methodology. Meanwhile, there is the potential to use existing mechanisms such as the Development Consent Order (DCO) process to better coordinate housing delivery with nationally significant infrastructure, business and commercial projects.

These and other core themes developed into 10 recommendations across the areas of planning, funding and financing, and future-proofing, which will improve the way in which infrastructure and housing is planned and delivered.

These 10 recommendations will be outlined in full when the report is published on Tuesday, September 10, 2019.

[edit] Integration as the solution

The UK is facing crucial economic, social and environmental challenges both now and in the near future, including water provision; ensuring housing and infrastructure is delivered as close to carbon neutral as possible while preserving and protecting natural habitats; decarbonising transport and heat; improving flood resilience; and creating communities where people want to live, work and relax.

Integrated and strategic housing and infrastructure planning and delivery can be a major solution to those challenges, ensuring that future developments create resilient, sustainable communities that seize opportunities provided by new technology.

Ultimately, infrastructure must be considered much more strategically when it comes to housing, instead of being seen as something that goes along as a consequence of development.

Readers who would like to know more about State of the Nation 2019: Connecting Infrastructure with Housing, please email ice.org.uk policy@ice.org.uk.

[edit] About this article

This article was written by ice.org.uk David Hawkes, ICE Policy Manager. It was previously published on the ICE website and can be accessed HERE.

Other ICE articles on Designing Buildings Wiki can be found HERE

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

• Affordable housing.
• Brexit - The case for infrastructure.
• Community infrastructure levy.
• Development consent order.
• Government construction and infrastructure pipelines.
• Growth and Infrastructure Act.
• Home ownership.
• Housing and Planning Bill 2015.
• Housing associations.
• Housing standards review.
• Infrastructure and Projects Authority.
• Infrastructure UK (IUK).
• National Infrastructure Pipeline.
• National Infrastructure Plan.
• National Planning Policy Framework.
• Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.
• Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.
• The future of housing.

--The Institution of Civil Engineers