Design & Access Statements/Design Mediation
In recent years, much greater emphasis has been put on achieving good quality design through the planning system, and it has become essential that planning authorities are convinced that schemes have the best design credentials.
How we can help you:
There is often a gulf between the understanding/perception of designers and planning decision-makers. Our urban designers can perform a very effective mediation role, helping to identify areas of agreement, and finding ways of dealing with points of contention. They are also especially well placed to produce the Design and Access Statements (DAS) that are legally required to accompany planning applications.
Our Expertise:
Our urban designers are often retained to act as an interface between the client’s design team, on the one hand, and planning authority design officers and organisations such as the Design Council/CABE and English Heritage, on the other. This mediation role has achieved very positive results in many major schemes, resolving misunderstandings and professional differences before positions become entrenched.
The purpose of a DAS is to explain how a design was arrived at, what local planning policies have been observed, how public engagement has been reflected in the design, and how relevant principles of good design have contributed to the proposal. It is an important mechanism for explaining and justifying planning proposals, and it needs to be constructed and expressed as convincingly as possible. We are able to bring together input from our urban designers, planners, sustainability experts, natural lighting specialists and environmentalists to cover all aspects of a DAS. This can be a self-contained service, or we can supplement the work of the client’s architect and other members of the professional team.
Several of our senior personnel have extensive experience of working with Design Council/CABE, and some are involved in the work of official design review bodies. Some also have overseas experience.
