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Town and City Centre Living - A Distinctive Heart
Town and city centres – large and small – are the heart of our communities, but the scale of societal change they have had to adapt to in recent years is probably unprecedented in all of human history. Shifting demographics, an evolving retail landscape, and the impact of the pandemic and the resultant high inflation and cost of living, are permanently shaping our centres.
This is the first in a series of blogs exploring the impact that these changes are having on the quality of living in central locations. We will examine the social and economic challenges and consider the unique opportunities town centre living offers for both communities and the built environment.

 

Trends in central living

It’s widely known that city centre populations have substantially increased over the last two decades. According to the latest census data, between 2011 and 2021 residential densities[1] in nearly all of the top 20 largest cities and urban centres in England (defined by Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities) have seen a marked increase in their populations, shown in the chart below.

Smaller cities and large towns have also experienced similar trends. For example, residential density (per sq.km) between 2011 and 2021 in Northampton town centre increased by 18.1%; in Bolton town centre it increased by 14.7%; and in Newport[2], Wales, it increased by 10.5%.
These increases are driven mostly by students, young professionals and graduates seeking the “buzz” of central living. Despite the widely publicised trend of people moving to locations in the countryside at the start of the pandemic, indicating a reversal of this 20-year trend, the signs are that demand for homes in towns and cities has returned[3].

 

The Benefits and Untapped Opportunities

As the cost of living crisis has taken hold over the last 12 months, and people are increasingly returning to offices to work (at least on a hybrid basis), there are clear economic and sustainability benefits to central living. Centres offer easy access to public transport and allow residents to save time and costs associated with commuting for a better work-life balance, and they also fulfil our need to live in connected communities with neighbours close-by. As more people live in central locations, the economic benefits will be retained and the cost advantages of delivering health, education and community services and new green spaces should also be increased.
During this blog series, we’ll unpack some of these benefits. Equally, we will consider relevant demographic trends impacting town and city centres, including reductions in household size, trends such as ‘co-living’ and the growth in ‘Generation Rent’, as well as potentially untapped opportunities to meet the housing needs of the ageing population.
In relation to the needs of an ageing population, the compact nature of many town and city centres already offers convenience, security, and a sense of community. Jennifer Heron reported in November 2022 that the Mayhew Review[4] specifically recommended that retirement living in town centres should be integrated as part of the levelling up process and local regeneration programmes.

The specific economic benefits and different ways to retain expenditure in centres are also explored in this series. 

There are, however, challenges. Quality employment and therefore graduate retention is a key part of creating demand for town and city centre living. The difficulty of delivering new homes on brownfield sites in town and city centres is also well reported, as I explained in my blog earlier this year[5]. The most effective town and city centre strategies will recognise this and work across the spectrum of public services to attract investment and funding. We will show that town centres can still be hubs of economic activity, offering a wide range of employment opportunities, vibrant leisure and entertainment, restaurants, cafes, theatres, art galleries, and open spaces.

The emerging Heart of the City[6] development in Sheffield is testament to this with the opening of Pound’s Park this year. With families in mind, the park features a three-by-eight-metre climbing boulder, reminiscent of a Peak District rockface, and a new children’s playground. The vibrant atmosphere this creates in the very centre of the city fosters social interactions, promotes cultural experiences, and enhances overall quality of life for both nearby residents and the city as a whole.

Source: Lichfields

Conclusion

Central living has increased substantially over the last two decades and this blog series will demonstrate the clear sustainability and economic benefits of this trend. But challenges remain if the full potential is to be realised.
Over the coming week, we will explore the particular demographic groups where there are opportunities for growth in town centre living, as well as discuss some of the perceived pros and cons, and whether they are borne out in reality.

 

[1] Percentage change in person per square kilometre between 2011 and 2021 census measured by Middle Super Output Area

[2] Stow Hill MSOA

[3] https://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/articles/property-news/2022-housing-market-whats-changed/

[4] https://www.arcouk.org/resource/mayhew-review-final-report

[5] https://lichfields.uk/blog/2023/january/17/the-ambition-is-there-depending-on-where-you-look/

[6] https://heartofsheffield.co.uk/

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The ambition is there, depending on where you look
This February marks 22 years since Sheffield’s flagship city centre apartment block, West One, received planning permission. Located in the trendy Devonshire Quarter and overlooking Devonshire Green with its skate park and the annual Tramlines music festival, West One is home for around 1,000 people in a 7 storey block. It was completed in 2005 as one of the first centrally located large apartment blocks in Sheffield marking its entry into the ‘urban renaissance’ era that was being promoted by Richard Rogers and the Urban Task Force at the time.
Sheffield’s city centre population today is nearing 30,000. Students and young professionals make up a significant proportion, but the highly successful Kelham Island neighbourhood on the northern edge of the city centre has blossomed into an active, mixed community with flagship eco-housing led by Citu and others. The City Council is keen to deliver more housing like this in the city centre, motivated in large part, it seems, to resist Green Belt release.
The Publication Draft Sheffield Plan that is out for consultation until 20th February articulates the City Council’s ambitions to achieve more centrally located housing. It comes off the back of the City Centre Strategic Vision that was endorsed by the City Council in March 2022 which talks about “resetting the City Centre by developing a strategy to re-purpose and improve vibrancy through the creation of new, distinctive neighbourhoods.”

Ambitious?

