Placemaking is about creating communities that are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.
During 2024, we have been developing our Placemaking Charter, a new framework to further embed strong placemaking standards across our business. The Charter is based around five key principles:
For each of the five principles, we are developing detailed design and delivery proof points enabling us to more easily assess whether every scheme is meeting our standards. A year-long programme of training and upskilling for our teams will be rolled out in 2025.
The Charter reflects best practice such as Building for a Healthy Life and is aligned with the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code. It is supported by detailed guidance such as our Approach to Placemaking and Guide to Green Infrastructure.
Our Director of Design and Group Urban Designer work with our teams on placemaking. Both have qualifications in architecture and urban design. They review the design of every new scheme at least once and provide feedback on any improvements needed. Going forward, schemes will be reviewed and scored against our Placemaking Charter.
We have a Design Lead in each regional business and strategic land team to champion good design at the regional level.
We work with many organisations on placemaking to share our views and learn from the expertise of others. In 2024, organisations we engaged with included the Academy of Urbanism, BOB-MK (a design network for Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes), Design for Homes, Home Builders Federation, Homes England, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Royal Institute of British Architects, Royal Town Planning Institute and the Urban Design Group. Our Design Director chairs the Place and Nature workstream for the Future Homes Hub.
We celebrate good design and placemaking through our annual internal competition. This raises the profile of design around the business and recognises teams for applying good practice. We had entries from 20 business units and our strategic land teams in 2024, which were judged by our design leads and members of our GMT, with heads of functions reviewing entries in relevant categories. Environmental impacts of schemes are one of the criteria considered.
A key focus for the competition in 2024 was excellence in stakeholder engagement, with criteria relating to engagement with local communities and local planning authorities, delivery to customers and long term management and maintenance.
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