Council houses should be “as beautiful as art galleries”, says one Kent MP

Canterbury Member of Parliament, Rosie Duffield has written a letter to city council chief executive Colin Carmichael, the Labour member urges the local authority to emulate an award-winning development in Norwich.

Goldsmith Street, comprising almost 100 highly energy-efficient council homes, has won the Stirling Prize - given annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects to the “best building in the UK”.

Dubbed “a modern masterpiece” by judges, the spacious terraced properties are designed to have minimal fuel bills, with annual energy costs an estimated 70% cheaper than for the average home.

Ms Duffield wrote: “The development shows us how we should be thinking about new housing projects.

“They can be innovative, beautiful and sustainable, places that can be homes, hubs for communities, the pride of an area.

“Where Goldsmith Street is inspirational, I have watched East Kent Housing struggle to make its properties habitable.

“Social housing stocks in the constituency are low; what there is is too often simply not good enough.

“Our Local Plan stresses the need to build more housing; I would ask that you look to the example of Goldsmith Street when doing so.

“Good design, the investment of serious resources both intellectual and financial, should not be limited to grand projects.

“Our council houses should be as beautiful as our art galleries.”

Mikhail Riches, the architects behind the much-lauded development along with Cathy Hawley, has offices based in Whitstable.

In a letter in response, Mr Carmichael says the city council has already approached Norwich City Council for information about how it went about delivering the project.

He outlined a number of council projects, including the Riverside and Parham Road developments, that will “deliver more decent and affordable homes for local people”, adding “we can and will do more”.

“The funding regime still gets in the way, rather than helping councils to do this,” he said.

“But we are prepared to be as creative as possible in ensuring that local people have access to well-built, affordable housing.

“We declared a climate change emergency in July and set a target to reduce our carbon emissions to net zero by 2030.

"This is now taken into account in everything we do, as we are serious about meeting this challenging target.”

Mikhail Riches’ founding director Annalie Riches, who lives in Whitstable alongside co-director David Mikhail, says the firm would be “very happy” to meet with Canterbury City Council and explain the ideas behind the development.

She said: “We hoped the recognition of the Goldsmith Street would encourage other local authorities to build more eco social housing.

“Every local authority is battling with a shortage of decent affordable housing. I think that Norwich, by taking control and developing themselves, have shown that it can be done.”

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