Release date: 27 September 2012
The Cabe team at the Design Council will announce the launch of London Design Review this evening at the Good Design = Good Planning event being held at the Stirling Prize nominated Angel Building. London Design Review will play a crucial strategic role, working in collaboration with partners to help London boroughs fulfil the policy recommendation of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to use Design Review to ensure high standards of design.
Until now London was the only English region not to have a Design Review panel. Today’s launch of London Design Review will see the setup of the ninth regional panel and the completion of the National Design Review Network, meeting a key recommendation of the Bishop Review in 2011. Cabe has worked closely with the existing eight regional panels in England to deliver Design Review services, and in several cases helped establish them.
Design Review is an independent and impartial evaluation process, where Cabe’s built environment experts (BEEs) will assess the design of significant proposals. Design Review improves the quality of design outcomes in the built environment, putting the needs of people first. The NPPF sees good quality design as an important aspect of sustainable development and gives it high priority in planning. Cabe is the principle recognised Design Review service with a defined role in the NPPF.
London Design Review will benefit from the expertise of Cabe’s BEEs, a broad and flexible network of highly respected specialists, drawn from a range of sectors. The network will provide multi-disciplinary support to communities, local authorities and developers involved in built environment projects, and the Design Council will disseminate best practice to raise the quality of places throughout the UK.
Cabe is working with its original partners, RIBA, RTPI and the Landscape Institute, to update the guidance Design Review Principles and Practice. The revised guidance, to be published later this year, will be closely aligned to the NPPF and will reflect the role of Design Review in the current planning context, meeting the Government’s growth and localism agenda.
Cabe is currently establishing in-principle partnerships with London boroughs to utilise the new London Design Review services.
Paul Finch, Deputy Chair of the Design Council, commented:
“The creation of a formal London Panel marks the completion of the network of design review panels that cover England. We have an important role to play offering strategic advice to London boroughs, collaborating with local and regional panels and ensuring that collectively we deliver good design for the people of London.”
Nahid Majid, Director of the Cabe team at the Design Council, said:
“Cabe is delighted to be launching London Design Review, bringing the expertise of our built environment experts to bear on schemes that affect people who live and work in the capital. Cabe has delivered more than 4,000 Design Reviews; our work is key to the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework and increasingly recognised internationally as best practice. Our new strategic remit in London will add value to local and regional panels, and we look forward to collaborating with boroughs to bring the transformative power of design to the streets of the capital.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. Cabe is the successor to CABE, the Government’s advisor on Architecture and the Built Environment, which merged with the Design Council in April 2011.
2. For eleven years CABE championed good design in the built environment. In its new home at the Design Council, the Cabe team is building on this legacy with the help of the new built environment experts network.
3. The Design Council is a charity which enables people to use design to transform communities, business and the environment for the better. Its work places design at the heart of creating value by stimulating innovation in business and public services, improving the built environment and tackling complex social issues. The Design Council inspires new design thinking, encourages public debate and informs government policy to improve everyday life and help meet tomorrow’s challenges today.
4. For further information or interview requests, please contact:
Tim Crowley, Head of Communications, Design Council: 020 7420 5263 / 07748 906897