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KEYNOTE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
- There needs to be a wider understanding of the complex process of private sector housing development and concerted efforts are needed to permit more time for design and reduce delays in overall delivery
- Design quality covers a wide range of issues and to address this in a comprehensive way requires, in the first instance, the development of a clear design ethos within developer organisations.
- In this, developers need to recognise that design quality has become a more important component of the development process, both in relation to the nature of demand and the approvals process
- In parallel, there is a need for a strategic change from the reliance on development gains based on land-related issues to development gains based on design-related issues which have a positive impact on housing quality
- Developers require to use well-qualified designers with a good understanding of the development process, if they are to strategically engage with design in all aspects of their activity
- To increase delivery and reduce increases in prices resulting from the current limited supply, as well as permit design to become more important in the competitive development process, an adequate supply of both green-field and brown-field land is required to address rising demand
- The planning system has a key role to play in housing delivery and this requires more adequately staffed and skilled planning departments and Councillors with a realistic understanding of the economics of the development process and a more consistent approach to housing land and approvals processes
- Early engagement with planners in consideration of regulatory constraints and willingness to negotiate concerning the approvals process in any site development is an essential aspect of a proactive and collaborative approach to planning issues
- In addition to developers, local authorities, landowners and other interested parties should all use more proactive approaches to ensure that design quality is high on the agenda in each development
- While developers should take the lead where possible in proposing quality in design statements etc., clearer, more detailed and consistent design guidance needs to be provided and applied with much close coordination across different regulatory bodies
- There is a need for increased support for design-related training for a wide range of parties including key decision-makers in the application of policies and guidance in practice - whether planners, Councillors, developers, architects and related design staff
- There is a need for deeper market research concerning the nature of housing demand and a customer-focussed approach to the adoption of modern manufacturing processes in housing delivery
- Government needs to provide research support for the housing sector on issues such as a more sustainable approach to design, varied demand and strategic trends
- Changing wider public attitudes to design also requires government support for innovation though wider media channels
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