It’s been a bumpy road for Sheffield getting to this point: the Unitary Development was adopted in 1998 and the Core Strategy in 2009, so a new Local Plan is much needed, but the way in which the city should meet its housing need has been the focus of much debate over the years.
The Publication Draft Sheffield Plan makes the case for rejecting the 35% uplift for urban centres because it would result in a housing growth figure that outpaced the anticipated level of jobs growth. At 2,090 dwellings per annum they are effectively proposing a shortfall of 15,061 dwellings over the plan period (2022 to 2039). This level of growth is borne out of the Council’s decision in January 2022 to reject the option to release Green Belt sites unless they are “sustainably located” and And since then, the Council may take comfort in having chosen its strategy ahead of the draft NPPF consultation which proposes a change to the way plans are examined: from meeting an area’s objectively assessed need “as a minimum” to, “as far as possible” as my colleague Edward Clarke’s recent blog explains. We certainly see the Council’s proposed approach on housing numbers to be keenly debated and heavily scrutinised as the draft Plan progresses.
But where it lacks ambition in one area it more than makes up for it in another.
The Publication Draft Sheffield Plan is ambitious for the city centre and redeveloping brownfield sites. It proposes c.18,465 new homes over the plan period in the City Centre comprising c.51% of the total proposed housing supply and 56% of the proposed housing allocations.
The latest data in 2022[1] shows that the City Centre delivered 56% (996 dwellings) of the city’s gross dwelling completions. If they can maintain that level of delivery every year of the plan period then, in theory, they will achieve the desired numbers. However, of the 996 completions in 2020/21, only 7 were ‘houses’, the rest were apartments and student clusters. Clearly, housing delivery in the city centre will need to diversify if it is to meet the city’s housing need.

Can it be delivered?

There may be reasons to think that Sheffield can deliver the step change required to deliver. Significant change is already happening through the “Heart of the City 2” (HoC2) scheme, a major leisure, retail and residential redevelopment project due to be finished by 2024. It is the sequel to the highly successful Peace Gardens, Millennium Galleries and Winter Garden that were opened some twenty years ago (which still look fresh today). Also in the pipeline are works to Fargate (traditionally the main shopping street) and Castlegate using the Future High Streets Fund and Levelling Up Funds.
If Sheffield can deliver the right housing offer in the city centre, then the contribution to the city centre’s regeneration is compelling, but a lot of hard work is required by all involved.
We’ve written many times on this blog about the challenges of delivering new housing on brownfield sites, and most recently my colleague Simon Slatford reflected on the implications of the draft NPPF’s emphasis on increasing density in suburbia. In our experience, three core issues affect the deliverability of brownfield sites: ownership, land assembly (and de-risking sites) and location.
In terms of ownership, the City Council does own some land in the city centre but it is not the dominant landowner. What it does own has been successfully marketed to the private sector in recent years which supports the case the Sheffield Plan is presenting. Prime examples include the refurbishment of Eye Witness Works for apartments by Capital and Centric, and Kangaroo Works on Rockingham Street that was acquired by US investor Angelo Gordon and Ridgeback Group in 2019 for a 14 storey build-to-rent apartment block.
Where the City Council lacks ownership, they are also doing what they can: playing the role of land assembler who can buy up sites, in some cases, and then put out to the market after public funding has ‘de-risked’ them by overcoming certain constraints, e.g. contamination, highways infrastructure and flood defences. The partnership with Homes England[2] is testament to that strategy. Where demand exists but the ability to meet that demand is missing, then public funds can be used to good effect.
The third challenge to brownfield land assembly is getting the location right in relation to demand. There are locations in Sheffield City Centre where demand exists for the range of housing the council wants more of – the highly successful Kelham Island in the north of the city centre is the best example. But to what extent is that demand repeatable across the city centre to meet the scale of growth envisaged?
Also, what will peak demand look like? How will they know when to look elsewhere to meet the city’s housing need? It is perhaps at that point that the case for non-city centre or greenfield sites will need to be heard.
Sheffield may also be encouraged that city centre living remains in high demand post-covid. We expect that a large proportion of the growth will come from the Build to Rent (BtR) sector which, as we reported in our blog in April, is booming with the British Property Federation (BPF) research showing that the sector pipeline grew by another 8% in 2021. This growth was affirmed in October by the BPF in their latest report[3] showing 20% growth in BtR year-on-year in regional towns and cities (almost triple the pace of growth in London at 7%).
And despite inflationary pressures developers are pressing on: the BPF reports that the pipeline for BtR remains strong with 22% year-on-year increase in the number of BtR homes in for planning in regional towns and cities.
Sheffield is seeing some of this growth: there are at least 5 BtR schemes under construction in the city centre and at least another 7 in for planning at the time of writing.
In addition, the BtR product is diversifying with Single Family Rental schemes emerging as a new sub-sector with the BPF reporting about 15,000 single family homes in the planning pipeline in England. If Sheffield is to meet its ambition of delivering city entre living at scale, then attracting this market will be key, but these are small numbers when looked at nationally.

Testing times ahead

Sheffield recognises the challenge and it is no stranger to using its resources to best effect, but demand and need are two different things and location is a significant factor in meeting both. When judged on market demand for where people want to live – to raise a family, have more outdoor amenity space and choice of schools – there may not be enough flexibility in the proposed distribution of housing, particularly if the brownfield sites can’t deliver.
The current consultation on the Publication Draft Sheffield Plan will channel the debate as to whether the Council should place greater emphasis on the role that non-city centre, greenfield or even Green Belt sites can have in meeting the full extent of the City’s housing needs, both in terms of the overall numbers and, importantly, the range of house types.
It is one that Lichfields is plugged into with local knowledge and projects in the city. If you would like us to represent you in the debate, then do get in touch. The consultation on the Publication Draft Sheffield Plan runs until 20th February.


[1] Sheffield Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment, 2022

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homes-england-annual-report-and-financial-statements-2021-to-2022/homes-england-annual-report-2021-to-2022-chairs-foreword-accessible-version

[3] https://bpf.org.uk/about-real-estate/build-to-rent/

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