News release

A new urban design manual that sets out strategies for creating quality places and promoting community cohesion has been launched by the government’s key agencies responsible for delivering housing and regeneration. 

The Urban Design Compendium 2 (UDC2) published today (19 September 2007) by national regeneration agency English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation highlights leadership, integration, collaboration, long-term involvement  and legacy as being the five fundamental building blocks of sustainable development.

UDC2 also identifies the main barriers to good urban design and suggests examples for overcoming these, drawing on a range of exemplar schemes in the UK and abroad.  The Compendium is complemented with an interactive web version -www.urbandesigncompendium.co.uk - also being launched today at City Hall in London, as part of Urban Design Week.

Trevor Beattie, English Partnerships’ Director of Corporate Strategy, said: “The first Urban Design Compendium transformed our understanding of what constitutes good urban design. Seven years and 25,000 copies later we need the same transformation in our approach to delivery. Urban Design Compendium 2 is the first complete guide to the process of creating successful sustainable places. It is a practical manual for project delivery and its impact will be measured in the quality of places it inspires.”

Steven Douglas, Acting Chief Executive of the Housing Corporation, said: "Design quality is more important than ever now, with the rise in delivery targets for new homes supported by over £8 billion in Housing Corporation funding - to be carried forwards by the new Homes and Communities Agency in 2008-11.  Without a doubt the Urban Design Compendium2 has a vital part to play in this context, continuing to raise the bar for design.  It backs the clear set of Design and Quality standards which must be met on all projects, and will help create thriving communities supporting people as they live, work and bring up families."

The five steps to creating quality places, as defined by the UDC2, are:

Commitment and leadership – setting policies and targets to promote design quality and sustainability, essential to overcoming complex problems, and helping to inspire the team who aim to deliver a vision.

Integrated approach – understanding that good urban design is sustainable design, important for creating places where people want to be, weaving together principles such as community, resources, built form, landscape, ecology and materials.

Adding value – choosing delivery mechanisms, structures and procurement to deliver quality and value, key to making sure the skills, resources, knowledge and enthusiasm of all players involved are put to best use.

Working collaboratively – ensuring design quality is not watered down during planning and technical approvals and construction, vital for realising the original vision and for enabling funders to generate maximum value from high-quality schemes.

Legacy and management – providing management structures to support communities in the long term, crucial for making sure they function and provide a good quality of life for current and future occupiers. How areas will be governed and managed must influence design decisions.

The publication is aimed at those involved in the development process, including planners, builders, urban designers, architects, registered social landlords, community groups and policy makers. It follows up the definitions of quality outlined in the Urban Design Compendium 1, by exploring how to deliver this quality collaboratively and efficiently to make best use of resources.

The website - www.urbandesigncompendium.co.uk - includes further case studies, images and project information. It also includes an area for visitors to the site to contribute their best practice examples and experiences of developing quality places, to help encourage knowledge sharing and learning.

The Urban Design Compendium 2 was compiled by Roger Evans Associates and a working group led by English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation and Communities and Local Government. The group included representatives from Ashford Borough Council, Essex County Council, Peter Barber Architects, Igloo, WSP, Bartlett School of Planning, CABE, Malmo City Council, Arup, The Young Foundation, Beyond Green, ATLAs and Space Syntax.

English Partnerships is the government’s national regeneration agency delivering high quality, sustainable growth in England. We do this by developing our portfolio of strategic projects and acting as the government’s advisor on brownfield land. We also ensure that surplus public sector assets are used to support wider government objectives. English Partnerships helps create communities where people can afford to live and want to live.

English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation are working with the Department for Communities and Local Government to establish the proposed Homes and Communities agency.

The Housing Corporation is the government's national affordable homes agency, responsible for investing in new affordable homes and regulating nearly 2,000 housing associations across England.  The Corporation's £8 billion investment programme for 2008-11 is its biggest ever.  Its previous investment programme of £3.9 billion for 2006-08 is funding 84,000 homes; 49,000 of these are for affordable rent, and 35,000 are for affordable sale through the Government's HomeBuy initiatives, helping people to get a foot on the property ladder.