Active Communities in Housing

Centre for Urban Design Outreach and Skills
Active Communities in Housing

Enabling Diversity in Housing Design:
meeting the needs of communities
Nov 07
North Lozells and Handsworth Neighbourhood Intervention Project, Midland Heart
Noha Nasser
ISBN 978-1-904839-21-7
Contents
Foreward 3 Introduction 4 The method of consultation 5 Prole of a focus group 6 From the proe, a number of points are drawn out: 7 Family life cycle 8 Family home 9 New generations 10 Rooms required 11 Essential room types 12 Desireable room types 16 Additional room types 19 General emerging trends 20 Key recommendations 23 Acknowledgements 25
Foreword
CUDOS emerges out of an innovative communityacademic partnership between Birmingham Institute for Art and Design (BIAD) at Birmingham City University and Ashram Housing Association. The ethos of CUDOS is the commitment to foster the expertise and imagination of local communities in creating vibrant, liveable neighbourhoods. Working in culturally diverse neighbourhoods, CUDOS addresses the challenges and opportunities people can overcome to achieve well-designed, inclusive, community-centred places. CUDOS aims to empower people from disenfranchised communities with knowledge of architecture and urban design to raise selfcondence in their own ideas to engage as equal partners in development projects. At the same time, CUDOS aims to foster a better understanding of community-centred approaches to urban design in the everyday practice of professionals in the built environment.
In the North Lozells and East Handsworth Intervention Area, CUDOS worked with architects Bryant Priest Newman to develop architectural plans for Midland Heart Housing Associations properties proposed for deconversion from ats to single family homes. The innovative design process intricately wove together professional expertise in architecture with the in depth understanding of the clients cultural requirements. Positive engagement with the community has demonstrated that cultural diversity is not an explicit design add-on, but an inherent part of housing design made more adaptable and exible to a wide range of social groups.
Dr Noha Nasser Director, CUDOS
Introduction
Midland Heart, one of the largest Housing Associations in the West Midlands, was seeking to transform and regenerate a discrete neighbourhood in North Lozells and East Handsworth within the Urban Living Pathnder area. Midland Heart currently own and manage 6,100 homes across the Pathnder area and specically 710 homes in the Neighbourhood Intervention area. The proposals included sensitive and high quality deconversion / refurbishment of Victorian and Edwardian property, small pockets of new build housing development, community safety initiatives and environmental improvements based on sound urban design principles. CUDOS was commissioned to inform the internal design of the Housing Deconversion Programme in the Radnor Road Neighbourhood Intervention Area to meet the cultural needs of the existing communities. A Marketing report commissioned by Midland Heart suggested that larger housing was in demand by mainly Muslim communities from Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin. In partnership with the commissioned architects, Bryant Priest Newman, the projects objectives were to:
Utilise existing design data that had been acquired from Community Design Workshops with Muslim user groups previously led by CUDOS Supplement this design data with additional information to be provided by a womens Focus Group Work in partnership with Bryant Priest Newman (BPN) to develop an architectural brief for the Deconversions and develop the house designs This publication is a summation of the design data collected at the Focus Group meeting, and the architectural brief which was used to guide the deconversion process for the dwellings identied by Midland Heart.
The method of consultation
The Focus group meeting was divided into two main sessions. The rst session was a detailed consultation in which individuals were given a worksheet to complete following detailed discussion. The worksheet had a series of questions structured around themes; the family life cycle; types of rooms in a family house; space requirements; and parking and outdoors areas. The discussion was informal, allowing for anecdotal information to be gleaned. The rst session was also attended by Bryant Priest Newman architects.
The second session was the application of the ndings from the consultation exercise on a proposed exemplar home for deconversion. The example used was 2 Radnor Road. The architects had prepared a 1:50 model of the home to assist the group in appreciating the spaces within the dwelling. The model and accompanying plans only showed the structural elements of the interior, allowing for as much remodelling as possible by the participants. Working with the group, the architects made several reiterations of potential layouts for the property.
Prole of Focus Group
The Focus group workshop was very well attended with 16 individuals taking part all women. The women provided an excellent sample of Midland Hearts potential clientele, as exemplied in the following proles: What do you for a living? FT PT Study At home Volunteer Materntity leave Self employed Do you have children? 1 child 2 children 3 children 4 children How would you identify yourself? Do you live with parents? Yes No Do you live with grandparents? Yes No Do you live with siblings? Yes No Living as a: nuclear family couple extended household What type of house do you live in?
