Making Places Jim McMillan RIBA

Assistant Director of Development

That was then……..

…..and this is now

Beyond our doorstep

What our tenants say they want?

1. Repairs2. Quality housing3. Value for money4. Being kept informed5. Tenant enforcement

But what does this mean?

A culture of good design

Set a clear Brief

Get the team right

Get the Process

right

Good Design

Set a clear Brief

Good Design

External Standards

Sustainability Strategy for new build housing

2014

Sustainability Strategy for new build housing

2014

BME Design Guide

2014

BME Design Guide

2014

EMPLOYERS REQUIREMENTS

NEW BUILD FOR RENTREVISION 12

2014

EMPLOYERS REQUIREMENTS

NEW BUILD FOR RENTREVISION 12

2014

Internal Standards

But you could still get this

“Good design is not an optional extra, it is an integral part of the success of any project”

“Well designed housing is a fundamental right of everyone”

Raising the bar

•Context

•Clairty of design

•Architectural ambition

•Access and inclusion

•Sustainability

•Detailing and materials

•Maintenance

•Structure and services

Building for life

• Neighbourhood• Place• Home

‘Improving quality of life through design’

Great Places Project Journal

• Key briefing document, benchmarking,tracking and learning tool

• Requires the team to agree outcomes at project inception

• Revisit at key stages in the course of development• Learning captured and fed back to future schemes • GP Learning Group reviews

our ‘standard’ brief

PROJECT JOURNAL

Devon Street Oldham

PROJECT JOURNAL

Devon Street Oldham

Standard house plans

• Foolproof(?) way to avoid non-compliance• House Plans not Types• Still allows the designer lots of freedom

Get the team right

Good Design

Get the team right

• A skilled team will optimise designs and maximise value

• Team selection based on best value not cheapest

• Get a mixture of experience and fresh ideas• Past schemes are a good indicator (but a bad

scheme could be the clients fault)

Design fees

Lifetime Building Costs

…and if the design is wrong?

Designers - OJEU Selection

• A legal requirement but also an opportunity to see who’s out there

• Build knowledge sharing and joint research events into the framework

Design Competitions

• Brings in ‘young blood’ and fresh ideas

• Can be hard work and not always suitable

• Assess the benefits before committing

• Don’t presume what you will get because you probably won’t get it

Woodward PlaceNew Islington

Guest StreetNew Islington

Get the Process

right

Good Design

Design Champion – high level commitment and guidance

• Promoting a design ‘culture’• Reviewing new schemes• Networking with CABE/Design

Council, HCA, RTPI etc.• Research and development• Updating standard brief and specs.• Organising training and study visits • Disseminating learning • Selecting suitable design teams

Design Reviews • Allows Architects to see

the work of their peers• Lets development staff

know what their colleagues are up to

• Helps improve presentation skills in a ‘friendly’ environment

Design training • Building for Life and Urban

design• Sustainable development• Off Site and ‘lean’ Construction• BIM• Renewable Technologies• Specific Product presentations• Planning and Building Regs

Design training isn’t just for

development staff!

Study Visits and Away Days

Nothing beats seeing the real thing

The Learning Group – “It’s good to talk”

• Project Journal• Learning from previous

mistakes• Customer satisfaction

feedback• Repairs and Asset

management feedback

Learning our lessons

Learning our lessons

Set a clear Brief

Get the team right

Get the Process

right

Good Design

To Recap…

•External standards

•Internal standards

•Design specific brief

•Project journal

•Design Champion

•Design reviews

•Design training

•Study visits

Work with an agreed panel

Competitions bring fresh ideas

Partner with ‘good’ developers

Share knowledge between consultants

Contractor is part of team

Emperors new clothes?

Is it very different from this?

Compared to this?

Thanks for listening