Top architects and housing experts to think up 'age friendly' homes of the future

Top architects and specialists including Sir Richard MacCormac and Professor Anne Power have been recruited to take on the challenge of ensuring homes of the future meet the needs of our ageing population.

The experts will make up a new Innovation Panel which will gather good practice from across Europe and put together new and creative proposals to help put us at the forefront of housing for older people.

Chaired by Lord Best, the Panel will speak to residents and housing experts before embarking on an intense period of research over the summer.

Announcing the members of the new Innovation Panel, Junior Housing Minister Ian Austin said: "This is about ensuring that the housing we are building for older people reflects the aspirations and lifestyles of people today.

"I want to see us creating places where people want to live, and enabling older people to make the best choices for themselves about where and how they want to live.

"I would like to congratulate all the members on their appointments and look forward to hearing their ideas and proposals, in the autumn."

Robert Napier, chairman of the Homes and Communities Agency, said: "With an increasingly ageing population, this country is facing a challenge in terms of providing suitable, affordable housing that meets the needs of all its residents.

"The Panel will identify innovative next steps to create housing for an ageing population, improving the availability and choice of high quality sustainable homes and neighbourhoods and quality of life."

Chairman of the Panel, Lord Richard Best said: "I am delighted to Chair this exciting initiative and I am extremely positive about the potential of this Panel to guide government policy and ensure that future housing meets both the needs and aspirations of our ageing population."

The Innovation Panel has been set-up by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and will meet for the first time on 17 July.

It will then report to ministers in the autumn, on what we can do to ensure that future housing will create sustainable and inclusive homes and neighbourhoods which our ageing population want and can afford to live in.

Innovation Panel members include:

• Lord Richard Best OBE, president, Local Government Association (Chair)
• Anne Ashworth, Property Editor, The Times
• Roger Battersby, Managing Director of PRP Architects
• John Belcher CBE, Chief Executive of Anchor Trust
• Anthony Hamilton, User representative
• Sir Richard MacCormac CBE, McCormac Jamieson Prichard
• Aggie MacKenzie, Journalist and television presenter
• Peter Maxwell, Head of Enabling, Public Buildings, CABE
• John Penton MBE, Architect, member of the Council of City and Guilds
• Tony Pidgley, chairman, Berkeley Homes
• Anne Power MBE, CBE, Professor of Social Policy, LSE
• Judith Torrington, Reader in Architecture, University of Sheffield
• Dru Vesty MBE, Chair of HCA Design and Sustainability Advisory Group