Why has the AJ, in partnership with Architects’ Action for Affordable Housing, compiled a collection of 20 of the UK’s best housing schemes? Because each of the projects in our clearly laid-out guide offers practical suggestions about how to design and deliver homes in a better way. The wheel does not have to be reinvented. Many of the solutions to the nation’s housing crisis already exist. And here they are. READ THE PUBLICATION When we talk about the crisis, what we mean is that millions of people in the UK are struggling to find safe, decent, affordable homes. But, while the headlines are dominated by the government’s housing supply target, the crisis is as much about quality as it is about quantity. The quality of the norm is unacceptable, yet we have somehow become inured to it. According to a comprehensive audit of England’s new housing carried out by UCL in 2020, the design quality of three-quarters was ‘mediocre’ or ‘poor’, and a fifth should have been ‘refused planning permission outright’.Advertisement SEE ALL 20 PROJECTS HERE Not only that, most new-build housing is environmentally unfit for purpose, as was found by a new report by the Design Council Homes Taskforce, which speaks of the ‘profound challenge’ of delivering 1.5 million homes within the UK’s legally binding climate commitments. So, in fixing the crisis, it’s vital that we focus on both radically increasing housing numbers – in particular affordable housing – and achieving a step change in design quality. Such an approach will avoid the cheap, botched and snagged outcomes which have scarred past episodes of mass housebuilding. And it will result in huge benefits for our health, our communities and our environment. Here, then, are 20 exceptional yet attainable housing schemes, all of them designed with care by architects. We wanted not only to showcase these but to focus on the vital questions of ‘why’ and ‘how’ they are good. To be sure, there is no perfect housing scheme, nor any single ready-made solution. Instead, these projects excel in different ways. Some are notable by delivering social housing which meets the Passivhaus standard, or by saving up-front carbon through the adaptation of existing buildings. Others use modern methods of construction (MMC) or simply meet the real needs of growing families or older people. While the majority represent affordable housing, all 20 have realistic budgets, and none are homes ‘for the rich’. Taken together, we hope they provide a host of useful clues as to how to design and deliver homes in a better way. These schemes show how we can design and deliver homes in a better way Of course, the true impact of housing on people’s lives can only be understood by the people who live there. So, in this guide, you’ll hear how residents feel about their homes, alongside the views of clients and architects. Raising the bar in housing is a shared endeavour, and the more involved communities are, the better.Advertisement The stand-out homes we’ve highlighted in this guide are not the norm – yet. So let’s use them as inspiration and raise our expectations. We can have this level of ‘good ordinary’ housing everywhere. It doesn’t need to cost more. But we do need ambitious, committed clients, who understand what they can accomplish with architects on board. For decades, the bulk of the housing sector has been starved of design expertise. We have the architects with the right skills. Let’s put them to work. The Architects’ Journal team Source:Dowen Farmer Architects Good Homes for All housebuilding 2025-04-24 AJ news desk comment and share