Achieving 1.5 million new homes requires participation from all players in the housing market. Delivering high-quality homes that enhance communities, however, demands a fundamental rethink.
Today, volume housebuilders construct over 60% of new homes. Their large sites take time and expense to secure planning, often requiring appeals and significant upfront infrastructure before any homes are built. SME developers and smaller landowners can break ground faster and at lower cost.
But it’s not just about volume.
Bidwells and ADAM Architecture have researched how legacy development can contribute to delivering more, better-quality homes and communities.
Legacy development involves landowners retaining a long-term interest in their land, exercising greater control over design than standard planning processes allow. Key motivations include high-quality, attractive homes that generate better long-term financial returns; improved placemaking aligned with local needs; a responsible approach to environmental stewardship, or a combination or some or all of these.
Well known legacy development sites include Poundbury in Dorset, Nansleden in Cornwall, Park View in Oxfordshire, Accordia in Cambridge and Fairford Leys in Aylesbury.
Industry research suggests legacy developments can achieve a 15–25% uplift in value, thanks to placemaking and high-quality design. While Poundbury may not be the blueprint for all developments, our research has identified key principles and created a toolkit to help more landowners adopt a legacy approach at lower cost.
The final report and recommendations will be published in Spring 2025.
Mark Buddle, Head of Land & Development at Bidwells: “In meeting the increasing demand for more quality housing to be developed across the country, Bidwells has worked with ADAM Architecture to look at ways of making legacy development more accessible for landowners and developers. The research demonstrates that added value results from building better places and better houses and by adopting our toolkit approach this can allow more landowners to participate in legacy development without having to adopt full blown legacy principles such as at Poundbury or Nansleden.”
Hugh Petter RIBA MRIAI FRSA, Director, ADAM Architecture: “With over 35 years of experience working as masterplanners and architects on legacy developments of all scales across the UK we are proud to be partnering with the excellent team at Bidwells on this important research. At a time of unprecedented demand for new housing, it has never been more important to think carefully about the quality of the new places we create. The objective data we have collated in our report demonstrates how a more controlled approach to development can produce better and more beautiful development that is more in tune with local needs; enable more sustainable lifestyles, and a better financial return.”
