Milton Keynes’ Netherfield housing, designed in 1971 by Cross Dixon Gold Jones, comes under scrutiny
Built in 1971, mid-term between Harold Wilson’s ‘white heat of technology’ speech and Margaret Thatcher’s first election victory, and bookended by the Beatles break-up and the crisis that quadrupled oil prices, Netherfield is a child of its transitional time. Designed for the new town of Milton Keynes by the precociously talented team of Architectural Association graduates Chris Cross, Jeremy Dixon, Michael Gold and Edward Jones (the so-called ‘Grunt Group’), the 1000-home development forms the subject of a fascinating exhibition (at the AA until 10 February) that precipitated a unique gathering of the four architects for their insight with hindsight.
In response to both the new town’s expansionist ambition of 4000 houses per year and a labour shortage, Netherfield was constructed by a low-skilled workforce using timber frame, with party walls bolted to a concrete slab, elevations clad front and back in profiled metal and timber cladding respectively, and shallow pitched roofs of lapped aluminium sheets. Windows were mostly timber, while white grp fins marked the party walls on the public sides, evoking pilasters. But like some other early developments in the city – not least Norman Foster’s adjacent Bean Hill – Netherfield was plagued from the outset by leaking roofs, condensation and poor sound insulation. At the time, thermal performance wasn’t on the radar. Since then, maintenance has been largely reactive, ownership of the originally rented development was fragmented by Thatcher’s ‘right-to-buy’ Housing Act of 1980, and later by the closure of Milton Keynes Development Corporation, and subsequent letting policies have treated Netherfield effectively as a sink estate. Today it is in a sorry state.
It’s a far cry from the high hopes when Netherfield was conceived as a discrete community within Milton Keynes’ waywardly gridded plan, where Parker Morris space standards held sway, and each household was expected to own two cars. The Netherfield masterplan was compelling, with a common roof plane throughout, allowing the terraces to form two- to four-storey houses across the undulating ground and resulting in 17 different unit types. The formal, linear arrangement – a nod to the terraces of Bath as well as industrial production – was offset by ancillary facilities and expansive parkland in a conscious riposte to the ‘elitist’ Radburn-inspired cul-de-sacs that other architects were proposing for the new town.
Milton Keynes’ chief architect Derek Walker had cajoled the architects, then working in eminent private practices, into moving to the corporation’s architects’ department, though the attraction of building a significant sector of the new town must have been considerable. The daily commute from London grew tiresome, however, and the AA (where they were also teaching) offered them local studio space. Soon they parted ways, with only Gold remaining to bring the adjacent Coffee Hall development to fruition.
Not without some trepidation did Cross, Dixon, Gold and Jones gather to talk about Netherfield, and their individual perspectives – and those of an attentive audience – certainly varied, though this was more an occasion for questions than answers. Would it be best demolished, should it be listed to ensure a consistent and competent renovation, could it be adapted to better match contemporary housing needs? Was it socially and urbanistically appropriate, was it flawed from the outset or was it undermined by economic and political change? While measured satisfaction was expressed at the abstract qualities of the masterplan with its juxtaposition of linear terraces and meandering pathways, this was countered by concern that an open-ended arrangement on this scale may not best enhance social interaction. Or, had it been built in Switzerland – ‘Nahfeld’ perhaps – and had appropriate monitoring and maintenance, would Netherfield be seen today as desirable, if not exemplary?
The exhibition, ‘Every House on Langland Road’ explores Netherfield as a backdrop against which current questions around the nature of housing, and social housing in particular, are brought into focus, with original drawings, and photos of the estate as built juxtaposed with contemporary images. The exhibition, previously at the MK Gallery, was a collaborative project between architectural photographer Simon Phipps and design writer and researcher Darren Umney who both spent their formative years in the nascent new city. See http://www.netherfield.estate/
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