January 22 2010

The housing crash might have been expected to bring about a rethink on the part of developers as to future business models.  But this is not necessarily the case at one of the UK’s leading house builders, where a spokesperson  at a business lunch hosted by Thrive gave a personal opinion on the future.

Rising prices and rising land values have led to a vicious circle for developers, explained Redrow’s land manager, Alan Ross who said: “The bad guys are the landowners. We need to do everything we can to keep costs as low as possible and maximise profits.

”People are not concerned with design, they want cul-de-sacs, front and back gardens. Though I myself would not wish to live in them, many aspire to these homes”.

Ross also complained about an under supply of greenfield development land and warned: “We’d have to be dragged kicking and screaming into any changes to building regulations”.

Many architects and designers are scathing of the "clone houses" which now pepper Britain and lament unshakeable conservatism in public and industry thinking.

One architect from Ryder admitted however that he’d been seduced by the suburban dream, pointing out he could let his kids play in the dead end streets without fear of roaring traffic.

Although an unnecessary kink in the floorplan of his home continually irks: “They could easily have sorted that out at the design stage, it’s annoying and absurd to think that that inconsistency will have been replicated thousands of times in developments up and down the country.”

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