Ten year review

Ten year
review

Published in 2009 by the Commission for
Architecture and the Built Environment.
Cover photo: Old Market Square, Nottingham.
CABE helped the city council to deliver an awardwinning
public space by developing a strong design
brief and managing a design competition.
Old Market Square by Gustafson Porter © Dom Henry
Opposite: Eden Project founder Tim Smit (centre),
leads a group of Bodmin College pupils around the
world’s largest greenhouse, as part of CABE’s How
Places Work campaign in 2007.
Eden by Grimshaw Architects © Chris Saville /Apex
CABE is the government’s advisor on architecture,
urban design and public space. As a public body,
we encourage policymakers to create places that
work for people. We help local planners apply
national design policy and advise developers and
architects, persuading them to put people’s needs
first. We show public sector clients how to
commission projects that meet the needs of their
users. And we seek to inspire the public to demand
more from their buildings and spaces. Advising,
influencing and inspiring, we work to create
well-designed, welcoming places.
Design: johnson banks.
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Contents
Foreword 5
1 How does CABE help local decision-makers choose good design? 6
2 What has CABE done for better homes? 14
3 What can CABE offer our schools? 22
4 What has CABE done for quality of life? 30
5 What is CABE doing about climate change? 38
6 What has CABE done to secure value for money? 46
1999–2009: a decade of change 50
3

Royal Festival Hall, London: CABE reviewed designs for
new building and a masterplan for the South Bank area.
After refurbishment, we organised a visit to the RFH for
local schoolchildren, led by the project architects
Royal Festival Hall, refurbishment by Allies and Morrison Architects © Dennis Gilbert/VIEW

Foreword
On CABE’s 10th anniversary it is natural to ask
if we have made a difference. I strongly believe that
we have. You might think that’s only natural too – but
it’s not just my opinion: in this review we have drawn
together evidence to answer six questions about
our effectiveness.
What has CABE done to help local decision-makers
choose good design? What have we done for better
homes? What does CABE offer our schools? What
have we done for quality of life? We have looked at
this through quality of public space, which is so
critical to health and well-being, from encouraging
exercise to flood protection and urban cooling. But
what else is CABE doing about climate change?
And finally, what have we done to secure value
for money?
It strikes me that our most valuable role is to
give people the confidence to stand up for quality.
Whether you are a councillor, a developer, a
designer, a young person or an officer in a local
authority, we know how tough and politically
charged life can be. And when you are dealing
with a host of pressures, it can make all the
difference to have someone advising you to
persevere for what you know is right.
Of course, to trust advice you need to know that
it is expert and informed by the experience of
delivery. You can be confident of getting that kind
of advocacy from CABE, drawing on a decade of
public service that has included conducting
3,000 design reviews and enabling 650 projects.
To trust advice you also need to know that it is
impartial and independent. I find it interesting
that, when CABE is consulted by other countries,
commentators usually remark with some surprise
on the fact that we are paid by the government to
speak our mind. And to be fair, it is government that
should take credit for that.
The evidence suggests that CABE has achieved
a lot. And yet there is obviously a great deal more
to do. Not least to help ensure that throughout
England the built environment is designed to
respond positively to the imperative of global
warming – and become a better place to live as
a direct result.
I think that prevailing winds are strong. Irrespective
of the constraints on public funding, development
is going on, places are evolving for better or worse,
and the public are keenly aware how much their
surroundings affect their quality of life. They know
that architecture, urban design and public space
shape our society in powerful ways.
I hope that you will be encouraged by this review. ■
Sir John Sorrell CBE
Chair, CABE
CABE Ten year review 5

Castleford Footbridge, West Yorkshire: CABE reviewed the
design for the town’s bridge and helped local people take
the lead on regeneration plans
Castleford Footbridge by McDowell+Benedetti © David Millington Photography Ltd

How does
CABE help
local decisionmakers
choose
good design?