The houses the women lived in ranged from 2 bedroom to 5 bed terraces (one with a loft conversion); as well as two 5 bedroom semi-detached houses shared by one extended family on Radnor Road; and one 5 bedroom detached house with three people in the household
British Hindu Muslim Mother What is your age range? Born in UK (16-20) Woman (20-25) Asian (25-30) Young (30-35) Girl (35-40) Anglo Indian (40-45) Chinese British What is your marital status? Pakistani wife single busy married Carer to father separated Lone parent English White Catholic
From the prole, a number of points are drawn out:
There was a small number of young people who offered a quite specic viewpoint of their housing requirements as members of a newer generation. The largest number of participants were adult women of working age. The majority of women were engaged in activities outside the home, therefore leaving the house mostly empty during the day. In spite of this the home retains its importance. Quite a few of the women classified themselves as single, even though they may have been married and had children. This demonstrated an increasing rate of divorce and separation in these societies, but a dislike for declaring it. Nevertheless, 30% were married. Eight women had children, the average being between 2 and 3 children. The group self-identified themselves in a number of different ways. The most common self-perception is based on faith, womanhood, and motherhood. Other more interesting terms included busy, and carer suggesting less denominational or sociological associations and a desire not to be labelled.
There seemed a significant number of women who lived with their parents approximately 50%. Four of the seven also lived with siblings. However, there is an increasing trend towards children reaching adulthood and leaving home to start a nuclear family. Four women were living as a nuclear family, and one woman had rented a house with her husband outside the family home. Another woman was living with her boyfriend. More women felt that the younger generations would wish to start their own families in their own home. In one case, a woman was accommodating her sons family, because he could not afford to buy his own home. Therefore, there is a mix of accommodation required to meet current proles, however, the issue of affordability remains important, as is the likely change to the future household size. There were examples where extended families bought two adjacent properties (not necessarily with shared party walls) to accommodate parents and siblings, and their children. One particular case had 11 children, 5 couples and parents. The following sections discuss the findings in greater detail to assist the development of an architectural brief for the internal layout of the housing deconversion programme.
Family Lifecycle
The majority of the participants were of second generation migrants; generally born and raised in this country. Through discussion and diagrams such as the one on the opposite page, information was gleaned into the family structure going back a generation. The ndings were as follows: generations were clearly structured with a large number of second generation adults remaining with their parents. first generation formed the first tier: a mother and father (and occasionally grandparents) who had immigrated to the UK and had 6-9 children within one household Second generation born in the UK: children marry one by one; majority of the children stay in the family home and have 1-4 children; the odd one or two leave to create their own nuclear family; daughters may return with children if they get separated or divorced
Third generation: children from babyhood to unmarried young people; one member was of this category and she predicted that if she married she would leave the family home. Mothers within the group also expressed their predictions of their children leaving the family home. At their maximum households can contain 9-23 people over three generations This suggests that in the current state of affairs, large extended families do still exist. Further, workshop participants were asked whether they thought this trend was set to continue, and more importantly whether there was a current market for extended families to move into new properties within the Neighbourhood Intervention Area.
Family Home
A great deal of importance was placed on the family home by all the participants, no matter what their background. The family home was considered a place of help and support, safety and comfort, familiarity, a central base for anyone, a meeting place for siblings and their families, and the main venue for entertainment. For those participants living out of the family home, they would go back to the family home almost every day to have a meal, or socialise with family members.
The signicance of the family home in the daily lives of these people demonstrates the strong ties that exist within these communities. It also means that the family home is a well used space and requires the exibility to accommodate the large number of people which frequent the properties.
New generations
There does appear to be a generational shift occurring as more women are either working full time or part time. Over 60% of the participants were engaged in activities outside the home during the day. The increasing empowerment of women as earners allows them to be independent from the family home. Even though the trend to leave the family home is still after marriage, the changing mindset of independence is evident in that more and more children are leaving to start nuclear families. During the consultation, it became apparent that mothers no longer expect their children to stay at home after they are married. This will undoubtedly have an effect on housing demand in the future, and particularly on the need for a greater diversity of house sizes to accommodate smaller numbers; or alternatively, to provide smaller independent units within larger dwellings.
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Rooms required
The types of rooms required were listed in categories of essential, desirable and not necessary. It was clear that the majority had adapted their uses and activities to the conned spaces of their dwellings, with some activities happening concurrently in the same room. During festivities, dwellings came under tremendous strain, with dining arrangements being carefully managed as a series of sittings, or by spreading table cloths on the oor in the reception rooms to accommodate the large number of guests. The uctuating numbers within these properties clearly require careful design in order to allow sufcient exibility to serve the inux of people during certain times of the year.
As a result of the consultation, participants were asked to identify room types, how important they were and to whom, where they should be located, and what special requirements need to be considered.
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Essential room types
Reception/guest room
This room was identied as very important for the majority of women. A reception/guest room was described as a room for guests, visitors, and family. This room was generally underused during the day and week, but was very important to be partitioned off from other sitting rooms to accommodate gender separation. Considered similar to an English parlour, this room is generally closed off and kept clean, and is where the familys best furniture and ornaments are displayed. An important room for large gatherings such as festivals, births, and deaths. Preference for this room to be opened into a larger sitting room was given for those occasions were up to 40 guests may be present. Most wanted a large room to be located close to a large/spacious hallway, at the front of the house. The reception is also used for prayer because it is a quiet and wellcleaned part of the house.
Lounge/sitting room
This room is considered important as a family room. In properties with limited space this room could also include the dining room, although it was preferred that they would be separate. This room would need to also interconnect with a sliding partition (or a partition of sorts) to the main reception room to accommodate large numbers during functions. Most wanted a large room, to be located at the middle of the house near the stairs and kitchen.
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Dining Room
Participants had two varying views on the use of the dining room. One view was to allow for a formal dining area where guests could be entertained. Others felt that dining could be less formal in the kitchen area, with the designated dining room becoming another reception room with the potential for smaller tables to be pulled out when necessary. Most wanted a large room for dining purposes.
kitchen out of sight of the formal dining area, but nevertheless in proximity, for ease of movement to and fro.
Utility Room
This room was considered very important. It could be a separate room, although with limited space in the property, built-in appliances were acceptable. Proximity to the kitchen and garden was paramount, and located to the back of the house. This is to be a small room.
Kitchen
This room was considered very important. A number of women identied that the kitchen is mostly used during breakfast and dinner time. With large numbers in some households, there is a great deal of cooking and preparation, as well as a large number of people cooking. Most wanted a large, tted kitchen with appliances either built in, or preferably in a separate utility room near the kitchen. The majority required deep cupboards to store large pots and pans. Moreover, a pantry was required adjacent to the kitchen to store food. The majority preferred the kitchen at the back of the house, near the garden. When asked about the creation of a visually protected courtyard, the majority of Muslim women considered it a good idea, particularly to protect their identity when hanging the washing. One suggestion was to create an open plan kitchen with dining area. However, the majority preferred to have a
Storage
There seemed to be a great demand for storage, particularly large pots and pans in the kitchen, and quilts/blankets/towels for storage in the top oors. Storage areas should be large enough for boxes, and be located on every oor if possible.
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Bedrooms with built-in-wardrobes

