Right To Build Toolkit
research commission and advocacy tool for self-build and custom build housing
2015-16 / with the National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA), Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Nationwide Foundation
Working in a small team that included the former Chair of NaCSBA and the secondment of a senior advisor to the UK Government's Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Sam led the 'group self-build' strand of this wide-reaching and high-impact research and advocacy commission funded by the Nationwide Foundation.
The project not only surveyed the pragmatic action being taken by local authorities across England and Wales to support self-provided housing options, but also used extensive fieldwork to identify transferable "better practices" from the European, North American and Australian contexts where self-build and custom build housing production is more common.
The project findings were used to inform a series of regional workshops with local authority planning, housing and regeneration teams designed to help them harness the potential of their recently acquired statutory obligations towards the sector, as well as receiving a prime ministerial endorsement with the launch of a web-based Toolkit at 10 Downing Street.
The project's principal recommendation that the Government should establish a Right To Build Task Force to resource innovation in the sector and drive application of better practice at local government level was recently adopted - and the Task Force is currently active across the UK.
Kevin McLoud introduces the project at 10 Downing Street.