History repeating itself with international housing design competition

Echoes of an international house building design competition in the early 1900’s, which captured the imagination of the whole country, will once again reverberate around the world’s first Garden City.

Over 60 high-quality, affordable and environmentally friendly homes will be constructed, based on the winning designs, on land owned by Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation – town founder Ebenezer Howard’s company in modern times. The competition is aptly named ‘Tomorrow’s Garden City.’

In 1905, the eighth Duke of Devonshire opened the ‘Cheap Cottages’ Exhibition in the Garden City, showcasing some 131 entries to an international housing design competition. The brief given to architects of the day was to build innovative housing for a maximum cost of £150 per property – this dream became reality.

The exhibition was a huge success, attracting over 60,000 visitors to the town from near and far and was repeated in 1907. Today, most of these cheap cottages still stand proudly in the Garden City, the difference being that their value has increased dramatically – some of them are now worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

On Thursday (Feb 1), the 12th Duke of Devonshire officially launched the third housing design competition, supported by the Royal institute of British Architects, with the brief to international housing practitioners, architects etc.. academics, students etc… to create the 60 plus new homes, designed and built with sustainability in mind. Entrants will be attracted by a prize fund of £25,000.

The winning design houses will then be built by North Hertfordshire Homes (NHH), one of the largest Registered Social Landlords in Hertfordshire, providing 8,200 homes for rent, 800 sheltered houses for older people and around 200 temporary and supported housing places.

The vision is to deliver a high quality environmentally friendly, groundbreaking, housing development and the object is to bring forward a series or selection of housing designs capable of:

• Providing a range of property types and sizes for sale or rent to local people at affordable prices
• Achieving a specific energy benchmark, for example at least level three of 'The Code for Sustainable Homes'
• Achieving low annual running costs, low lifetime costs, and generally value for money
• Incorporating attractive features and architecture which reflect the town’s status as the world's first Garden City
• Social sustainability to include adaptability, flexibility, quality, smart houses etc

The site or sites will cater for intermediate or shared equity housing with 25 per cent socially rented. The housing mix will include one and two bedroom flats plus two and three bedroom houses.

Stuart Kenny, Director General of Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, said: “ It is particularly appropriate that we mark the Centenary of the Second Cheap Cottages Exhibition by holding this competition and we are honoured that the Duke of Devonshire is so closely involved.

“Marrying the present sustainability agenda with the Garden City ethos will pose challenges in itself but we will be looking for more – truly ground-breaking innovation which moves the sustainability agenda forward.”

Kevin Thompson, Chief Executive of North Herts Homes, added: “This is a great opportunity to really influence the future style of development within Letchworth Garden City and the environment in which future generations will live. As the leading social landlord within the area, it will be a tremendous opportunity for us to be involved in the development of these properties and their management once they are built.”

Richard Hastilow, Chief Executive of the RIBA, commented: “The RIBA is delighted to be involved in such a fascinating competition. The historical link with the 1905 ‘Cheap Cottages’ Exhibition provides an added incentive to design high-quality, low-carbon homes for the next 100 years and more.

“I am sure that this competition will capture the interest of many architects in the UK and overseas. We look forward to receiving a range of imaginative entries.”

The closing date for entries is May 31, 2007 with the awards ceremony on July 18. Construction is expected to start in 2008.

Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, a Charitable Industrial and Provident Society, has an asset base in excess of £140m. It directly delivers its profits back to the town, as decreed by an Act of Parliament.

Since inception in 1995, the Foundation has ploughed over £15.5m back into the community through grants and amenities – equating on average to over £4,000 per day. By far the largest landlord in the world’s first Garden City, the Foundation, through its commercial, retail, housing and faming interests, is currently planning a £60m regeneration of the town centre.

North Hertfordshire Homes is currently investing £120m in the improvement of its properties and is set to achieve the Government’s ‘Decent Homes’ standard two years ahead of its 2010 deadline. Its properties are predominantly in Baldock, Hitchin, Letchworth Garden City and Royston, but the housing association has recently worked in partnership with authorities in surrounding areas.

The RIBA Competitions Office organises bespoke architectural competitions that encourage excellence in design, offer value for money, and are run smoothly from inception through to the appointment of a winning design or architect/team. They range from Open Ideas where entries are judged anonymously to Open Design and Competitive Interview, where a client selects from a short-list of architects or multi-disciplinary teams. The Competitions Office has vast experience of managing competitions for a diverse range of clients, project types and budgets. The competition process has produced landmark buildings/structures such as the BALTIC and The Sage Gateshead, the Millennium Bridge, Evelina Children’s Hospital and the National Assembly for Wales, both shortlisted for the 2006 RIBA Stirling Prize.

For further details please visit www.architecture.com/competitions For further information on this Press Release please contact Terry Gray, the Foundation’s PR & Media Manager, on 01462 476055, email terryg@letchworth.com or Sally Bailey, North Herts Home’s Marketing and PR Officer on 01462 705491 or email sally.bailey@nhh.org.uk  Further information about the competition visit www.tomorrowsgardencity.com