18 September 2015, Our Masterplanning team, based in our head office in central London, submitted a proposal for an international ideas competition, run by the capital’s built environment think-tank New London Architecture (NLA), to suggest a way in which the housing shortage in London could be solved. Their entry has reached the shortlisted 100 to be considered for a final 10 proposals that will be taken forward to the next stage of their development. Their proposal will also appear in a free public exhibition at the NLA’s buildings showcasing all 100 proposals, from mid-October to mid-December.

The competition, ‘New Ideas for Housing’, was organised in collaboration with the Mayor of London and received over 200 entries from 16 countries around the world, from architects, developers, consultants, local boroughs and everyday Londoners. The competition invited ‘fresh thinking’ for how we could effectively and innovatively solve the housing crisis in the capital, and shortlisted ideas range from living on the Thames to the creation of a new mega-city.

The concepts put forward look at how we can increase densities in town centres, around stations, and in the suburbs. Our Masterplanning team’s proposal, ‘Crossrail at the Crossroads’, details an idea to create a number of new settlements within the Greenbelt around London, that centre around new Crossrail stations. The model aims to provide potential settlers with a healthy lifestyle outside of London, but within close proximity to a Crossrail station so that central London can be accessed quickly and easily, whilst easing the density of the population within London itself. Based on the premise that 20-25 such new settlements could be created around the outside of London, the team suggest that this could house up to one million people. They calculate that within each settlement, 30,000 – 50,000 people could be housed, all within a ten minute walk of a Crossrail station. The proposal argues that creating new towns in this way is easier, faster and more cost effective than retro-fitting existing urban areas, and that this would help to create affordable housing for the younger generation.

The winning ten proposals will be announced on 14 October, ahead of the exhibition opening on 15 October, which will run until 17 December.

To see our team’s full proposal, please click here.

For further information about the competition or exhibition, and to see a full list of the 100 shortlisted entrants, visit the NLA website by clicking here.

For any enquiries, please contact Rebecca Sanders, head of our Masterplanning team.