New design review guidance published as number of design review panels doubles to 81 across England

The number of design review panels has more than doubled over the last five years. The first-ever survey to map design review panels found that 81 panels were up and running across England with nearly 75 per cent of them set up since 2003.

The current spread is eight regional panels, nine sub-regional and 63 local panels. Now almost every local authority has access to a panel. Design review can play a vital role in helping local authorities meet their statutory duty under the Planning Act 2008 ‘to have regard to the desirability of achieving good design.’

In response to this demand, Design review: principles and practice, has been launched, to promote consistently high standards for all panels at whatever level, based upon ten best practice principles for good design review. The guidance has been developed by CABE, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and the Landscape Institute (LI). It updates CABE’s earlier version published in 2006, How to do design review, as well as previous RIBA guidance on local design review panels.

The guidance is divided into three sections. The first looks at the role of design review, who can benefit from it and how it works at regional, sub-regional and local levels. The second section has nine case studies of design review in practice, including a local design review panel in Sheffield, a sub-regional panel in North Staffordshire and interviews with panel chairs.

Martin Stockley, is the chair of Places Matter!, one of the panels featured in the publication. He comments: 'It is a mark of the achievement of design review that it has become hard to imagine a time without it. In place of the question, 'why design review?' we are now simply asked, 'how?.’ This new guidance answers that question in a clear and concise way, and we hope it will help widen the availability of this invaluable service.'

The final section explains how to get the best out of design review and how to ensure best practice, for example, by being transparent and diverse. It gives practical advice on how to set up a panel. The guidance looks at particular challenges, such as achieving the balance between confidentiality and public scrutiny.

The publication will be of interest to anyone running a panel or wanting to establish one. This includes local authorities, architects, developers, planners, clients and other design professionals using the planning system who need to understand the network of panels and how to access them.