Baby boomers

The resulting low-cost, high-quality developments are an inspiration to those responsible for our own growth areas such as Milton Keynes and the Thames Gateway.

When the Netherlands' planning ministry unveiled 73 growth plots known as "Vinex areas" across the country, it was determined that the initiative would not turn into a developer's free-for-all.

Responsibility for the planning and land development of each site was placed firmly on the shoulders of municipal planners, and stringent guidelines were set on the type of accommodation and percentage of affordable housing that the proposed schemes must include.

Vinex sites are required to have certain amounts of green space and favourable financing packages for buyers. They also have to include dwellings of varying sizes and costs, with a minimum of 30% of social housing and, unusually, properties on the developments must be capable of being extended.

In response the architect S333, who won a commission for a 1.2 hectare Vinex site in 1998, has designed a scheme where the residents rather than the designers have the final say on what the homes look like.

"We wanted to avoid the predictability and mono-functionality of traditional Dutch mass housing – rows of flat-roofed boxes that can't be extended or developed, with colour added as an afterthought," explains partner Burton Hamfelt, who worked on the Bloembollenhof estate in Vijfhuisen, south of Schiphol near Amsterdam.

Family planning
"This is where, so often, Dutch mass housing fails. It doesn't allow for expansion as the family gets bigger," adds Hamfelt. "At Bloembollenhof, through a variety of internal layouts and good site orientation, we have created dwellings of differing types that will attract and evolve with a wide cross-section of housebuyers."

S333 designed 22 buildings in a variety of sizes and shapes that contain between one and four dwellings – making a total of 56 homes. Initially, 12 buildings containing 42 low- to mid-cost homes were completed, and the final phase of 10 individual properties and four self-build plots is still under way (Project details, above right). The budget was ¤5.7m (£3.8m) and the mixed tenure allowed the low-cost homes to be partly paid for by the sale of more expensive ones.

There is space around all the dwellings and simple, flexible building layouts mean houses can easily be extended externally or modified internally, as required by the occupants.

The architect even envisages families who live in multiple-occupancy blocks buying the flat next door and knocking through when they need more space. Privacy has been kept in mind while planning views and building orientation so people cannot see into their neighbours' windows.

Equally unusually for a mass new-build scheme, the first residents – both social tenants and private buyers – have been included in the design process. They can choose from a catalogue of details, including skylights, dormer windows, extensions and balconies and are given a free rein to design the communal green spaces around their houses.

Hamfelt believes this inclusion is key to the success of a housing scheme. "As with all projects of this type, we are attempting to create a community," he says. "What better way to do that than by promoting inclusion and ownership from the outset."

Dutch people are mad on DIY, so we let people do their own thing with the interiors 

Burton Hamfelt, Architect

The variety this entails was all part of the plan. S333 has designed the scheme with the template of a rural farmyard in mind – or at least, the idea of clusters of barns, stables and outbuildings around a farmhouse.

The interior layout also varies from open-plan models with ceilings that are twice the typical height to more conventional, compartmentalised dwellings. But what all the homes share – whether the property is a large, expensive single dwelling or a flat within a block – is a virtually bare interior for tenants and buyers.

This sparse internal design is in tune with the needs of the development's potential market.

"Dutch people are mad on DIY," explains Hamfelt. "So to spend a lot of the budget on fitted kitchens and carpets that, in many cases, are not really wanted seemed wasteful. Instead, we let people do their own thing with the interiors."

Next stop England
The residents who have moved in have really got into creating their own spaces, says Hamfelt, and this has helped to build a feeling of ownership and commitment to the place. Hamfelt and S333 think this approach is easily transferable to any scheme and they are keen to see it included on British projects.

The company is currently working on developments in Oldham, Greater Manchester, and King's Cross in London.

But giving residents free rein doesn't mean design is an afterthought. Spending less money on interiors frees up funds to be spent on top-quality cladding and structural materials. The properties are all built to the environment-friendly standards popular with the design-conscious Dutch: external detailing is minimal, there are no eaves and rainwater pipes are hidden within the building fabric; materials are glass, painted corrugated steel sheet and grooved hardwood from a responsible Brazilian source.The resulting clusters of homes have a rural overtone, with the feel of modernised barns.

There is irony in the fact that the responsibly farmed hardwood from Brazil is less expensive than its European equivalents, although the more onerous screw-fixing techniques required add some cost.

But Hamfelt says the exquisite colours, tones and hardness of the Cumaru wood make it a better long-term facade material than local timbers such as spruce – and since the project philosophy sets great store on quality, life costs won out over any cost-cutting concerns.

Building and bonding
Hamfelt says the occupants of the first phase of Bloembollenhof have voluntarily grouped together in order to better maintain the buildings' facades. But he also admits to noticing the odd DIY eyesore.

"There a few non-standard rooflights being fitted that I don't like," he says with a smile. "But the tenant who has installed a fireplace and vented the flue out of the side of his house makes me cringe. It doesn't look good and it will blow soot onto his home! And then there is the man who has decided to create an El Rancho backyard …"

Despite all this, Hamfelt has no doubt that the enlightened approach to estate design helps tenants to bond and so outweighs any unfortunate aesthetic additions.