Large, built-in wardrobe space was a requirement to include a large storage area above the bed for quilts/blankets and such like.
Bedrooms
As many bedrooms should accommodate a double bed and have tted wardrobes. The Master Bedroom should be located close to the childrens room and with no level change where possible. All rooms are preferred to be large. A guest bedroom is to be included which could also double up as a study where possible. The Master Bedroom is preferred at the front of the house (to allow ease of surveillance of the family car). Childrens rooms should have enough storage space for toys and books etc., and preferably a place to study. Bunk beds are popular with younger children.
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Wet room with toilet/shower on ground oor

This was deemed essential to be located on the ground oor to serve guests, but also to assist those with limited mobility to have to climb stairs to the top oors. This room should avoid opening out on to the kitchen to preserve the latters cleanliness. The room should be a medium size to include a large hand wash basin with shower extension to the WC, to allow sufcient movement during the act of ablution. A shower unit would be preferable to future proof it for potential ground oor living (to be discussed later).
2 bathrooms
Bathrooms were seen as important to prevent queues in the morning, and serve each oor. The separation of the WC from the bathroom was seen as positive to ease morning trafc. Bathrooms should be located to the back of the house. The bathroom should be large and spacious where possible.
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Desirable room types
Study/prayer
A study on the ground or rst oor, which could also be a place for prayer and relaxation. The study could also include a library. It should be of a medium size, and to be used by children/young people for their homework.
En suite bathrooms to bedrooms

To Master bedroom in particular. En suites to the remaining bedrooms was seen more as a luxury which could be developed after the house had been bought, should the occupants wish to.
Childrens playroom/gym
This was seen as highly desirable to keep children within their own conned space. Some preferred to have this located on the ground oor, close to the kitchen for easy view. Others preferred to have the play room on the upper oors, although some discussion around safety on stairs, may be a hindrance. This room would require storage for toys. Some women requested a gym room. This room could have dual function as playroom and/ or gym. It was suggested a medium sized room would sufce.
Conservatory
The majority desired a conservatory which could play a number of different functions including a place for the elders to sun themselves, a childrens playroom; or an extension to the reception/living rooms for social events.
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Kitchenette on upper oors

There were mixed views on the installation of a kitchenette for the top oors. One view was that a kitchenette would potentially create undesirable smells in the bedrooms. Others felt that it was important to relieve the pressure on the main kitchen. Some successful personal examples were discussed, giving some autonomy to the top oors. The concealment of the kitchenette to be partitioned with accordion doors would go some way to separating it from the sleeping quarters. The suggestion would allow future separation of the house into self contained suites for an extended family. The potential for self-contained suites to be developed was well supported by the participants.
Porch
This was not deemed essential, but only relevant if part of the houses original fabric.
Disabled access and granny suite

This was considered important, particularly for those in caring roles for the elderly. The need to allow access effects both the threshold from the outside to the inside, and circulation internally. In many cases, electric stair lifts had been installed to cater for the elderly, but these take up room. However, by designing potential for a downstairs bedroom such as a granny suite, the dependence on top oors would diminish. This idea was well supported by participants with thoughts on allowing for this kind of eventuality was always a way to future proof the house.
Spacious Hallway with built in shoe cupboard and cloakroom

The hallway was seen as an important first impression by visitors to the house. It should be as spacious and lofty as possible to give it a sense of grandeur and arrival. The majority of household members remove their shoes before entering the house and would require a built in shoe cupboard for this purpose. Other felt that a cloak room to store outdoor clothes was essential.
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Bathroom on each oor

This was seen as desirable. Although the majority requested at least one wc/shower room on the ground oor and one bathroom on the rst oor as a minimum.
Garage
A place to park the car out of sight was seen as very desirable. There was a detailed discussion about car parking, particularly when catering for 3-4 cars per large household. The majority preferred either a garage or a driveway. There was explicit rejection of communal, secured, back of plot car parking due to distance and safety from and to the car. At worst, the majority agreed that on street parking close to their property was probably better than communal parking. When the importance to retain the boundary treatment was discussed and the effect that would have on limiting access to driveways, there was a sense that the priority was to provide off street parking rather than a low boundary wall. Many wanted a combination of hard and soft landscape to the front of their house to soften the effect of the driveway.
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Additional room types
Wide staircase to ease mobility and disabled access

Should there be no possibility to accommodate a granny at on the ground oor, then wider staircases to allow for the stair lifts would be required.
Library
An area to store books and relax. Could be associated with study if possible.
Courtyard
The need for a visually protected outdoor area was considered favourably, particularly amongst Muslim women. The use of higher partitions between neighbours and controlled access to the garden would be ideal to protect privacy during activities such as hanging washing or sitting out.
Den
This was mentioned by a young person, as a place to relax, or a hobby room. This room was best located at the top of a dwelling, potentially in the loft area out of earshot and the hustle and bustle of the ground oor.
Sauna
A desirable luxury, but not particularly well justied.
Garden Shed
Additional storage space for garden utensils and other things.
Loft for children

