Hugh Petter praises Great Estates: Models for Modern Placemaking for its timely exploration of stewardship in urban development, rooted in Ruskin’s timeless wisdom, and finds the book offers essential lessons for creating vibrant, enduring urban estates
‘When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for delight, nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for.’ These wise words by John Ruskin, the nineteenth century art critic and theorist, are quoted in the introduction to the second edition of this excellent book. They capture well it’s central theme: stewardship - how to create and, thereafter, to husband a successful and vibrant urban estate.
New London Architecture is an organisation that exists to act as a catalyst and a convenor to foster new ideas and partnerships, to improve skills and industry diversity and to encourage participation in decision making. Great Estates: Models for Modern Placemaking exemplifies well the vital role that NLA plays in drawing out the lessons of how a great city evolves and creating an environment where important ideas and knowledge can be shared and developed constructively. The author of both editions of this book is NLA’s talented researcher Sarah Yates, and the foreword is by co-founder Peter Murray OBE, without a doubt one of the most influential figures of our time.
We learn in the introduction that, whilst there were a handful of ancient estates in London, it was really the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 - returning to Britain with ideas about urban form gathered from his time in France and the Netherlands - and the coincidental advent of the leasehold system that created the environment where viable urban estates could evolve, especially after the disastrous fire in 1666. The body of this beautifully illustrated and informative book provides an eloquent and compelling overview of a wide selection of London’s estates, run by both families and institutions, of all shapes types and sizes, and established at different times from the medieval period to the present day.
HM The King, when Prince of Wales, pioneered the idea of stewardship in his bold new development outside the capital at Poundbury, on the edge of Dorchester in Dorset. Whilst the traditional architectural character of that place was not universally admired by architects at the time, it broke the mould in so many ways - for example, the seamless integration of affordable housing; the creation of more than one employment space per dwelling in commercial development; better design control; and the establishment of walkable neighbourhoods where the car driver was subservient to walkers and cyclists. The phenomenal added social and economic value created at Poundbury was laid out for all to see in Knight Frank’s report Cost and Value, produced for Roger Scruton’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission in 2020.
For too long sharp-suited property spivs have called the shots
More recently I have been working with one of Scruton’s fellow commissioners, Gail Mayhew, and a cross-industry group to evolve new thinking on this key subject. In parallel, The King’s Foundation has established the Building a Legacy Group, comprising a diverse group of landowners and consultants, all of whom are actively engaged in developing a range of exemplary schemes that are re-embedding stewardship principles in development projects across the country.
The lessons from this fascinating book are highly relevant for urban estates in every town and city across our land. For too long sharp-suited property spivs have called the shots, seeking to cram every site with as much built space as possible, and to screw high rent out of every tenant to maximise the short term financial value of each built asset. Such narrow and ill-informed thinking has played a key part in the decline of so many urban centres: these people have done untold damage to our towns and cities.
Urban development to create or revitalise run down areas requires long term strategic thinking to create beautiful, flexible and enduring buildings and public realm that supports the needs of vibrant and inclusive communities; that husbands long term value; that facilitates a good quality of life, and that encourages low carbon patterns of living.
With the acute housing shortage currently facing our nation we may hope that the new Labour Government recognises the importance of stewardship as a part of a suite of measures which are central not just to meeting the immediate need, but to creating exemplary new urban places that are fit for the long term. The publication of this second edition of Great Estates could not be better timed.
John Ruskin’s words should be carved in tablets of stone above the door of every real estate college, and this excellent book should be required reading for everyone who is interested in the challenges we face with a rapidly rising urban population and in a time of profound change. It is a call to arms for everyone who cares about good placemaking. The NLA are to be congratulated for producing such a well-illustrated, eloquent and compelling study of this vital subject.
>> Also read: Why stewardship is critical to creating places where people want to live and work
Postscript
Great Estates: Models for Modern Placemaking, by Sarah Yates, with a foreword by Peter Murray, is published by RIBA Publishing
Hugh Petter is a director of Adam Architecture. He is consultant architect to the Duchy of Cornwall for their urban estate in Kennington, London, and masterplanner of Nansledan, Newquay, Cornwall
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