Edward Taylor (The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment) ended the morning session by setting out the nature of that charity before describing its work in Poundbury, Sherford, Upton and Ballater. All the projects involved the application of urban design principles established by Leon Krier and made familiar through the work of the New Urbanists in the United States. The foundation had been involved to various degrees in these projects and in those where it had a closer and longer commitment, such as Poundbury and Ballater. considerable architectural detail had been specified by the codes. It is significant that the Duchy of Cornwall is the landowner in both Poundbury and Sherford.
In the question and answer session the issue of landownership was raised and it was suggested that the key to the success of a code was the control that was exercised on the land. Not only those projects where the Duchy of Cornwall but also Upton and Newhall were prepared and implemented under the auspices of a single and enlightened landowner who was prepared to forego financial gain in exchange for a higher quality project. A response to this was the observation that a range of house builders had been used including some volume builders.
The other issue raised was that of the embracing of traditional and vernacular architecture in the pattern books proposed by the Prince’s Foundation. New Hall was complimented for avoiding this and achieving a modern image while Hammersby Sjorstad was commended to the conference as being a model for a modern, well designed and sustainable housing development. This reinforces the point of the earlier discussion since in Stockholm there is considerable control exercised by the local authority through landownership.