The potential to create a childrens playroom on the top oors. However, as discussed earlier, this may pose a danger for children on the stairs created by excessive use.
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General Emerging Trends
Household structure
The overall picture suggests a maximum of three generations in a household. Those living with parents, are generally the generation who had immigrated to this country to work in the factories. This generation holds memories of hardship and relative poverty. Paramount was the ability to buy their own property. In some cases, this generation was able to leave paid employment to start their own business. Increased wealth has meant the ability to buy larger houses or to buy in previously less expensive areas of the city - to accommodate a large extended family (households had 6-9 children). Approximately 50% of the focus group lived with their parents, even after marrying and having children. Some households accommodated a maximum of 9-23 people at their peak. This suggests that extended families are still a mainstream part of cultural communities such as Somalian, Bangaldeshi, Pakistani, Indian and Chinese (some of the origins of the participants). However, the importance of the family home, takes on many guises. The rst, is the inability of the second generation to buy their own properties. Their options are limited, with preference to live under their parents roof rather than rent. On the other hand, there is increasing evidence of second generations moving out of the family home to create nuclear families with approximately 40% of the focus groups living in
smaller terraced accommodation as smaller family units (with between 1 and 4 children). In spite of this, the ties with the family home remain strong. When asked whether the second generation see themselves as creating a new family home for an extended family after their parents pass on, the majority said no. Even in the absence of the rst generation, the family home would not be sold off, but handed down to one of the children to live in. It appears from this that the extended family phenomenon may eventually become a thing of the past, unless we see siblings coming together to buy property as a shared investment. Currently, there is not much evidence to support this. When the focus group participants were asked what they felt would be the case for their children (i.e. third generation) to remain within the family home, the majority felt that there may be one child who remains in the family home with them, but the remainder would leave to create their own nuclear family. Therefore, in order to future proof Midland Hearts properties for the time to come, it would be prudent to provide a range of accommodation (preferably homes with gardens) for smaller households. Other, more practical solutions for the larger properties would be to allow for the houses to be divided up into smaller self-sustaining suites/apartments where families could co-exist but also remain separate.
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Celebrations and functions

The family home is characterised by being the centre of large festivities, celebrations and functions, such as births and deaths. In order to accommodate frequently large gatherings, the ground oor spaces require sufcient exibility to expand and contract with the surge in numbers. Hence, the exible partitioning of ground oor receptions/dining rooms could assist in providing larger entertainment spaces when need be, but at the same time retaining the option of closing the rooms off to accommodate the gendered spatial requirements at other times.
innovative technologies to generate and harness natural energy.
House prices and Borrowing trends

Other reasons highlighted include the rising price of properties. When discussing an estimated price of 270 000 sale price for some of the very large properties on Radnor Road, the majority of participants felt it was out of the range of local people. When queried about preference for cash sale or mortgage, the majority said that even though mortgages were in principle against Islamic values, they felt that it was the only way to be able to get on the property ladder and exceptions would have to be made. The preference was overwhelmingly to apply for mortgaging.
Maintenance and running costs

Participants highlighted the reasons for less families buying larger properties, in spite of extend families. The majority highlighted the high running and maintenance costs to large, but aging Victorian/Edwardian housing stock. Without large families with several working individuals, paying towards these costs becomes difcult. Increasingly, the family home comes under threat because of these demands, with some people considering down-sizing and handing their properties over to other family members. One way of dealing with this issue is to ensure through the deconversion process standards for energy efciency are at the highest possible, with
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Preferences of houses over ats

There was a clear value placed on owning your own home, as well as living in a house with a garden. One participant had recently married and was currently renting a 2 bedroom terrace house with her husband. They were looking to purchase a house of similar size with a garden. The reason for disliking ats is based on the importance placed on having your own front door. Participants felt responsible for the number of people entering and exiting from the house. This is particularly true during festivals when large numbers of people are visiting, and could potentially become a nuisance to neighbours. Flats were considered potential for conict between neighbours due to noise generation.
Duty of care to elderly

