While calling for good design is easy enough, describing what this looks like is more complex. The recent report published by the RIBA, 10 Characteristics of Places People Want to Live, identified the necessary environment and processes that, if followed, can deliver high quality, sustainable neighbourhoods, centred on successful examples of mixed communities. This document follows on from that work by narrowing the focus to housing, showcasing examples of excellent standards of design that can be replicated across the country. Each development provides an innovative approach to addressing housing need in the context of its locality. This is crucial to ensuring that we deliver homes that genuinely meet local need and are acceptable to the local communities that they will inevitably impact on.
Good design goes beyond aesthetic
When done properly, it has the potential to raise health outcomes, improve the local environment and address a wide range of other issues. If we are serious about building high quality, sustainable homes that will last, promoting good design needs to be at the forefront of our approach.
The projects highlighted here are great examples of what is possible if you invest the time to understand the relationship between design and the local area. We hope that this collection can inspire discussions across England about how to improve design standards.
Published November 2018.
