What makes a well-built house? Labour reveals recent concepts on what new-builds ought to supply

The Government has published updated guidance about what constitutes a well-built new-build home. 

The draft Design and Placemaking Planning Practice Guidance published last week contains roughly 50 images of what the Labour Government, which has promised to get 1.5million homes built, considers good new housing.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said last week that new-build developers should focus on ‘design quality, creating places of lasting value, that are climate change resilient.’ 

It said that as a result of the updated guidance, councils and developers had been given a ‘clear rulebook to build better designed, safer and healthier neighbourhoods that complement the local area.’

The Government department flagged the importance of ensuring new-build developments were ‘well-connected’ to local shops and services. GP services and shops should be within ‘walking distance’ of any new development, the updated guidance added. 

It said new-build properties should be designed with spaces enabling people to work from home and ‘flexible layouts’ that can be adapted as households grow. 

Climate change must be factored in when designing new-builds, the Government says

The MHCLG urged councils and developers to work together to ‘make visible improvements for residents’, including ‘calmer streets with less traffic’ and improved green spaces. 

Amid Labour’s net zero drive, the MHCLG said new-builds should be ready to face climate change. It said well-designed new-builds should have solar panels, green and brown roofs, green spaces to reduce overheating and EV charging stations. 

In a bid to boost Britain’s fragile wildlife numbers, the MHCLG said it encourages new-builds to include hedgehog highways and swift bricks. 

It said it also wanted to see ‘good parking without car dominated design’ and ‘rooms sized to promote health and wellbeing.’  

In a bid to avoid a hotchpotch approach to development, the Government said it intended to publish ‘model design codes’ later this year. The MHCLG said the codes would contain ‘clear rules to create successful places.’  

Changes to national design guidance form part of the Government’s broader shake-up of the National Planning Policy Framework, which was outlined last year.

Housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycook said last week: ‘Exemplary development should be the norm not the exception so that more communities feel the benefits of new development and welcome it.

‘As we act to boost housing supply, we are also taking steps to improve the design and quality of the homes and neighbourhoods being built.

‘These standards will help ensure new homes and neighbourhoods are attractive, well-connected, sustainable, and built to last.’

The MHCLG cited, among others, Beechwood in Essex and Temple Gardens in north Somerset as examples where developments had been successful. 

Critics of mass new-build developments have already expressed concerns regarding the relentless loss of countryside, the quality of new-build homes being built, and in some cases, a lack of attention being paid to flood risks or proximity to local amenities.   

Labour has vowed to build 1.5million new-build homes across England by 2029, equating to more than 300,000 a year. 

In October 2025, the Home Builders Federation wrote to the Office for Budget Responsibility stating that unless the Government does something to boost affordability for first-time buyers and cut taxes, the ambitious housebuilding target will be missed. 

Data extracted via registrations for energy performance certificates in the period from January to December 2025 suggested around 204,000 homes were built between these months, falling short of Labour’s annual target.