Government sets agenda with building design initiative

The Government has launched World Class Places, a strategy aimed at improving the quality of our public spaces. We explain why it's good news for architects and suppliers alike.

The 52-page report is published jointly by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, and Communities and Local Government. It outlines steps the Government will be taking to 'create prosperous, attractive, distinctive, inclusive and sustainable world class places' within Britain. Part of the philosophy behind the new strategy is to promote 'joined-up thinking', by bringing together ongoing work and new initiatives from across Government. The report acknowledges how design influences crime rates, health, community cohesion and prosperity, as well as having a major impact on wildlife and climate change.

The RIBA has been quick to welcome the plans, in particular the announcement of a 'design threshold' for future public building programmes. This will include a minimum design standard for all new schools delivered via the Building Schools For The Future programme. Client design advisors are also to be attached to every new school project.

The initiative further promises the imposition of 'quality of place objectives and targets' on all departments, and to investigate attaching conditions to the disposal of public land to ensure that developments meet prescribed standards.

Ewan Willars, Head of Policy at the RIBA says, "It is great to see Government acting in a joined up way on design quality and improving our public places. It is also good to see that Government... will shortly be publishing an action plan to take this agenda forward. We look forward to working in partnership (with government) to improve the quality of design within our communities."

The process of defining and implementing new standards is likely to draw much debate, providing potential opportunity for marketers of building products. Elsewhere in this issue we discuss maximising search and content to increase your profile online . Specifiers will be on the look-out for new and useful information on the initiative. Technical articles offering intelligent comment – and highlighting the author's own products' compliance with current best practice – will help build and maintain the profile of author, manufacturer and product. An example of this idea put into practice is Eurobond's recent article  Fire performance and the exterior building envelope published on theNBS.com.

Download a free copy of World Class Places from the Communities and Local Government website.

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