Prasad reveals RIBA recession strategy

RIBA president Sunand Prasad has unveiled a radical plan to boost architects’ workload in a recession by calling for a massive government-financed programme to make millions of homes energy- efficient.

Pointing to the recession of the early 1990s —which he said saw 40% of architects lose their jobs — Prasad said the government’s neo-Keynesian plan to increase spending on health and education should be redirected over the next decade to retrofitting up to 7 million publicly built houses in need of upgrading.

He claimed this was an “incredible opportunity”, which would provide work all over the country, significantly cut the UK’s carbon emissions, and help some of the poorest people living in rented social housing through funding channelled through the new Homes & Communities Agency.

But the proposal, which the RIBA has yet to formally put forward, has divided observers.

The UK Green Building Council and the Association of Consultant Architects offered preliminary support, but academics and architects questioned the value of the plans for the profession, with John McAslan describing them as “hopeless”.

Prasad told BD: “The number one priority [for the RIBA] is how the institute can help people in difficulties and advise members to avoid them.

“There is one incredible opportunity: upgrading the existing housing stock. That should be the priority for government. It would be a massive programme and would provide money in a geographically distributed way.”

Prasad admitted that architects had to “prove the case” that they should be involved by improving their skills in housing refurbishment, but insisted there was a substantial opportunity in areas such as ventilation, orientation and airtightness.

But McAslan said he despaired of the RIBA’s reaction to the economic downturn. “There are choices about where you put limited funds, and this plan will not save architects,” he said. “The RIBA is always six steps behind. Sunand is a brilliant president… but I don’t see a concerted effort to tackle the problems that face students and young architects, or to demonstrate the value of architecture in the community. I’ve not seen a single meaningful initiative from the RIBA to help practices.”

James Woudhuysen, professor of forecasting and innovation at De Montfort University, claimed the plan demonstrated “extremely low ambition”, and said architects should instead come up with a beautiful, ultra-low energy newbuild design which could become the housing equivalent of Apple’s iPod. “It’s really small-minded to think Gordon Brown is going to listen to architects asking if they can help with his insulation programme,” he added.

But the UK Green Building Council public affairs manager John Alker welcomed the proposal. “Architects increasingly do this kind of work,” he said.

“Hyde Housing Association recently employed ECD Architects for an exemplar terraced house refurbishment in Kent which produced an 80% cut in CO2 emissions. The big breakthrough will come if we find new ways to finance the cost of refurbishment by paying for the work through long-term savings on energy bills.”

ACA president Brian Waters added: “I would certainly support the direction he’s going in. The clever bit is to make it work on the ground so that the effect is felt in weeks rather than years.”