Providing Shelter: Designing out homelessness

Benjamin O’Connor

Director
New London Architecture

Alex Denvir

Senior project Officer – Rough Sleeping
Greater London Authority

Miranda MacLaren

Director
Morris+Company

Rosie Clewlow

Rough Sleeping Commissioner
London Borough of Camden

Osama Bhutta

Director of Campaigns, Policy and Communications
Shelter

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One in 58 people were homeless in London in 2022, according to research carried out by the charity, Shelter. The latest government figures, published in February 2023, reveal that rough sleeping has increased by more than a quarter in the past year - a stark indication of the scale of homelessness in the Capital.

In the context of the housing and cost-of-living crises, how are stakeholders working to help vulnerable rough-sleepers?

Architectural responses to homelessness have been wide-ranging: demountable flatpack sleeping pods; buses repurposed into support assistance spaces; and modular designs, which offer reduced lead times. Increasingly, designers are exploring schemes that deliver more than just a shelter. Tailored housing solutions that provide privacy, security, and space for support services, help to address the core issues faced by homeless people.

Shelter has called for the government to produce a ‘roadmap out of homelessness’. How can the built environment industry help plan, design, and deliver pathways out of homelessness? Can comprehensive design guidance help to tackle this area of housing provision? How can retrofitting, adaptive reuse, and Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) be employed to help people off the streets and into permanent housing solutions?

Through a mix of presentations and case studies, this webinar explores how built environment professionals can balance the affordability and quality of schemes with the urgency of this housing emergency.

Programme

10:00 Welcome from Chair
Benjamin O’Connor, Director, NLA

10:05 London-wide approach to homelessness

Alex Denvir, Senior Project Officer – Rough Sleeping, GLA

10:15 Newham Homeless Shelter

Miranda MacLaren, Director, Morris + Company

10:25 Panel discussion
Speakers above, plus
Rosie Clewlow, Rough Sleeping Commissioner, London Borough of Camden
Osama Bhutta, Director of Campaigns, Policy and Communications at Shelter
The Davidson Prize Judge

11:00 End