New Towns present a huge opportunity but to avoid the mistakes of the past, we must rethink not only what we build but how we build it, write Dr Deb Upadhyaya and Andrew Alsbury of AtkinsRéalis
For decades, Britain has built too little. Now a severe housing shortage, regional inequalities, strained infrastructure and climate change are converging.
Past attempts to meet housing demand have resulted in isolated developments and underinvestment that fail to create thriving, well-connected communities. So how can we enable lasting solutions?
With the UK government’s New Towns policy taking shape, the largest housebuilding programme in decades presents a huge opportunity. But delivering large-scale, sustainable communities today is more complex than ever.
The challenges of aligning infrastructure, housing, transport, economic strategy and sustainability goals require a fundamentally different approach. Without rethinking how we build – not just what we build – new developments risk repeating past failures.
Building New Towns right first time is possible despite the challenges. But what’s needed is integrated thinking from the start, connecting people, data and technology to make this ambition a reality.
Overcoming fragmentation, ensuring clear accountability and ongoing adaptability, and aligning stakeholders: these are all crucial lessons from past housebuilding efforts.
Through better integration and joined-up thinking, we can meet the challenge to build more, build smarter and deliver thriving communities for generations to come.
New order of challenge
Meeting the government’s ambitions won’t be simple, as building at scale in the UK has become notoriously difficult. The New Towns Taskforce is currently exploring the structures, models and reforms needed to address this. However, that only makes it more essential to take a holistic view from the outset.
First, New Towns must be located strategically to maximise growth and attract investment. A strong economic case is essential to engage the private sector, requiring alignment with national industrial strategy and local growth plans. This means identifying the most viable areas for development, where future communities can link to future jobs and ensuring economic diversity for resilience.
Connectivity must also be well embedded. If New Towns harmonise with national or regional infrastructure projects, such as East-West Rail or the TransPennine Route Upgrade, both the towns and transport links will be strengthened. In turn, this will boost local public transport systems and encourage investment in active travel networks.
Second, the New Towns must create high-quality places and communities, not just homes. Place-led growth requires essential ingredients – social infrastructure, access to education and green spaces. Quality of life, wellbeing and sustainability are now understood to be central to healthy communities.
That will necessitate ambition and a strong, shared vision. Many of last century’s New Towns lacked the economies of scale to be resilient to change; once public subsidies subsided, community facilities struggled.
But by building platforms for growth at scale, communities will flourish. With implementation of nature-based solutions that can enhance climate change resilience, water management and biodiversity, there is a chance to plan, design and accelerate delivery differently.
Lastly, how will the longer term be managed? New Towns must incorporate similarly robust stewardship mechanisms from the outset, embedding adaptability and responsiveness to residents’ evolving needs – a legacy first approach.
Together, these represent a complex matrix of agendas. Yet for successful delivery, they must be aligned to reinforce rather than undermine one another. That’s a generational
challenge.
Bringing it all together
However, we now have an unprecedented breadth of capabilities to deliver this vision. Spatial economic data, environmental assessment and advanced modelling tools can help us identify the most viable sites.
Industrialised and offsite construction methods are maturing, offering speedier, affordable, high-quality housing which has to play a part in developing communities at pace and scale.
Doing things the same way and expecting different results isn’t an option if the New Towns are to be delivered.
Sustainable housing developers such as EDAROTH – part of AtkinsRéalis – have a key role in bringing different thinking and approaches to the challenge. And nature-based solutions for water management, blue-green asset mapping and carbon sequestration can secure a green legacy for future generations.
Turning over a new leaf
Delivering a new generation of New Towns is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape the way Britain builds. By integrating infrastructure, housing, economic planning and sustainability from the beginning, we can avoid the pitfalls of the past and create the foundation for thriving, resilient communities.
But success requires an integrated, collaborative approach that aligns stakeholders, harnesses new technologies and embeds adaptability for the future.
With the right partners, the right tools and a shared vision, we can turn these ambitions into reality. A well-executed, joined-up approach will not only accelerate delivery but also ensure that these New Towns become more than just housing developments – they will be engines of growth, opportunity and a legacy we can all be proud of.
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