What Is The Nhs Health New Towns Initiative - And How Does It Relate To Development?

By Author: Bradley Weiss
Total Articles: 272
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Melding the National Health Service with house building in England might have far-reaching benefits. Urban design and medicine can work together.



Very often creative solutions arise from crises. That may be the case in how the National Health Service (NHS) is getting involved in England’s housing shortage.



It’s a well-known fact that the UK is short of homes. To simply catch up with the need of a growing population, we need to build no fewer than 200,000 new homes every year for the next five years. Some argue that the number might be closer to 250,000 new homes. This is being approached on a variety of levels, including housing associations that construct affordable homes as well as the by the private sector of homebuilders, UK land investment funds, institutional investors and the like adding to the housing stock wherever resources and planning authorities allow.



But building methods are changing for the better, even as approaches to public health are enlightened with new information, new data ...
... and new ideas on what makes for a healthy society. This is why the NHS chief executive, Simon Stevens, announced in early 2015 what they are calling the Healthy New Towns initiative. The approach is multipronged but centred around a single idea, that where you live should support your health.



The programme will include five long-term partnerships between the construction sector, perhaps including real asset investing groups who buy land for development, managers of UK property funds, housing associations and local planning authorities with NHS England and Public Health England. The real assets of the partnership will largely be the following:



• Land and building infrastructure will consolidate NHS clinics, schools, fire and police stations and other public services for economic efficiencies.



• Design communities that promote social cohesion, mental and physical wellbeing, as well as active lifestyles (walking, cycling and sports) that resist “obesogenic” culture.



• Promote independent living and proactive health management through the use of digital technologies that aid communications with healthcare providers.



This is in contrast to post-War design and construction that lent itself to isolation and car transport. The Financial Times reports that £2 billion has been allocated to this programme which local councils can bid for later this year. Stevens says that fEbbsfleet in Kent and high growth areas such as Tower Hamlets in London and Swindon and, are likely candidates for the Health New Towns funding.



The programme will be tested in a range of community sizes, up to communities of 10,000 units. Each will be afforded global expertise in spatial and urban design.



Both the charity Shelter, which advocates for decent housing, and private land developers working with real asset investors, endeavours to enable healthier communities by simply increasing the country’s housing inventory. Shelter has documented the problems of overcrowding in decrepit conditions, citing how one million English children in bad housing have a 25 per cent higher risk of ill health and disability during childhood and early adulthood. This includes greater incidence of meningitis, asthma, slow growth, lower educational attainment, mental illness and residual effects from many of these things into adulthood. Other health experts point to a lack of fluidity in finding housing near one’s workplace, which leads to longer commuting times and less opportunity to exercise and to engage in physical activities with children.



Urban design the world over is looking to tackle the global obesity crisis and other related health problems with various schemes to encourage exercise, better nutrition and smarter disease management. This is a challenge for the healthcare system, for business and for patients themselves. Collectively planning and investing in new approaches - with solid science and data analysis of the results - should lead to a healthier future.



Investors can and should act out of a sense of the general good - in real estate, healthcare and in raising families in healthy environments. But all investments should also be rational relative to personal wealth building. Consult an independent financial advisor to learn more.