When an architect or designer releases a manifesto, I get nervous. The frustrated philosopher-poets to the wide-boy developers of the built environment, their overlong descriptions and highbrow concepts have me itching for my editor’s pen.
Current chief offender is designer Thomas Heatherwick and his “Humanise” soapbox. He managed almost 500 pages ostensibly advocating for less “boring” buildings, in reality attempting to be edgy while taking conservative potshots at Le Corbusier. Also, if you’ve been sweating on the top deck of a Routemaster this week, it’s Heatherwick you have to thank.
Peter Barber, on the other hand, has a huge amount of public goodwill for his sensible and cheerful small-scale housing projects. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to love his brick mews and terrace developments in Finchley, Peckham, Kentish Town et al.
not complicated pic.twitter.com/lg1i03DEX0
— Peter barber (@PpeterPeter) August 11, 2024
He’s floated some pretty out-there ideas before, like a hundred mile city looped around London. But is his latest brief manifesto for sorting out our housing crisis is a corker. Introduce rent controls, stop Right to Buy, and build 150,000 council houses a year funded via tax. De-commodify housing and reframe it as a vital part of national infrastructure.
The subtext is clear — Labour’s plan to rely on the private sector to deliver “affordable” housing and tinker around with planning is not enough.
Human-focused design means seeing tenants as more than future homeowners or a burden on the state. That Barber builds homes which people are happy to have on their street is a direct result of this ethos, not an aesthetic bonus.
If Starmer needs a new housing czar, Barber has my vote.
