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Interest in a prize-winning council housing estate in Norwich has become so intense that the local authority is planning regular guided tours, prompting a warning against turning the homes into a “freak show”.
Norwich city council has been inundated with requests from other councils keen to visit Goldsmith Street and replicate its success after it won the coveted Stirling prize earlier this month and was hailed as a “modern masterpiece”.
And the London firm Mikhail Riches, which designed the 105-home development with architect Cathy Hawley, has been contacted from designers worldwide who want to visit Norwich’s newest attraction.
Andrew Turnbull, the council’s housing development manager who commissioned the scheme, now has the task of managing growing interest in it. “We have been contacted by an awful lot of local authorities who are saying they want to bring people down en masse,” he said.
Turnbull is working on plans for guided tours, which could take place every two months, at which the architects, councillors and officers will be on hand to answer visitors’ questions. Interest is so high that places on the tours could be rationed to control the numbers. “We might have to limit it to a few places per organisation,” he said.
Turnbull is keen to proselytise the success of the scheme to other councils but he is anxious to do so without compromising the privacy and good will of residents. “We are tying to share our knowledge and experience as much as we can and get the message out there that councils can do this, because we’d like to see it replicated across the UK if not wider.”
Filmmaker Joe Harrington welcomes the interest in his new home, but urged visitors to respect the dignity and privacy of residents. He said: “Yes we live in really nice places, but that doesn’t mean we are here to be gawped at.”
Harrington, who lives in a two-bed home with his partner and two young children, added: “I strongly believe this place should be admired and people should come and revel in the achievement and see that council housing can be good and affordable.”
But he said that some of the interest from visitors and media had been patronising.
He said: “It’s a bit like, ‘I bet you’re so grateful’. I appreciate that it’s rare and we’re lucky, but they are not in a position to tell us we’re lucky. I find some of the interest a bit gross.
“I appreciate that this is not my property and the council have a right to bring visitors. And so long as it is not a freak show to look at how the poor live, it’s fine. But visitors need to remember these are people’s homes.”
Turnbull said the council could not stop people coming to visit what are public streets.
He said: “There are lot of people just wandering around taking photos. None of the residents have complained so far, but we recognise it could become an issue for them in the long term. We have a lot of good will at the moment from residents and we don’t want to lose that.”
Gail Harris, the council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for housing, said: “We are aware of the impact that this attention could have on our residents and we trying to manage visits when we know about them.”
Michael Jones, the head of housing at York city council, visited Goldsmith Street in July and plans to build three similar estates in York with the same architects and to the same Passivhaus energy-efficient standards.
He said: “The site visit gave us the confidence to do it. I remember getting goosebumps walking around.”
He added: “Everyone who is interested in housing should go.” And he insisted this could be done without encroaching on residents.
“I’m sure they are rightly proud but they don’t want lots of strangers poking around. There are ways of visiting – you don’t need to go and peer through people’s windows. You can walk down the street and still experience it. It is really inspiring in every respect.”
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