Calls for fewer high rise homes in London, including at Olympic Park

Else Kvist, Reporter Friday, March 15, 2013
1:06 PM

A London Assembly member has called for a re-think of the housing designs at the Olympic Park.

The Conservative Group’s spokesman for Housing, Andrew Boff, last week called on councils to avoid housing tenants in high rise accommodation and redeveloping existing tower blocks.

It came after he published a report, “Radically Normal”, last year calling for a re-think of the designs for housing at the Olympic Park.

The report argues that the building of over 8,000 homes at the park over the next 20 years represents a generation-defining opportunity for high-quality family homes to spur the regeneration of East London.

Mr Boff said: “For too long councils have been housing families in unsuitable high rise blocks of flats. This is despite evidence that they have high rates of crime and promote social breakdown. What we need to see urgently is a new generation of high quality, low rise, terraced accommodation for families - with lots of green space. Designing and building terraced houses that look normal and repetitive, yet in which people want to live, takes courage. But it is the type of housing people want.”

A spokesperson for the London Legacy Development Corporation, overseeing the Olympic Park, said 42 per cent of their planned housing is family homes with at least three bedrooms.

He said: “Community needs for affordable and family housing are at the heart of our award winning plans, which also strike a balance to ensure that the development is economically viable.

“We welcome the debate about how to address London’s housing shortage and have created a masterplan with the flexibility to change over time according to housing need.”