we research what works in design, layout and construction, from urban design to comfort and privacy
Joined April 2010
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367 Photos and videos
20 Sep 2024
Appleby Blue Almshouse, Winner of Winners at 76th Housing Design Awards (76th year) now viewable hdawards.org/videos/ alongside £1m video library and 14 case studies of 2024 winners complete with case studies and links to Design & Access Statements hdawards.org/schemes/?_sft_s…
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17 Apr 2024
Our best recent planning minister lets the party who sidelined him in its lurch to populism have it.
16 Apr 2024
Oof - Nick Boles on fire here. 🔥
Best Letter to the Editor I have read in a long time.
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3 Apr 2024
Modern Methods of Construction Primeval Thinking on Design. Why design narrow-fronted deep-plan houses with resulting gloomy interior plans (>90% of rooms will be single aspect), and wreck opportunity for PV arrays with faux-Georgian outriders? Style 1 Health & Climate 0
2 Apr 2024
'The aim was to achieve a strong sense of place, based on the character of historic villages in the locality. The development would aspire to create an environment in which community could flourish. It would be energy efficient and built using Modern Methods of Construction. The intention was to set the new homes within a fabric of traditional streets and spaces, enhanced with trees and greenery, and optimised for biodiversity.'
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7 Mar 2024
2pm @futurebuildnow Amy Burbidge, design lead @homesengland will join Kevin McGeough headofplace @ebbsfleetdc on @Activehouseinfo intro. Hear what largest public clients in country (50,000 homes pa) say standards should not lose sight of #daylight #health #carbon #comfort #space
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27 Feb 2024
2024 deadline for the Housing Design Awards extended from 5 March to end of the day on Tuesday 12 March. Still a fortnight to upload images and data of your latest scheme with recent planning or PC and join the most potent design resource on the internet hdawards.org
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12 Feb 2024
Worth remembering that RIBA attacked Haussmann's Paris 'arrangements' where "utterly dissociated and discordant people live under one roof" -- in 1876 that was how they explained the new fangled apartment buildings with shared cores emerging...
29 Nov 2023
For anybody interested in Urban design this is a just published incredibly beautiful and detailed book on Haussmann’s Paris
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7 Feb 2024
You could tell Redrow faced changes when you see (left) their new types @ebbsfleetdc despite their obsession with the Heritage range (right). I guess that's aping 1930s and integral garage types done. @Barrattplc been the better developer (since Mark Clare shook it up).
7 Feb 2024
Merged Barratt Redrow has a combined revenue of £7.5 billion, completed, 22,600 homes, is holding 92,000 plot land bank. Brands kept separate. Redrow founder Steve Morgan will sell his 16% Redrow stake. Pretty much done deal. Will raise speculation of more M&A to come.
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25 Jan 2024
The Economist demolishes the British love of the Green Belt this week: 38% of the country cannot be built on, just 5% would house 5m new homes, max 9% of country already built on but public think it’s half. @rckarchitects Russell Curtis cited for his work
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24 Jan 2024
Last week FT reported affordability now worst since 1876. Today it reports Treasury crisis meeting on councils who won't be able to carry the cost of resulting homelessness. Yet, as FT asks, why do these red lights on dashboard get no attention when compared with inflation. Why?
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17 Jan 2024
And the form about ordering tables for the black tie event or offering sponsorship opportunities will be more detailed again... These commercial awards are tiresome. You never even know why the scheme wins on the night because it's 1 pic and a few words.
17 Jan 2024
Writing an award submission.
Describe in 250 words why your project should win, referencing the judging criteria'.
The judging criteria are 326 words long.
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17 Jan 2024
What might design codes add to development costs? This page from Amersham's (under consultation) proposes remote parking to avoid cars impacting street scene. But multistoreys cost £10,000 per home. Then there's carbon in concrete frames. How can this help Net Zero new homes?
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4 Oct 2023
2nd leg of 75th Housing Design Awards in Park Hill, Sheffield tonight. Great updates on houses in Nottingham and nr Grimsby. And North is so adept at recycling its past, whether 60s estates or C19th factories and churches. Just check out the shortlist. hdawards.org
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11 Sep 2023
"Reclaim the streets" (in the sky). Deck access gets a Muji make-over at Park Hill phase 2. Guided tour part of the refurbishment of Europe's largest listed building part of 75th Awards event on Wed 4 Oct showcasing ideas worth a proper look lnkd.in/e_ui7bg3
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11 Sep 2023
Greened up parking courts, robust daylit cores, solar shading to modest point blocks, the HDAs' 75th hunt for replicable design moves offers the chance to see what the judges in London (28.09)] coupled to tour of Stirling Prize nominee Central Somers Town lnkd.in/eNGe6akT
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24 Jul 2023
If anywhere doesn't need help, it's Cambridge. In the past decade a city of 140,000 people has seen more good new communities than Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester combined. Oxford (160,000 pop.) is where help is needed as it's developed a fraction in same time span
24 Jul 2023
So ‘a super squad of planning experts’ is being created and sent to Cambridge first. Interested to know what Great Cambs planning think…
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28 Jun 2023
Genia, a lad from Ukraine that @KeepmoatHomes treated to see his team beat Scotland in the World Cup qualifiers, has a new line - making vodka. And every bottle his employer sells generates £1 for first-aid kits for Ukraine civilians. Please buy some dimasvodka.com/collections
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David Birkbeck retweeted
28 May 2023
200 years from now, people are going to be writing PhDs about the social and economic forces that led to a railway being built that looked like this.
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24 May 2023
The refurbed milk float lift to access Park Hill's 'streets', ideal for the HDAs judges to do their 'how many of us can you get in your lift?' test. Spot where they took the floor out and how they've left timbers @urbansplash @HomesEngland @placesforpeople @MikhailRiches
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David Birkbeck retweeted
10 May 2023
Conservative Mayor of Tees Valley, Ben Houchon, accuses Private Eye of at best misreporting a land sale that Private Eye say netted just £100.
Private Eye journalist replies with receipts;
10 May 2023
You did sell it for £100. Here's the Land Registry proof. We also reported the income that the public sector keeps (worth about 18% of what 90%-private-owned Teesworks Ltd gets). Maybe your press office will now answer questions (having refused to before and since the piece).
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