building for Life 12 – Integrating into the neighbourhood
Permeable new housing development promotes the establishment of sustainable movement patterns. In the revised and more focused national housing design standard; Building for Life 12 a significant improvement...
space to park
Intelligent integration of parking is key element in the success of residential layouts in use as evidenced by research for Space to Park. This is a follow up to ‘What Works Where’ the English...
how to make the most of trees and wider contemporary green infrastructure solutions
It might seem obvious to say that: “having trees in development should be the normal and expected thing to happen” but too often a lack of commitment on behalf of whole delivery teams means that trees are...
blue infrastructure a design opportunity
There is plenty of sound advice and exemplary design available to guide designers and developers when integrating sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) and make this an opportunity to add to the character...
playing out – space for children in residential masterplans
The four-hundred meter radius circle that connotes pedestrian accessibility gathers significance if you have a small baby in a pushchair and no access to a car or if you are walking small children to school....
Integrating space for play in housing leads to more social interaction
The research identifies the need for supervised spaces near the home as well as the ability for older children to move about safely and independently across a ‘network of interconnected spaces around the...
the social and civic life of high streets
In order to adapt High Streets, we need to rediscover their role at heart of communities as social spaces. Seven years on from her review of high streets Mary Portas says high street retail will survive the...
high quality design is crucial say’s the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission
Has there has been a shift in thinking about infrastructure planning and provision in the UK – one that recognises that ‘ad hoc’ approaches allow regions and communities to get left behind? The Government...
Play and amenity space for apartment’s – the role of design guides
In the National Design Guide published in early October 2019 references to play run through the document. It describes the role of ‘informal doorstop play’ (p.26) the need for a hierarchy of public spaces...
In this together – mapping pathways to zero carbon
The design community are working together in lockdown to advocate for a faster response to the climate and biodiversity emergency – creating and sharing knowledge and know how. The design community are...