Building design affects most businesses - directly through the siting of premises, the suitability of buildings for their purpose or the ongoing cost of building maintenance. Indirectly, building design can influence the efficiency of the business and the productivity or retention of staff
The quality of the built environment affects the quality of our lives and user experience can be a significant factor in success or failure in business, affecting everything from workers' productivity and customers' perception of service, to the back-office activities of the stock exchange and the loading bays of the factory.
Research by CABE and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) compared the urban design quality of commercial developments in Birmingham, Nottingham and Manchester and found that the better-designed schemes provided a range of economic, social and environmental benefits including higher rental levels, lower maintenance costs and increased public support for the development.
Design is also critical to the well-being and productivity of the workforce. Research confirms the link between design and value, from the property's market value to employee satisfaction.
As energy is the single largest operating expense for commercial buildings, achieving a high performance, energy-efficient building gives greater control of ongoing operating costs, which can improve efficiency of a business and make it more competitive
With a government spending increase of 60% on public buildings over the last four years, the public sector is now the single largest client of the UK construction industry and is well on the way to establishing the largest public investment programme in new buildings for a generation. If this programme is approached with quality and longevity in mind, it offers a rare opportunity to take into account the benefit of building design across public services. Traditionally, there has been a tendency for public services to opt for the lowest-cost option but the recent drive to obtain 'best value' allows room for factors other than up-front cost, such as user satisfaction and ultimately design quality, to enter the equation. Getting the design right is critical to the delivery of good public services. Research has shown that good design and higher-quality facilities represent true value for money for the tax payer, in the short term, and for all citizens, in the long term.
Housing is on every political agenda and is a key focus for central government, which plans to create more than one million new homes in London and the South East alone by 2016. The Communities Plan of February 2003 aspired to balance the demand for housing with social equity, in part through improved design of housing and greater focus on the quality of shared public spaces and support facilities. Investment in schools is also rocketing - government spending on school buildings reached £5.5 billion in 2005/06. This included £2.1 billion for the Building Schools for the Future Programme, which aims to renew or rebuild every secondary school in England within 15 years.