Can Better Places be Delivered by a Resurgence of the Mansion Block?

Our cities seem more challenged than ever before. Insufficient and inadequate access to green spaces, the housing shortage, declining high streets, loneliness, declining physical and mental health, loss of community and low levels of accessibility all seem entrenched issues.

New research (here) reveals that three-quarters of children would like to spend more time in nature. If only more places could be more like Paris, Amsterdam or even the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), with its historic green squares, tree-lined streets, vibrant high streets - not least of all The King’s Road - and elegant mansion blocks?  

Potentially more places could be.

Sustainable and healthy places in which shops, services and key amenities can be accessed by no more than a short walk or short cycle ride could also be realised. 

The go-to housing solutions for cities, driven by viability studies and housing targets, have been tall buildings, while on cities’ fringes, seeking to build low density estates on green field sites. 

There is a third way. 

RBKC has London’s highest number of dwellings per hectare (71, while the London-wide average 22.5 per hectare and 46 per hectare for inner London boroughs) yet it remains one of the most sought-after locations to live. The secret behind the data is Kensington and Chelsea’s elegant mansion blocks. 

Mainly constructed in the late Victorian and Edwardian era as housing for the elite and as a solution to the rapid growth in London’s population, the mansion block could enjoy a renaissance as a solution to cities’ 21st Century challenges.   

Mansion blocks deliver proximity and walkability, the two measures of sustainable places. Their density and design also frees up urban land for much needed dwell spaces, parklets, play spaces and squares. 

The mansion block not only provides a high-density housing solution but also substantial local markets for shops, restaurants, pubs and services, places where people connect and communities are created. Cambridge University once told us that the secret of their large number of Nobel prize winners is the number of pubs in the city centre that ensure that experts from many different disciplines meet and exchange ideas. It seems the benefits of designing connected communities is untold. More mansion blocks could be the key to unlocking this potential. 

Dan Johnson is the Founder of Placemaking London and joint Founder of Attis.

Placemaking London (www.globalplace.co.uk) thinks, plans and delivers sustainable places.

Attis (https://www.attistowns.com/)  identifies and tackles the factors that prevent places from realising their full potential.