CABE wants to see more design review panels

Our How to do design review guide offers practical advice for regional and local bodies setting up their own design review panels.

CABE has issued practical advice aimed at bodies setting up their own design review panel. As development pressure around the country grows, CABE wants to see a series of design review panels improving the quality of schemes.

How to do design review is aimed mainly at regional development agencies, local authorities, and bodies responsible for a particular building sector. Based on CABE's experience in running its national design review panel, which has advised on several thousand schemes since CABE's establishment in 1999, it offers practical tips on setting up and operating a panel. It includes advice on issues such as selecting panel members, dealing with potential conflicts of interest, organising panel meetings, and communicating advice.

Two other documents explaining how CABE's design review service works have been released at the same time. A guide to design review is CABE's first DVD and it shows the national design review panel in action, and the behind the scenes work which leads up to CABE's consideration of a scheme. It is also available to view on the CABE website.

Design review: how CABE evaluates quality in architecture and urban design explains what CABE looks for in assessing the design quality of a scheme. It is a new version of a document first published in 2001, updated to take account of changes in policy since then.