The end of the private back garden? AIBU to think this is a crap idea?

[2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney]

www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/architects-hope-to-tear-down-garden-fences-of-englands-future-homes/ar-BB18huJd

Reported in the Guardian this morning. The shortlist of developers drawn up to attempt solve our housing crisis by new design
includes the idea of communal back gardens that have to be booked in advance to use privately!

Oh yes I can see that going down really well on Mumsnet future AIBU

"My next door neighbour overstayed their time"
"I hate sharing and want peace and quiet"
"Cynthia has just repotted all my begonias"
"Can I put a swing up in the communal garden, the neighbours are complaining"

AIBU to think that this is just a really crap idea?

I wonder how popular the posh communal gardens are - in the very expensive squares in London and Edinburgh.

Some of the London ones are open to the public at certain times though it tends to be very random and specifically not at lunchtime or after school. Regardless only a few people ever go in them.

20 years ago I looked at buying a flat in a beautiful listed building with a communal garden. It was £50 a month maintenance fee and the garden was massively overgrown. I asked for details of management company to find out what the £50 covered and the estate agent wouldn’t give me the details.
Didn’t buy the flat and I walk past it every now and again and the garden is still massively overgrown to the point where you can’t even get in it now.

20 years, 8 flats in building at £50 a month (assuming it’s not gone up) is £96,000 for sweet FA!

ridiculous idea

Let's hope this ridiculous idea never comes to fruition.

I wonder how popular the posh communal gardens are - in the very expensive squares in London and Edinburgh.

they are seen more like a private park - reserved to a few - than a communal garden, so they are still sold as an "exclusive" luxury.

I think for flats a communal garden is good, as although not ideal, it is some outdoor space. For a house though, no thanks. It would mean packing up all of my toddlers garish plastic toys all of the time.

@ACautionaryTale

We have a large koi pond and a hot tub - how would that work in a communal garden

My cats would love it... Doubt you would, though.

They’re really common in Edinburgh and not just the posh park type ones - if you wants private garden you pay more/move further out. We do need ideas like this to increase the amount of property available.

I've thought of another reason why this probably wouldn't work (I've only read the first 100 posts so apologies if it's already been suggested) but if you have a garden (with fences) and you wanted to extend into that garden you have a certain size of extension that you don't require planning permission to extend.
However, you do require planning permission if you want to build a bigger extension. So, say I do that and I extend. If I'm now in one of these communal gardens, how would that work? Would I be allowed to extend and still gain access to the remaining garden? What if everyone did that? Would there be any garden left and who wouldn't be allowed to extend if this was in operation and you have to leave a certain size of 'garden' undeveloped?

Obviously this is to squeeze more housing on to plots.

They might do it. And demand for it will be lower, because only people of certain personalities/at certain times of life want a shared garden. So these properties would end up cheaper, and sadly, some people will be desperate enough financially to have no choice.

Much as no one wants modern rabbit hutch houses with tiny rooms...yet they sell in their thousands because there's nothing else at the price.

No one is going either force you to live in a house like this nor are they coming to pull down your garden fence.

All this is an idea, that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. And when it does it doesn’t mean that your garden or the ability to own a garden will vanish. It’s just going to be a tiny number of new build houses of it even happens at all.

This is just like high rise flats - the people who dream up these schemes would never live with them themselves.

@FlamingoAndJohn

No one is going either force you to live in a house like this nor are they coming to pull down your garden fence.

All this is an idea, that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. And when it does it doesn’t mean that your garden or the ability to own a garden will vanish. It’s just going to be a tiny number of new build houses of it even happens at all.

of course not, but it still doesn't mean we should blindly accept the concept.

Look at "box room" in this country - we have accepted to have a space called a "bedroom" when it's often far too small to even have a bed in it. No one is forcing you to buy a house with a box room, but the concept should still be illegal. A room too small for at least a double bed and a wardrobe should not be a "bedroom".

You know the worrying thing about this is that the "trendy architects" have been given a brief by Homes England to work to.