There appears to be an engrained sense of duty to care for elderly parents. In some cases, grown sons and daughters remain in the family home for that reason. However, in other cases, the son or daughter may live separately, but visit regularly (usually daily) to watch over their parents. It would therefore be recommended to provide homes for the elderly in terms of access and mobility, and in the internal layout of the house, for example by providing wider doorways and corridors for circulation, the ground oor bedroom, and WC/ shower room.
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Key Recommendations
In spite of the variety of cultural backgrounds of the participants, the consultation has resulted in solutions that are not culture-specic, but could be equally essential or desirable by non Black Minority Ethnic families. The important design approach needed to underpin the Deconversion programme is to ensure the future-proong of the dwellings. This requires building in adaptability and flexibility to the internal layout and rooms to appeal to a wide range of user groups that may move in over time. One way of ensuring adaptability and exibility is not to be too prescriptive about the type and function of each room, but allow the inhabitants to write their own script within the spaces of the house as much as possible. Rooms could be designed to have more than one type of activity or use, depending at what time of the family cycle it is. Sociability customs place considerable demand on the internal layout of the house. The large numbers of visitors on special occasions such as festivals, births and deaths, requires spaces that expand and contract according to numbers. By virtue that a great deal of activity tends to take place on the ground oor, there is clearly greater demand for space on the lower oor than the top oors. The reception and dining or living rooms need to be able to open up and close in relation to demand.
These customs also place pressure on the houses facilities. The kitchen, where large numbers of people gather to cook communally, requires a large space and plenty of storage. Similarly, the need for a WC/shower room on the ground oor provides dedicated facilities for guests, as well as for family members (particularly the inrm) to have ease of access. The household structures within BME communities are dynamic and changing. Extended families are very much part of the norm, however, there are indications that as younger generations grow up in this country, there will be an increase of nuclear families. Nevertheless, the importance of the family home remains. One way of harnessing this trend is to allow large houses to be subdivided amongst family members into smaller sub-units, or suites, to accommodate the family life cycle, yet retain an element of autonomy within the household. This would mean, for example, designing spaces for cooking facilities, bathrooms and living spaces on the upper oors. Affordability is an issue, and in many cases the family home of the extended family was bought over two decades ago when prices were relatively low. In some cases this has meant that the second generation have remained at home after marriage. However, it may also mean that siblings may start investing together to buy property.
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From the consultation, however, there is evidence that there are growing numbers of smaller family units of 4-6 people that require access to affordable homes. The preference has been homes with access to gardens, rather than ats/apartments. This could be interpreted as a cultural mindset in which the pattern of sociability generates large inuxes of visitors on special occasions, generating demands on the internal spaces of the house, trafc and noise.
Secure parking is recognised as very important. With large families, 3 to 4 cars per household is anticipated. The number of cars will have a substantial impact on the need for off-street parking. In some cases, this may be difcult to provide. Therefore carefully designed on-street parking to accommodate the increasing numbers of cars, as well as enhances the street scene needs to be considered. Priority was given to the creation of driveways over reinstated boundary treatment. It may be advisable to nd creative ways of combining the two to avoid future dismantling of any heritage work.
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Acknowledgements
This study would not have been possible without Mark Tranter, Development Director, and Mary Jane Gunn, Development Manager at Midland Heart Housing Association for setting up the Focus group. Thanks to Larry Priest, Mark Bryant and Wai Wong for their innovative ways of interpreting the brief in their internal designs for the deconversion properties. The support of Birmingham City University, Ashram Housing Association, and Atkins are greatly appreciated in their ongoing commitment to CUDOS work.
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For further inquiries, please contact:
Dr Noha Nasser Centre for Urban Design Outreach and Skills Birmingham School of Architecture Birmingham City University BIAD Gosta Green campus Birmingham B4 7DX Noha.nasser@bcu.ac.uk 0121 331 5110
ISBN 978-1-904839-21-7
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