Urban design
Urban design is the process of shaping the physical setting for life in cities, towns and villages. It is the art of making places. It involves the design of buildings, groups of buildings, spaces and landscapes, and establishing the processes that make successful development possible.
Watford Council expects developers to follow current best practice when designing new buildings and delivering new development. The links below relate to a range of design guides produced at local, county and national level:
Watford Character of Area Study - The Study provides detailed analysis of the varied character areas that make up the Borough of Watford.
Residential Design Guide
Adopted by Watford Borough Council in November 2008 as two Supplementary Planning Documents. New residential development and extensions to existing properties are expected to comply with the Residential Design Guide.
Building Futures
Building Futures is an evolving web-based guide, designed to provide practical, user-friendly and up to date guidance for planning officers, developers and the general public on how to make development in Hertfordshire more sustainable and of a higher quality in design terms.
Building for Life
Building for Life is the national standard for well-designed homes and neighbourhoods. The 20 Building for Life criteria are used by the Council to score development proposals for design excellence.
Urban Design Compendium
The Urban Design Compendium provides two user-friendly guides to delivering new development with strong urban design principles. It is a practical guide produced with input from the development sector.
CABE Guidance
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment are the Government’s advisors on architecture, urban design and public space. They have produced a range of helpful documents on delivering development that is strong in urban design terms.
Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPGs)
As well as the design policies included in the Watford District Plan 2000 (Adopted 2003), there are a number of additional documents Watford Borough Council has produced concerning how new development should be designed. These are known as Supplementary Planning Guidance.
For further information, please email using the address below.
How do you rate this information / service?
