'Building for Life'
As the national standard against which the design of homes and neighbourhoods can be measured, 'Building for Life' is a key theme of DDQ.
The 'Building for Life' standards (www.buildingforlife.org) have been endorsed by both the Home Builders Federation (www.hbf.co.uk) and CABE (www.cabe.org.uk).
BfL has 3 core criteria under which a series of 20 questions are used to evaluate the quality of new housing developments. If a design does not achieve a score of at least 12 out of 20, it would not normally be considered good enough to be given planning permission. In our drive to revitalise neighbourhoods and communities, TSY is looking for developments to score 14 and above. This will fulfil our ambition for over 50% of new developments to achieve BfL good or excellent standard – and to win Gold or Silver awards.
Local authorities are now asked to include in their annual monitoring report for Government records on the number of completed housing schemes achieving BfL standards. TSY is working closely with CABE to ensure that each local authority has at least one accredited assessor. Several of TSY’s own staff and a number of our Enablers are, or will, also be assessors.
The DDQ programme is well placed to offer support to both developers and local authorities.
For Developers
BfL assessments of new schemes. This is most effective at the 'concept design' stage, and will assist with Design and Access Statements and help avoid problems down the line with the planning authorities. It will also help developers seeking financial or other support from the Homes and Communities Agency (www.homesandcommunities.co.uk)
For Local Authorities
- Independent moderation to review BfL assessments undertaken as part of the development management process
- Independent moderation of BFL assessments undertaken as part of the annual monitoring returns
- Assistance with undertaking annual BfL assessments themselves or to review BfL assessments and compile returns to CLG
Our Current BfL-accredited Enablers
- Alex Ely
- Michael Rushe
- Justine Leach
- Andrew Beard
- Matt Quayle
- Eira Hughes
- Peter O'Brien
Events
A workshop was held to introduce BfL to RSL's working in South Yorkshire. This encompassed a full explanation of BfL, the policy and guidance that underpins it, as well as an explanation of the 20 criteria and how the scoring works. Added to this was a full explanation of what BfL means for RSL's and housing developers and how it can be used at all project stages to set objectives, influence design, test options and enhance the design process, as well as the official scoring and evaluation of planning applications and built schemes.
In addition, representatives from local authorities and developers who had experience of successfully using BfL, explained how they have used the tool.
This was followed by a site visit to a local scheme that was used to explore the criteria and provide an opportunity to evaluate and score a real-life project. Discussion and feedback following the site visit provided a useful way of exploring particular issues and understanding how pre-application discussions might have improved particular aspects.
Two 'accredited assessor' training events have been held for Planning and Highways Officers from all the local authorities in South Yorkshire and part of the East Midlands (the Sheffield City Region). Architectural Liaison Officers from the Derbyshire and South Yorkshire Police forces also attended. These were to support the authorities in having at least one 'accredited assessor' on their staff. Participants had the opportunity to learn about BfL and how it should be used, to put this learning into practice on a real-life planning application. To complete their training, participants now have to undertake a formal test assessment, and submit this to CABE.
