Tribal has been working with the Northern Way on a groundbreaking study looking at how the North’s housing “offer” can best meet the needs of tomorrow’s economy.
The Northern Way is a unique initiative which brings together the cities and regions of the North of England so that they work together to improve their economic development.
Economic development and housing demand are intertwined. Understanding place quality and locational choice - particularly of key groups in the labour market such as ‘Recent Graduates’ and ‘Family Builders’ - offers a strategic context for place-based investment and housing growth that will support the North's economy.
The research shows that doing more with our existing neighbourhoods is a cost-effective way of releasing their potential and suggests ways of identifying what gaps in the market new housing will need to fill.
This can provide a fuller evidence base for strategies at regional, city region and local levels and feed into the Homes & Communities Agency’s "Single Conversation".
An analytical 'toolkit', which arms strategists and policy makers with a framework for this research, includes:
- planning for opportunity - understanding the role and function of ‘typologies’ of place
- interrogating demand - exploring the impact of forecast economic change on the type and location of housing demand
- place quality assessment - quantifying physical place quality of nighbourhoods, so that it can be measured, compared and tracked over time, alongside other social and economic indicators.
The research findings were launched on 8th May at an event in Leeds convened by the Northern Way and led by Professor Michael Parkinson CBE; and welcomed by Eamonn Boylan of the Homes & Communities Agency, Tom Warburton of One NorthEast on behalf of the Northern Way, and Ian Slater of Manchester/Salford Pathfinder on behalf of the Manchester City Region.