House by Urban Splash has announced the appointment of Tom Jarman as its new director of architecture, strengthening its ‘Live Well by Design’ philosophy
In his role with House, Tom Jarman will look after key relationships with design teams including Feilden Clegg Bradley, shedkm, Glenn Howells Architects, and Proctor and Matthews, continuing the pattern of close engagement with several of the country’s top architectural, urban and landscape design practices.
In close collaborative dialogue, Tom will advocate for values-based progressive design, and will further strengthen the creative outputs that deliver on the key propositions of the House brand.
Passionate about environmental design principles, Tom plans to put green design at the heart of all aspects of architecture at House by Urban Splash.
This will involve a range of threads including research and development, employing best practice tools in the design process, and increasing communication about environmental aspects to customers and other stakeholders.
‘This is the beginning of the journey’
Tom Jarman said: “I’m really delighted to be joining a business that is tangibly pioneering a new approach to housebuilding in the UK.
“It is absolutely the right time to re-frame of the agenda around UK housebuilding and bring real change to the way we conceive, create and deliver new homes and communities in this country.
“House by Urban Splash is already doing things differently in so many ways – customer choice is a fundamental part – customisation and configuration are the sorts of things we expect from the car industry but have not before now been able to meaningfully achieve within new housing.
“Generosity is another major differentiator – many new homes are cramped, with small windows and poor space standards becoming the norm. The freshness of turning away from these low standards and offering so much more, whilst still creating attainable homes, cannot be overstated.
“We are just at the start – reversing trends and norms that have been baked into the planning and design of lower density housing for 40 years or more will take time. The industry needs to regain the confidence to innovate at scale and lose the aversion to risk that generates so many anonymous outcomes.
“Since a home is often the biggest purchase most of us make, it is one of the ways in which we can be most impactful in our life choices. Homes that require less energy to run are great, and homes created from environmentally friendly, low carbon materials are even better.
“The Live Well by Design proposition encapsulates a set of core values, environmental imperatives and social ambitions from which we can create great neighbourhoods and communities.
“I am so looking forward to joining the team at House and working to make better design and better places an attainable reality for more people in the UK.”
