A change in planning policy could soon see stately homes designed by Grimshaw and Foster appearing in the pages of Country Life.
The government has changed its planning policy to encourage more contemporary homes to be built in the Countryside. Guidelines in the revised Planning Policy Statement 7 encourage innovative new designs in rural areas of England.
Planning minister Keith Hill said that the government wanted to move away from pastiche historic styles and instead encourage modern methods of construction, use of sustainable building materials and developments with smaller environmental footprints.
Hill said: “We want to encourage the best British architects to design country houses that our future generations will be proud of – creating buildings that people will want to visit in a 100 years time.”
Lord Norman Foster, who along with other contemporary architects stands to benefit from the policy change, called the decision wonderful news. He said: “This is a very progressive initiative and I am absolutely delighted that this provision has been included.”
PPS7 is the first of a new type of planning policy document that will replace planning policy guidance notes (PPGs). PPS7 replaces PPG7 published in 1997. These rules were issued by John Gummer, former Tory environment secretary, and were put in place to encourage construction of modern and traditional country homes in a “truly outstanding design”. The ODPM said that traditional designs for new homes in the countryside would be still considered.
The government said that PPS7 is designed to protect the wider countryside from unnecessary development and said that most development will be in existing towns and villages, with priority given to brownfield sites.
