The Built Environment team includes urban design, sustainability and inclusive design services. We advise on high quality outcomes within the built environment.
We advise and influence the design of villages, towns and cities, streets and spaces. We consider the relationship between movement, nature and the physical form of buildings, streets and neighbourhoods. We are involved in the collaborative and multi-disciplinary process of shaping the physical setting for life, that brings together a variety of subjects relating to the built environment, including planning, transportation, architecture, development economics, sustainability, landscape, engineering, disability access and public realm. We establish frameworks and procedures that will deliver successful places by different people over a period of time.
Our services
It follows the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth which sets out core principles for achieving high quality places. It seeks to achieve this by providing the following services.
We provide urban design advice to planning officers, developers, design teams, community groups and council departments on small and large scale development proposals.
We have expertise in collaborating and guiding development and design teams in producing design codes and masterplans leading to award winning places, urban extensions and new towns. We make sure they are:
- short
- legible
- user-friendly
- inclusive
- engaging
- focused
- authoritative
- quality
- outcome-driven
Our guidance note [PDF, 1.5MB] provides an introduction to design codes and how they should be produced within the planning process.
We have extensive experience in producing and / or advising on design policies in urban and rural contexts for the local plans that are:
- deliverable
- leading to high quality places
- taking account of best practice and emerging thinking such as addressing climate change, biodiversity, health and wellbeing and active travel.
We assist on the following:
- Core strategy – advising on spatial strategy, policies and illustrations
- Site allocations – advising on its acceptability, capacity and spatial principles
- Development management policies – advising on design policies
- Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) – design guidance, frameworks, codes, village design statements and briefs such as the Cambridge Neighbourhoods Design Code for Arbury, King's Hedges and parts of West Chesterton and Village Design Guides.
We offer additional services that enable good design. These include:
- Inclusive engagement, for example: developing and executing strategies and plans for community engagement on a variety of projects co-design, design workshops, design charettes, guided tours and youth engagement service (YES) working closely with local schools
- design related training for developers, elected members, officers, and other interested parties run directly by ourselves
- organising design awards and competitions and design championing.
We provide or facilitate specialist advice to planning officers, developers, design teams and community groups on how public art is secured and delivered through the planning process.
We provides specialist advice on inclusive design and disabled access taking account of national and local policies, building standards and best practice as part of the planning process.
We provide specialist advice on policy development and guidance, assessment of planning applications and monitoring targets that addresses climate change mitigation and adaptation.
This includes:
- reducing energy demand and associated carbon emission
- renewable energy
- water efficiency
- seeking to achieve high sustainable design and construction standards such as BREEAM, and Passivhaus alongside design led approaches to reducing climate risks
- the Greater Cambridge Sustainable Design and Construction SPD, which provides technical guidance for applicants and planning officer to assess planning applications.