All new developments must meet local standards of beauty, quality and design under new rules
Local communities will be at the heart of plans to make sure that new developments in their area are beautiful and well-designed.
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30 January 2021 Image credit: Pollard Thomas Edwards; PRP Architects LLP; Jeferson Smith; Tim Crocker Architectural Photography; ADAM Architecture
Communities to be at the heart of plans for well-designed neighbourhoods, to help us Build Back Better
Every council to create their own local design code so new developments can reflect what local communities truly want
New ‘Office for Place’ to be set up, to help communities turn these designs into a local standard for all new developments
Big names call on government to adopt RetroFirst reforms
A host of big names in architecture and the built environment have called on the government to adopt the recommendations of the AJ RetroFirst campaign
A letter to the Times newspaper, published on Saturday, said the government ‘cannot ignore our wasteful addiction to demolition and rebuilding’, particularly amid preparations for the UK to host the COP26 climate summit later this year.
The letter was signed by 35 individuals including Doreen Lawrence, Norman Foster, David Chipperfield, Thomas Heatherwick, Amin Taha, Sadie Morgan and former environment secretary John Gummer.
The letter said adopting the three recommendations of the RetroFirst campaign – cutting VAT on refurbishment to 5 per cent or less; amending planning guidance and the Building Regs to promote reuse of existing buildings; and insisting all publicly funded projects look to retrofit solutions first – ‘would not only underline the UK’s leadership
By Aran Dhillon, Local Democracy Reporter
The Parkside site LAND home to the former Parkside Colliery has been labelled as ‘unequivocally’ one of the best sites to meet employment need during a public inquiry. The virtual public inquiry over plans to regenerate the former Parkside Colliery site in Newton-le-Willows started last week. Proposals to redevelop former colliery, which was shut in 1993, were originally submitted in January 2018 by Parkside Regeneration LLP, a joint venture between developer Langtree and St Helens Borough Council. St Helens Borough Council granted outline planning permission in December 2019, while also giving the green light for the Parkside Link Road project, which is seen as a key element to unlocking the potential of the site.
Robert Jenrick
He forecasted house-price growth of 4% in 2020, despite the wider economic gloom, and anticipated that activity would continue strongly into 2021 before flattening, with further growth to come as the economy reverts to pre-Covid levels by 2023.
Planning reform, the repurposing of surplus retail space, and sustainability would all impact supply, while limited mortgage availability would increasingly push first-time buyers towards help-to-buy, shared ownership, and renting, he said.
When the minister arrived, he reassured delegates that housebuilding and construction would lie at the centre of the UK’s economic recovery.
Having failed to mention build-to-rent in his recently published planning-reform white paper, he risked compounding the offence by also neglecting to mention it in his speech.
Watch: Rise of rail hubs and impact on station design
This video was first broadcast at NCE’s Future of Transport conference 2020.
In this session, industry experts from Crossrail, Network Rail, the Royal Town Planning Institute and Arup debate the impact that the rise of rail hubs and stations as destinations.
The panel discusses the impact rail hubs have for the design and delivery of stations.
Panel:
Network Rail head of station strategy Malcolm Pitt
Royal Town Planning Institute chief executive Victoria Hills
Arup head of infrastructure Tim Chapman