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Design Alliance: Fighting crime from the drawing board

HOME OFFICE News Release (135/2007) issued by The Government News Network on 10 August 2007

Four of the UK's most respected designers have joined the Government's new anti-crime Design and Technology Alliance, Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker announced today.

The independent Alliance of design experts will raise the profile within industry of how innovative design can tackle crime. They will work with the Home Office to embed the message that design can have a real impact on cutting crime by making it harder and less attractive for criminals - in turn making people and communities feel safer. It is one part of a renewed focus on designing out crime in the Government's new Crime Strategy announced last month by the Home Secretary.

The two founder members, Sebastian Conran, of Conran & Partners, and Chairman of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, John Sorrell have been joined by:

* David Kester, Chief Executive of the Design Council;

* Professor Jeremy Myerson, Professor of Design Studies at the Royal College of Art;

* Professor Gloria Laycock, Director of the UCL Centre for Security and Crime Science; and,

* Professor Lorraine Gamman, Director of the Design Against Crime Research Centre at Central St Martins School of Art and Design.

Home office Minister Vernon Coaker said:

"Innovative design has played an important role in driving down crime overall by a third over the past decade. Much of the 51 per cent fall in vehicle crime in particular can be attributed to design improvements such as immobilisers and toughened glass.

"The Design and Technology Alliance will seek to build on these achievements. They will champion the message that designing out crime is about sustainable and innovative design of products, spaces and places to make crime unattractive and make communities feel safer.

"I want to encourage business to accept as routine their responsibility to ensure products and services do not create new crime opportunities. We have already seen successes particularly through our close working with the mobile phone industry who have today announced they have met the targets we set for them to block stolen handsets within 48 hours of theft rendering them useless to criminals.

"Crime has a social impact, so it must be considered in the same way that impact on the environment or health and safety risks for customers are considered. We must maximise the influence good design can have in the fight against crime."

Ian McInnes from the Association of Chief Police Officers Crime Prevention Initiatives said:

"There are excellent examples to show designing-out crime works. The police service supports the Alliance to build on these examples and encourage more designers and manufacturers to address crime risk at the design stage. Neither crime nor unattractive add-on security need be a regular consequence of purchasing homes, consumer technology, or services."

Also today the terms of reference of the Alliance have been published on the Home Office website. They include:

* Generating positive design approaches and solutions to specific crime issues and disorder problems;

* Advising on strategies for the wider implementation of these ideas working with industry, the police, consumer organisations and other partners;

* Inspiring designers to produce positive design solutions, for example through commissions, awards and publicity;

* Demonstrating that design against crime is both attractive and desirable, and will drive sales through increased consumer value;

* Advising on and assisting with the development of consumer-oriented initiatives and innovations, based on sound consumer insight;

* Identifying potential threats, solutions and opportunities presented by new and innovative technologies; and,

* Generally raising the profile of design against crime within industry and commerce, to place it firmly at the core of Corporate Social Responsibility agenda.

Cost-benefit analysis has shown that remedial design measures can deliver savings of up to five times the original investment, along with crime reductions of up to 70 per cent. The benefit would be even greater if action were taken at the concept design stage. There are numerous examples of how design interventions have helped to reduce crime:

* Aircraft hijackings decreased from 70 to 15 per year in the 1970s after routine passenger and baggage screening was introduced;

* Chip and Pin slashed credit card fraud at UK retailers in 2006 by 46 per cent;

* Houses that meet ACPO Secured By Design (SBD) standards experience a quarter less crime than non-SBD houses, and residents fear of crime is lower;

* Burglary has reduced by 37 per cent in Liverpool since 5,000 gated alleys were introduced.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The new Home Office Crime Strategy was launched on 19 July 2007 and can be downloaded from the Home Office website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/crime-strategy-07

2. More experts from the product and manufacturing, built environment and service design sectors are expected to join the Alliance before its first meeting in September 2007.

3. Thereafter, the Alliance will meet formally each quarter whilst providing ad hoc advice to Government as required. A governance board will be set up comprising organisations across Government in the business and design sector, consumer organisations and the police who will be key to the delivery.

4. Independent test results showed this year that the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum (MICAF) - made up of Government, industry and the police - made good its pledge to block 80 per cent of mobile phones, across all networks, within 48 hours of them being reported stolen, making them less attractive to criminals. Figures published in the MICAF annual report today show that over 5 million lost and stolen mobile phones have been blacklisted by the mobile networks. A summary of the report can be found at http://www.micaf.co.uk.

5. The latest Home Office 'R U GETTIN THE MSG' mobile phone blocking campaign is running in weekly youth magazines, on phone boxes, on shopping centre bins in robbery hotspots and online across the country. It is supported by MICAF and the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit and aims to use the fact that stolen mobiles can now be blocked within 48 hours to tackle the domestic youth market for phones. For copies of the creative please contact the Home Office press office.

6. The Association of Chief Police Officers 'secured by design' standards for security and the built environment can be viewed at http://www.securedbydesign.com. The website includes numerous examples of effective design solutions to combat crime.

7. Further examples of how crime has successfully been cut through design can be downloaded from the Design Council website http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/Design-Council/3/Publications/?PageNum=3

Case studies

HULME PARK, MANCHESTER

In the late 1980s Hulme was notorious for crime and poorly designed housing, but since then this former run-down area close to Manchester city centre has been transformed through regeneration. As part of this, Landscape Projects, a small team of landscape architects based in Manchester, was asked to develop an entirely new park.