Every single time there is a competition like this there is outcry abouot "trendy architects" along with the assumption that architects all live in mansions with hot and cold running champagne.

The shared courtyard which could be booked is only one vision out of six (and they are ideas/visions - go through umpteen changes along the way). It also doesn't seem to say you have to book the courtyard to use it at all so it could just as easily be offering the option to book it for a family party on certain dates in the month.

The difference between successful architecture and "trendy architecture gawn maaaaad" is usually money. Some of othe horror story 60s/70s high rise tower blocks were bought by private companies who spent money on them and they became expensive and highly desirable city apartments. The same buildings, just with some money spent on them.

The whole point of these competitions its to bring new ideas - some will succeed, some won't. Its clear from this thread that plenty of people have good experience of communal spaces, others don't like them. The idea isn't new, some of the designs are rethinking an old idea with varying degrees of success.

No. No no no no no no no.

Absolutely bloody stupid idea.

How does this work with children, water features, pets, veggie gardens (someone will pinch produce), bikes, one neighbour wanting a wanky perfect garden and the others wanting wildflowers, wanting to sunbathe with unwaxed legs etc.

Really daft idea that will create loads of friction. I have a small garden, better small and private than a pointless shared garden you can't do anything in.

@RedRumTheHorse

I wonder how popular the posh communal gardens are - in the very expensive squares in London and Edinburgh.

Some of the London ones are open to the public at certain times though it tends to be very random and specifically not at lunchtime or after school. Regardless only a few people ever go in them.

Ours is well used for communal events like garden parties, firework displays, Christmas carols, open air theatre, or for residents' private events like birthday and dinner parties, barbecues, even a wedding reception, and day-to-day use eg children playing in the playground, working out, or just sitting in the sun BUT it is large enough and shared by few enough families that you may well get the whole garden to yourself or at least one of the sections so you have privacy. There's a playground, picnic and barbecue areas, lawns and a herb garden. It's great. Although most people do have a small terrace or balcony of their own.

That isn't what the architects are proposing though - four houses surrounding a courtyard garden ie a square the width and length of a house. That would be a small garden for one home, let alone four.

This isn't really an original idea, so much so that it is weird that they are presenting it as an innovation.

Lots of places have communal gardens, from really posh places to cheap developments where the communal garden is called park space. And there are lots of places with no gardens at all.

In some situations they work beautifully, and others not so much.

That isn't what the architects are proposing though - four houses surrounding a courtyard garden ie a square the width and length of a house. That would be a small garden for one home, let alone four.

In a space that small I think there is a good chance it would end up as more like a yard, with people's washing or lids toys left out and such. There would have to be clear rules and that is often itself a problem in practice.

A "sharing center" and "community kitchen"? Fuck that.

It is just a way to squeeze more of the minions into less space and make them think it is a good thing.

Some Democrat controlled cities in USA are NOT granting permits for developments for single occupier homes. Only apartment blocks with no outside facilities.
The end of the suburbs?

Architects were not responsible for the failure of tower blocks. Do stop being so silly and running out that tired old canard. And it is also dull tired old stupidity and ignorance to say 'architects never love in what they build'. You just talk empty, cliche-ridden drosss
And, private gardens are a very recent thing. Look at communal gardens in eg London squares, back greens in Scottish tenements
If space is an issue, we have to think about how we use it. And most of the gardens I see on property programs, attached to often tiny boxy new builds, are tiny, horrible, overlooked spaces. Britain has some of the worst, meanest new-build housing in Europe.

And the 'posh' communal gardens in Edinburgh I can speak for. They are popular. Why wouldn't they be?

I like the type of houses that have a private garden backing onto a communal space in the middle. So you get the best of both worlds. Obviously that usually means the private space has to be smaller, but it's worth it for what's essentially a private park in the centre. And it's fairer for the houses in the corners who would have smaller spaces anyway.

Really dire. Sadly, you can almost guarantee it will happen.