Marshworth:Milton Keynes

RESIDENTS VIEWS

A survey of the 24 bungalows was completed by just under half (11) of the residents. A further 8 were contacted personally and just 5 were completed by visual inspection of the exterior.

Perhaps the most important result was the 'satisfaction rating'. Thus, of those completing the relevant section of the questionnaire, just 10% rated their experience of living in the bungalow as 'Good'. It was rated as 'Very Good' by 40%and 50% rated it as 'Excellent'. Accordingly, the development must be seen overall to be a considerable success.

The main reasons for this were given as 'Space', reported by 60%, and  'Privacy' (40%) and 'Flexibility' by 20%. The canal-side site, on which the development was originally sold, was listed by 40%. Perhaps surprisingly, when pressed for the worst features, only 30% mentioned anything relating to the proximity of the Tinker's Bridge estate, where the same number criticized the poor windows!

In terms of the main demographics, there has been a significant shift away from the young families who were the original residents; though perhaps as many as 20% of the original residents have stayed on - though half have moved here in the last 5 years (more in line with national trends for house moves). Now, even though around half the residents are below retirement age only about 20% have families; and all of these are in their late teens or early 20s. Indeed, the typical resident may now be seen as a single retired person or couple.

The result, in terms of extensions to the buildings, is that that while most bungalows retain the number of bedrooms they originally had, and 27% have added on an extra bedroom, 17% have actually reduced the number of these by reassigning their bedrooms - typically to study/library use.

In terms of extensions, by far the most popular has been the addition of a large conservatory to almost all the bungalows - in line with what has happened to more expensive housing across the UK. Most of these infill the gap between the arms of the H at the rear, but some (especially at the southern edge where these is more space in front) infill the front court. The next most popular is conversion of the garage to a further bedroom, which has happened in about a third of the cases; though all of these are at the southern end (with almost 100% conversions) with almost none at the northern end.

The most obvious change to the roofline has been the addition of pitched, tiled roofs. However, only nine out of the 24 bungalows have received this treatment and only 5 have taken the opportunity to add further accommodation within this space; usually a single room for a teenager, though two at the northern end (where space at the front is constrained) have extensions with two rooms at first floor level.

The bungalows were originally designed to attract professionals - initially to work with the MKDC itself (though most of these moved on when the exciting phase of the first five years of development of the city was finished), along with academics being recruited for the Open University which was just starting up, and this profile remains more or less the same. Perhaps as many as half of the owners were academics from the Open University, which is only a short walk away, and much the same ratio - albeit now including a fair number of its pensioners - is still to be seen on the ground 35 years later. This is reflected in how they furnish their homes, and what they use them for. Indeed a number of them have switched bedrooms to studies and offices. Several of them even have separate libraries.

There are also fully equipped offices and pianos galore; including a grand piano which looks especially at home in its living room!

There are even modern artworks which would not disgrace the MK Gallery!

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Last modified: 01/26/06