Medium density is often overlooked but it has untapped potential

Typically 3–6 storeys at 40–100 dwellings per hectare, medium density housing includes townhouses, stacked maisonettes, mansion blocks and mid-rise apartment buildings. Delivering the ‘missing middle’ between high density urban homes and suburban housing, this is an opportunity with significant untapped potential to unlock and maximise sites nationwide.

The UK has one of the lowest population densities in Europe, with 54% of people living in detached or semi-detached houses. By comparison, the European average sees 48% of people living in apartments, while the 2021 Census shows only 22% of the UK population living in similar housing types. A recent Centre of Cities report demonstrated that by increasing densities in our major cities to an equivalent level of our European neighbours, we could unlock an additional 2.3 million homes.

Planning policy is slowly moving in this direction. The new National Planning Policy Framework includes a requirement to deliver 50 dwellings per hectare around well-connected stations. The draft Design and Placemaking Planning Guidance also promotes optimising density in locations that can support greater use of public transport, walking and cycling, as well as access to local services.

Healthier homes unlocked

Medium-density development is inherently more sustainable than its suburban counterparts. Brownfield locations are well suited to this type of development, infill sites can be better utilised and the new buildings they will provide are an opportunity to deliver the latest energy efficiency standards, supporting progress towards net zero.

The health benefits are also clear. More compact neighbourhoods make walking and cycling easier and more attractive. This can be supported by social infrastructure, cultural amenities, sports facilities and employment or retail hubs within walkable neighbourhoods. Active neighbourhoods create opportunities for people to interact as they go about their daily lives.

Overcoming the viability challenge

Infrastructure is an essential enabler. A site’s potential for medium-density development is closely linked to its proximity to key infrastructure, public transport and services, supporting compact, convenient and sustainable lifestyles.

The health benefits are also clear. More compact neighbourhoods make walking and cycling easier and more attractive.

However, local policy contexts originally prepared to support prevailing suburban development practice combined with a misconception of what medium density really means, are creating unnecessary planning barriers. These include overly restrictive policies on car parking, overlooking distances and provision of private amenity space. More flexibility is required. In addition, upfront costs, infrastructure investment requirements and financing challenges can make medium-density development difficult, regardless of the site context.

Successful schemes often combine a mix of housing types such as terraces, maisonettes and apartments, allowing developers to balance build costs and sales values. Long-term regeneration approaches, phased development and careful site selection can also improve viability, particularly where developments are located close to employment hubs and local amenities as well as transport links.

In some cases, medium-density proposals have even proved more viable than lower-density alternatives. At Brabazon in Bristol, for example, early suburban-style housing proposals were replaced by a higher-density approach that better supported the economics of the scheme.

SME developers across the UK are already delivering successfully in this middle ground, offering a new type of home and diversifying a market dominated by lower-density suburban housing. Sky House, for example, has delivered back-to-back housing at Waverley in Rotherham, demonstrating how innovative house types can work on constrained sites while achieving strong market demand. Developments such as Trent Basin in Nottingham also show how medium-density housing can form part of long-term regeneration strategies that combine housing with employment, infrastructure and community facilities.

Where this has already happened, it is often because developers, planners and design teams have justified a departure from local policy and guidance. Many planning frameworks remain rooted in existing development patterns, which can make it harder for alternative housing types to come forward. This can create a backward-looking policy environment that reinforces established models rather than encouraging innovation. Under the new planning framework, however, there is now more freedom than ever to advocate for new approaches.

Because medium-density offers distinctive housing products that cater to different market segments within a wider overall vision, it can bring diversity and innovation to local markets and broaden appeal to residents.

There is also an opportunity to integrate SME developers and others who specialise in this area into wider sites coming forward, such as new towns and settlements, urban extensions and greenfield developments. Because medium-density offers distinctive housing products that cater to different market segments within a wider overall vision, it can bring diversity and innovation to local markets and broaden appeal to residents.

These developments should all still be rooted in place and shaped by local character – in fact they are often well aligned with well-loved historic environments – diversifying neighbourhoods and creating places that put people first.

Research and resources

Making medium-density development part of every strategic development proposal – and the dominant form on many urban infill sites – will help meet the housing challenge while delivering higher-quality homes for more sustainable, healthier lives.

Our research is a first step towards better understanding the challenges and opportunities and demonstrating how achievable it is.

By bringing together case studies and insights from a range of stakeholders, we highlight key aspects of delivery, viability, design and planning, helping to inform decision-making across both the public and private sectors and further accelerate this overlooked form of development.

Photo: Duncombe Barracks. Image Credit: Tibbalds