The normally mild-mannered Dickon Robinson peers sternly through his round tortoiseshell glasses as I enter his office. He feels that he has been getting more media coverage than he deserves lately and is concerned about overexposure. For a moment it looks like the interview is off 鈥� but then he relaxes, his conscience perhaps mollified by the outburst of modesty. He sends for a pot of tea and I switch on the tape recorder.
Immediately, he is off and away, explaining his latest visionary project with schoolboy enthusiasm. 鈥淲e鈥檙e doing an exercise to see what would happen if we were to re-roof our whole portfolio with photovoltaics, to see how much electricity we could generate.鈥� As director of development and technical services at London housing charity the Peabody Trust, Robinson鈥檚 portfolio consists of 17 000 homes.
鈥淓veryone says the problem with photovoltaics is they鈥檙e too expensive. They鈥檙e too expensive because the demand isn鈥檛 great enough, but if the demand was there, the price would come shooting down. So, one of the questions we鈥檙e asking is, could we be a big enough client to do that?鈥�
As usual, there is impeccable logic behind Robinson鈥檚 ambitious idea. 鈥淓nergy costs will rise in time, probably in unpredictable jumps. It鈥檚 no good waiting for energy prices to double before we do it, because it would take us 10 years. Our tenants are the least able to sustain sudden increases in energy costs and if we have a mechanism for generating solar electricity, we have a safety net.鈥�
A concern for the needy is at the heart of everything the trust does. It was set up in 1862 with a 拢500 000 bequest from American banker George Peabody, the founder of Morgan Grenfell bank. Dedicated to housing London鈥檚 destitute, the trust鈥檚 early estates were models of urban design, offering well-ventilated, sanitary homes as an alternative to the capital鈥檚 appalling slums.
But, by 1988, when Robinson left Camden council鈥檚 housing department to join it, the trust鈥檚 building programme had stagnated.
Setting the agenda for government
Since then, the charity has re-established itself as one of the most innovative clients in the country, with an uncanny knack of being one step ahead of the game. With its pioneering modular apartments at Murray Grove, its high-density brownfield schemes, its zero-energy village at Sutton and projects to house key workers, the trust is usually on hand to offer a working example of John Prescott鈥檚 latest big idea.
鈥淕overnments can only move very slowly, but organisations like ours can move quickly,鈥� Robinson explains. 鈥淎ll the time, there are some of us here thinking: What鈥檚 going to happen next year? What鈥檚 going to happen in five years鈥� time? What are the emerging trends, pressures, and opportunities?鈥�
For example, the trust plans to build a home for rough sleepers in Pimlico. 鈥淲e got involved at the beginning of the rough sleepers initiative because people working for the trust said: 鈥榃e didn鈥檛 see all these kids on the street five years ago. We ought to be doing something.鈥欌��
The trust also spotted the difficulties that key workers such as nurses and teachers were having finding affordable homes in London, long before it became a hot political issue, and is already providing accommodation for them.
Where design and architecture work well, it鈥檚 an incredibly good long-term investment. There are not many organisations that have that daily reminder
鈥淲e were saying there is a whole sector of people who are crucial to London鈥檚 economy and clearly not able to house themselves easily in the London market. That鈥檚 just an appalling situation. We have to create new forms of housing for them,鈥� says Robinson. 鈥淵ou start thinking about what you can do about it and government catches up with you.鈥�
Robinson, a modest and gentle man who is nonetheless unafraid of speaking home truths, is rapidly becoming a reluctant hero of the urban renaissance movement. Recently appointed a commissioner at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, his vision and honesty make him the star turn at dull regeneration conferences.
Yet he attracts attention partly because there are so few organisations pursuing this agenda. Robinson is outspoken in his criticism of many housing associations, which he believes have become lazy through dependence on government funding. 鈥淭here are some people in the housing association sector who feel they are a kind of arms-length delivery agent for government housing programmes. I don鈥檛 agree with that. It makes a profound difference to the country whether those organisations are in passive mode, saying: 鈥楾ell us what do to and give us some money and we鈥檒l do it,鈥� or whether they鈥檙e in proactive mode, saying: 鈥楾here鈥檚 a big problem out there, let鈥檚 get on with it.鈥欌��
Innovative design pays off
A striking characteristic of all Peabody Trust developments is their use of contemporary 鈥� often cutting-edge 鈥� design. Robinson, who trained as an architect himself, puts this down to the trust鈥檚 140-year legacy of architect-designed properties. 鈥淧eople are still living in those early estates, and they鈥檙e very popular. We are reminded every day that where design and architecture work well, it鈥檚 an incredibly good long-term investment. The fact is, there are not many organisations that have that daily reminder.鈥�
He is sharply critical of social housing providers that scrimp on design. 鈥淭here are plenty of housing associations that do use architects, but there are plenty that don鈥檛, and that鈥檚 because they鈥檙e not taking the long-term view. I think there鈥檚 a slight sense of dumbing down. The view has been expressed that if speculative housebuilders can sell their product, then it鈥檚 obviously popular; so if [housing associations] provide the same thing, that鈥檚 going to be popular too. That鈥檚 an abdication of responsibility.鈥�
Robinson confesses to a prejudice for using London consultants, saying he likes to be in constant contact with his designers and engineers. But he is increasingly looking further afield for new ideas. He plans to employ Dutch architect West 8, which has developed an approach to regeneration based on providing 鈥渟erviced plots鈥�.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not been done at all in this country,鈥� says Robinson. 鈥淚nstead of a housebuilder buying the land, building the apartments and selling them, they create lots of individual plots that would be sold to people who would then build their own homes. There would be various rules about the form and the height of those homes, but every one would be an individual creation. They鈥檝e done an absolutely fascinating waterfront development on that basis in Amsterdam and it looks stunning.鈥�
How to beat the skills shortage
Robinson is also experimenting with building techniques from around the world, believing that increased industrialisation offers the construction industry the only route out of its recruitment crisis. 鈥淭he skills shortage is going to drive everything. We鈥檙e very heavily involved in lots of training programmes on our estates, and if you give an unemployed person the choice between being trained to get a job that is indoors using IT skills, or being trained as a bricklayer, they鈥檒l go for the IT job every time.
鈥淪ociety has moved on, and most people don鈥檛 want to work out of doors on dirty, dangerous building sites. I鈥檓 sure the answer is factory-based construction. Things like Egan and some of the work we鈥檝e been doing is helpful because it gives some ideas about how the industry can respond to the skills shortage. But it will be the push of the skills shortage rather than the pull of Egan that will actually bring about change.鈥�
