Quality is key

03 June 2010

Thousands of new homes, and associated facilities, are due to be built across Cambridgeshire over the coming years, which is why a new Quality Panel has been created. The Panel will help Cambridgeshire's Local Authorities to achieve the highest quality standards to which they all aspire.

The Cambridgeshire Quality Panel has been recruited to provide independent and objective feedback to the Local Authorities on major development sites across the County. The Panel members were selected through a rigorous recruitment process, and bring with them a broad range of experience.

The Panel will provide ongoing scrutiny of the emerging master plans of major new sites, and help local authority officers and members in upholding and reinforcing the high quality standards as set out in the Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth. The Panel will be hosted by Cambridgeshire Horizons.

The Quality Panel is about more than just checking design standards, which is why it will comprise experts representing the four areas of the Quality Charter for Growth:
Connectivity - Ensuring new developments are located where they can benefit from high connectivity to jobs and services, and upgrading infrastructure to match the pace of development.
Climate - Checking that new homes are doing their bit to tackle climate change through a variety of innovative approaches to energy, waste and water.
Character - Creating places of character with distinctive neighbourhoods and a public realm that encourages people to walk and cycle.
Community - Building a sense of community by providing a greater choice of housing along with active participation of people in the way their neighbourhoods are run.

The 12 members of the Quality Panel are:

• Robin Nicholson - Chair of the Quality Panel, Senior Director of Edward Cullinan Architects
• David Birkbeck - Design for Homes
• Canda Smith - Landscape Architect
• Nick James - Sustainability Project Manager for BioRegional Quintain Ltd
• John Worthington - Co-founder DEGW
• David Prichard - Founding Partner Metropolitan Workshop
• Oliver Smith - Founder Director 5th Studio
• George Hazel - Chairman MRC McLean Hazel Ltd
• Meredith Bowles - Director of Mole Architects
• Simon Carne - Architect Planner and Urban Design
• Steve Platt - Chairman Cambridge Architectural Research
• Lynne Sullivan - Architect and Partner in Sustainable Design

Robin Nicholson, Chair of the Quality Panel and speaker at next week's Cambridgeshire Horizons Conference, said: "The new Quality Panel is a fantastic opportunity because after many years of planning there is now a real programme of work to review. The Panel has brought together a whole range of disciplines, including transport, community, planning policy, landscape design and architecture, who will be able to share their specialist knowledge with the wider group. The important thing about considering these new developments is that no building is a stand-alone building any longer, it has to relate physically, spatially and environmentally with the existing town or city."

John Williamson, Director for Development at Cambridgeshire Horizons, added: "We are now delighted to see the partnership principles of the Charter being carried through to the new Quality Panel. We have recruited experts in the Charter's Four C's of Climate, Connectivity, Community and Character on the Panel, and look forward to them bringing a fresh perspective to the proposed new developments that will come before them in the future to help the partnership to deliver truly sustainable new communities."

Peter Studdert, Director of Joint Planning for Cambridge Growth Sites and Northstowe, said: "We're very pleased that the Quality Panel has been set up and that it's attracted some tremendous people with a wide range of skills. Our aspiration for the Panel is that they will be able to both challenge and support us to ensure we achieve the highest possible standards of quality in the new developments that we are planning - that's not just making the developments look good, but also ensuring they are well connected, provide the services a community needs close-by and also they help to tackle the challenges of climate change we face."