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I agree with the planning minister that a discussion about quality needs to take place.

I thought Wayne Hemmingway could of stressed more about the scale of design procurement (I.E Architects per number of houses designed) during his news night appearance, money is only part of the issue where quality is concerned. My feeling is design diversity and site planning are the key issues.

I also thought where were the front line Architects represented in the news night discussions and nothing was mentioned about the contribution of this and the next generation of Architects. Letchworth the example of exemplar housing put forward by the Minister was designed by Architects!

Many Uk Architects are capable of producing fine housing but the volume house builders side line them. The volume house builders should come on board with Architects but I believe they do not appreciate the real threat to their business models and believe the status quo will go on forever.

There are plenty of examples in Europe and even in the UK where collaboration has born profitable fruit. Too much slagging from the house building sector is common place as the craftsmen/designer relationship has been lost by these businesses and been replace by shareholder demands. The net result is our built environment is becoming monotonous and the overall quality is poor.