The result is Hulme Park, which ably demonstrates the value of design in creating a safe, green and communal environment within an area previously notorious for high levels of crime, especially robbery and burglary.

Says Neil Swanson of Landscape Projects: "The brief for the new park was a visionary project that was very specific and well thought out. The idea was to use passive surveillance to prevent the occurrence and fear of mugging rather than control entry to the public space. This would mean using psychological rather than physical boundaries as well as paying special attention to the way in which spaces were overlooked."

The designers' aim was to develop a park that would be safe for all users, from elderly people walking dogs to young children. An open-plan style was developed with pathways and roads connecting the park to other parts of the city. A mix of bollards, small trenches and grills prevent the park's misuse by car drivers, motorcyclists or dogs. In addition to youth areas and sports facilities, children are catered for within a challenging play area located next to a school where they can easily be seen. The park itself is surrounded by newly-developed houses and low-rise flats and has significantly contributed to their value - apartments facing the park cost £20,000 more than those facing away.

Hulme Park has been relatively free from crime and has been described by a local police officer as 'a triumph of design'.

Contact: Neil Swanson, Landscape Projects, tel 0161 839 8336.

NORTHMOOR SOCIAL HOUSING

The Northmoor area of Longsight in inner-city Manchester was once a nightmare for residents, with a declining population, high levels of unemployment and poverty and increasing crime rates and fear of crime. Complaints to police were mostly about burglary and prostitution. Houses bought for £30,000 were worth no more than £7,000. Passing traffic and parking problems added to the dangers.

Despite this there was a strong, vibrant and diverse local community willing to work with the local authority and developers and designers to improve their situation. With grants from the government and other sources, Ian Finlay Architects of Manchester were appointed to transform the area by design, and in particular to create a Home Zone in Northmoor - a concept that puts pedestrians before cars and encourages social interaction to reduce crime and the fear of crime.

The architects built in boundaries and gateways at major access points to reinforce the sense of identity, using physical and psychological approaches such as lighting, signage, building facades, paving and planting to control access. Security was improved by closing alleyways, restricting pedestrian movement and improving lighting in streets and a railway underpass. And there are ongoing initiatives to promote community safety, improve home maintenance and develop community art.

The quality of housing was improved by knocking down internal walls to turn two properties into one, by building some new homes, and by buying up and demolishing some houses to create open spaces. Traffic calming measures and attention to layout discourage joyriders from using the area and parking is restricted to reclaim the streets for people.

In Northmoor today, thanks to innovative urban design, complaints are more likely to be about the lack of car parking spaces. And houses are changing hands for up to £100,000 each.

Contact: Ian Finlay, Ian Finlay Architects, tel 0161 272 8475.

Nile Street, London N1

OVERVIEW

Nile Street is an innovative high density development in London Borough of Hackney, designed by architects Munckenbeck and Marshall for the Peabody Trust. It is a showcase for social housing in inner-city London, providing 175 homes, a communal courtyard and roof gardens and a youth centre. 128 of the homes are affordable, designed for key workers and those on low or intermediate incomes.

The development is situated on Nile Street, N1, a few minutes walk from Old Street underground and a stone's throw from trendy Hoxton Square. The site was previously an NCP car park and was purchased by The Peabody Trust from Hackney Council in March 2003. The location is perfect for key workers, being close to Moorfields Eye Hospital and City of London.

AFFORDABLE

There are three kinds of affordable homes: rented flats and studios for key workers; flats for Peabody's own tenants; and shared-ownership flats where it is possible to take out a mortgage for some of the value of the flat and pay a subsidised rent on the remainder. These have been mixed with a further 47 flats that have been sold privately to help fund the development. Space underneath the homes is being used for a youth club.

The design of the Nile Street site reflects the belief that a social housing development needs the very highest quality of design in order to be a success. The developer, Peabody Group, was awarded Client of the Year in 2004 by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Architects Munkenbeck and Marshall were already well known for the luxury developments at Gainsborough Studios and Paddington Walk. For the Nile Street site, they rose to the challenge of combining high density housing with a feeling of quality and spaciousness.

DESIGN

The building is clad in green copper at the Nile Street and Provost Street elevations and light timber panels in the courtyard and on other elevations. The projecting balconies - rectangular on one side of the building and triangular on another - provide an outdoor room for more than 80 percent of the flats as well as having a striking effect on the exterior of the building.

The development is centred around a courtyard with silver birch trees and a water feature that is illuminated at night. In contrast, some of the flat roofs are designed as formal terraces which will benefit from the sun at all times of day. The roof gardens have been furnished with timber benches and planters.

There is a running theme of Egyptian hieroglyphs, tastefully etched into the glass of the entrance foyer and laser-cut from the stainless-steel railings. This is a reference to the street that gives the development its name.

COMMUNITY

The passion for design excellence is evident throughout the development, so it was a natural decision for the Peabody Group to celebrate the completion of the project with a two-week architectural exhibition. The show, held in conjunction with The Central House art consultancy, featured work by acclaimed architectural photographer, Etienne Clement, along with striking images of the innovative new building.

Opened in March 2006, the Blue Hut centre will play a key role in the new housing development. Suitable facilities for young people can be crucial to building successful, mixed-tenure communities. A youth centre and recreational area - including a ball court, music studio and IT suite - is being provided as part of the new development. It is easily accessible to local residential accommodation too.