Tomorrow's Garden City An International Housing Design Competition

Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation and North Hertfordshire Homes, in partnership with the Royal Institute of British Architects, are delighted to promote “Tomorrow’s Garden City: A Sustainable Approach to Modern Living”.



This housing design competition, part of the Garden City’s celebrations marking the Centenaries of the pioneer ‘Cheap Cottage’ exhibitions, is open to both practitioners and academics.



Vision

The ambition is to deliver high-quality, environmentally friendly, groundbreaking housing in Letchworth Garden City.



Station PlaceStation Place



Objectives



To bring forward a series or selection of housing designs for implementation in Letchworth Garden City 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.



Introducing the world’s first Garden City



Letchworth Garden City is the world’s first Garden City, created at the turn of the last Century, based on the vision of inventor and social reformer, Ebenezer Howard.



Howard’s theories, first published in 1898 in his book “Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform”, became the blueprint for new communities across the globe throughout the twentieth century.

Letchworth was Howard’s first tangible expression of “Tomorrow”, a community that combined the comforts of the town with the health and beauty of the country.



To this day, the intrinsic values and personality of the Garden City with its signature wide tree-lined streets, diverse housing mix and enterprise base have been maintained. Letchworth is revered by academics, practitioners and, indeed by many of, its residents as the ‘home’ of town planning.



Proud Past



Delivered entirely by private enterprise, the Garden City faced many challenges in its early days, not least the creation of new homes.



Its single most effective marketing strategy was the staging of a national housing design competition and exhibition in 1905. The brief given was to build an innovative home for no more than £150.



Panoramic view of the 1905 Cheap Cottages Exhibition, probably taken from the railway embankmentPanoramic view of the 1905 Cheap Cottages Exhibition, probably taken from the railway embankment

The ‘Cheap Cottages’ exhibition targeted the needs of impoverished agricultural workers, a national phenomenon at that time. Many such workers struggled to put a roof over their heads given the pitifully low wages earned.



Opened on 25 July 1905 by The Duke of Devonshire, the ‘Cheap Cottages’ exhibition showcased over 131 entries of varying designs, employing a wide range of materials and construction methods.



The competition was a huge success and attracted over 60,000 visitors to the fledgling Garden City. It was subsequently repeated in 1907. The positive PR generated by these events did much to publicise the Garden City ‘experiment’ nationally and internationally.



Garden City - 100 years on



Letchworth Garden City celebrated its Centenary in 2003. It has become a popular commuter town, situated just half an hour’s train journey from London Kings Cross. It has 15,000 homes accommodating a population of some 35,000 people.



There are plans for substantial redevelopment of its town centre within the next six years. These feature the creation of additional retail and leisure space together with many new homes and flats.

At present, house prices and rentals in the Letchworth area are relatively high. The average house price in Letchworth Garden City home is £187,000 [source: Halifax Building Society]. This makes the Garden City an expensive location for many first-time buyers, families in housing need and pensioners on low incomes.



A recent housing issues survey by HARRG, London South Bank University noted that the Garden City “has a higher proportion of social rented housing compared to nearby areas and this, together with the older people’s profile and the decline of younger economically active groups, presents challenges for developing a sustainable [balanced] community in the medium to long term.”



Proud Past, Bright Future



In common with the rest of South East England, Letchworth’s housing challenge is the creation of low-cost, affordable housing built and sustained in ways that do not prejudice the environment.



This competition:



  * Seeks to inspire and encourage you to bring forward proposals for low-cost, affordable homes for the Garden City that combine imagination, innovation and environmental vision whilst remaining sympathetic to the principles and pioneering zeal of the Garden City.

  * Is not site specific albeit the sponsors have several non-town centre sites they own in mind, which, subject to planning permission, they wish to work with selected design teams to build some of the designs submitted.

  * Is part of a wider celebration marking the Centenary of the second ‘Cheap Cottages’ exhibition. As such, the sponsors will be particularly interested in entries that develop the vision for housing in the Garden City.



Bright Future



This is a historic competition closely linking the Garden City’s proud past and bright future.



Recreating the zeal of the early pioneers, the sponsors seek to secure entries of quality and diversity, commensurate with the innovation and imagination of the acclaim enjoyed by the organisers of the 1905 and 1907 ‘Cheap Cottage’ exhibitions.



Following in the footsteps of his Great Great Grandfather, the competition was launched by Duke of Devonshire at the Royal Institute of British Architects [RIBA] on 1 February 2007.

The closing date for entries is 31 May 2007. Detailed guidance and background information including a full design brief and how to enter the competition can be found on this website.



A comprehensive promotional campaign celebrating this latest incarnation of the Garden City’s design competition legacy is planned, culminating in a prestigious awards ceremony on 18 July 2007.



http://www.tomorrowsgardencity.com/