Community involvement in the design of social housing.

The literature shows that there is much value placed in community involvement in
the design of new social housing schemes, but little in the way of conclusive proof
that it is effective. It was decided to establish the built effect of this involvement -
did it make a difference to the houses?
The research incorporates both qualitative and quantitative elements. A
questionnaire survey of all developing housing associations was used to establish
the current situation and four case study developments were selected and
investigated in detail. The case studies were similarly sized housing
developments located in London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Sunderland
The survey shows that housing associations are involving tenants in a variety of
ways. The predominant picture is one of participation in the latter stages of the
design process, in the selection of the fixtures and fittings. There is also
significant use of post occupancy surveys with results feeding into the housing
associations' design briefs. There are no significant regional differences in
approach but the size of association does appear to affect the community
involvement techniques adopted, as does the procurement of the development
site. Larger landlords use more involvement techniques and do so earlier in the
process.
The four case study developments show similarities in the pattern of the
community involvement. Two types of involvement were isolated, and these are
termed generic and specific. The former being where representative tenants are
used to develop design briefs that are used in the development of all schemes,
and the latter where the community is involved in the design of its own built
environment. Overall the effect of involvement on the houses produced is small,
with other factors in the development process being more significant; yet the
processes isolated are associated with some built changes and these are unlikely
to have been made independently of tenants' views.