If you look at the plethora of housing related headlines, you will unearth many oft repeated words – Slams, Falls, Resigns, Shuts, Slashes, Cuts, Axes, Closes, Suspends, Sacks, Lowers, Threatens, Slumps, Depresses…..OK, so what’s the good news?
The sign of a good teacher is to identify the best points of a bad pupil and concentrate on them at the expense of the negatives. In that way, albeit slowly, confidence can be slowly achieved, the bad can be dissipated and a brighter day will dawn. Today, that pupil is Master Housing (initials U.K.) and every teacher is giving him a lousy report. There is no hope for this lad, his future is dim, he won’t concentrate, finds it hard to learn etc etc. It’s all his parent’s fault (Mr and Mrs Banks) and his grandfather (Mr Brown) doesn’t help by feeding him bars of credit crunchie which are making him wan and pasty.
We all know it is easier to be negative than positive, easier to be depressed than joyful, bad news and sensation are more interesting than good news and stability. So, rather obviously, it is time to shut up and stand up and get on with the job in hand – that applies to the media of course and and the woemongers and certainly to everything to do with UK housing. Accept the ying/yang principle that everything is equal and opposite and is a feature of life.
The plus points about the housing crisis is that everyone has been shaken out of their apathy. Backs against the wall stuff is particularly good for the British who are at their best in adversity. People are been forced to look at the big picture; developers and builders are being taught a lesson ( and we no longer want shoddy, badly designed, overpriced boxes, thanks); manufacturers are having to look closely at their products in terms of sustainability, higher performance; innovative new ways of building and harnessing and saving energy are being devised; the lifestyle of people in existing homes will undoubtedly improve; the future of wet trades is being questioned; the logic of off-site construction might become reality; green, planet and climate will be fully understood; more British architects, so popular overseas, might just turn their hand at designing good, cost effective mass housing; new cultures, new thinking, new ideas will proliferate.
That said, isn’t it really quite an exciting future for building in general and housing in particular?