Liverpool One –
regeneration, not just shopping
The redevelopment of 17 hectares at the heart
of a city centre offers a rare opportunity to create a
genuinely new place. CABE was involved with the
Liverpool One project for six years.
We considered an early proposal by another
developer to be inward looking and low quality.
Our opposition helped to ensure the proposal was
rejected at planning. A new scheme integrated the
development far more successfully with the city.
Liverpool’s assistant executive director of
regeneration, Mike Burchnall, believes that CABE’s
fundamental concerns about the earlier retail
scheme paved the way for a better project: ‘CABE
helped the city council to develop a scheme that
would contribute to regeneration as well as provide
shopping facilities. We received some good handson
design advice from them on the masterplan and
design approach for significant buildings.’
CABE was also concerned about plans for a large
bus station. But we advised that work on the rest
of the masterplan should continue while a new
solution was created to link the city centre and
the waterfront better. This pragmatic approach was
appreciated by Rod Holmes, formerly of Grosvenor
Estates and now chair of the Mersey Partnership:
‘CABE’s sensible advice helped to keep the project
on track. We never felt CABE was a hurdle. From
day one we felt part of a new urban agenda, and
heading in the same direction. And when the
secretary of state considered the scheme for public
inquiry, CABE’s almost unqualified support was
very important indeed.’
Liverpool One was delivered in time for the
European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008.
It includes 580 apartments, two department stores
and a 14-screen cinema. Since it opened, footfall
to Albert Dock has increased by 42 per cent. The
masterplan is shortlisted for the 2009 Stirling Prize. ■
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CABE Ten year review
Way ahead: CABE provided design advice on the masterplan
and design approach for significant buildings at Liverpool One
‘We never felt CABE was a
hurdle. From day one we were
heading in the same direction.
When the secretary of state
considered the scheme for
public inquiry, CABE’s almost
unqualified support was very
important indeed’
Rod Holmes, formerly of Grosvenor Estates
and now chair of the Mersey Partnership
Liverpool One by BDP Architects © David Millington Photography Ltd

Dalby Forest Visitor Centre by White Design © Paul White Photography
How does CABE help
local decision-makers
choose good design?
Through CABE, high-quality independent design
advice is free to local decision-makers in England.
We help them choose great buildings and spaces
for the communities they serve.
Nearly all CABE’s advice is offered at the local
level. We are involved with individual projects
coming forward across the country, giving advice
that is specific to each place. Because we view
almost every major development in the country,
CABE is uniquely able to help both the public
and private sector commission and support
better design.
We have done this in many ways: through enabling,
training and campaigning. But most well known
has been design review. Since 1999, CABE
has reviewed more than 3,000 major development
proposals that have been in the planning process.
Dalby Forest Visitor Centre, Yorkshire: winner of the Prime Minister’s
Better Public Building Award for 2007. The centre was recognised for
using local materials and local suppliers – and it is designed to be
recycled at the end of its life. The CABE-led award has been running
since 2001 and along the way it has recognised schools, libraries, a
hospital, a gallery – and a relief road
We have assessed the quality of each design
proposal and given practical advice which remains
confidential until the client chooses to submit a
planning application. In all, 85 per cent of all local
authorities have chosen to make use of our free
national design review service over the last 10
years and 70 per cent subsequently took planning
decisions in accordance with CABE’s advice.
CABE’s advice is giving decision-makers
confidence to choose good design and reject
poor design quality. CABE has consistently helped
planning teams focus on the core principles of
good urban design. Schemes like Liverpool One,
Leicester High Cross, Sheffield Millennium Square
and Exeter Princesshay came to design review and
have been built better as a result.
Height has often been a highly contentious issue
for local decision-makers. In the early part of this
decade, many English cities eagerly sought to
commission tall buildings. In London these included
the Heron Tower and Renzo Piano’s ‘shard of glass’.
Manchester backed Ian Simpson’s 47-storey Hilton.
All these proposals benefited from CABE’s advice.
The breadth of experience from seeing almost
every major development in the country also
creates an opportunity to share ideas and learning
from separate projects across local government.
Together with English Heritage, CABE first
published guidance on tall buildings in 2003.
This set out how intelligent new architecture can
make positive contributions to towns and cities
and enhance the historic environment. It also
helped councillors with huge responsibilities
to make far more informed decisions about the
future of their places.
The support of CABE and many others has
contributed to a raft of new buildings and spaces
emerging since the Millennium. It is worth recalling
this architectural renaissance, not least because of
our collective tendency for self-denigration. Since
1999, local authorities and others have had the
CABE Ten year review 9

Manchester Civil Justice Centre by Denton Corker Marshall © David Millington Photography Ltd

City Library, Newcastle by Ryder Architecture © Tim Crocker www.timcrocker.co.uk
confidence to back bold commissions that
include the Barbara Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield,
the Manchester Civil Justice Centre, the Collection
in Lincoln, the Chipping Norton Sports Centre and
the remodelling of St Martin in the Fields, London.
In each case they have done this with independent
advice from CABE.
As well as backing high-quality contemporary
architecture when it merited support, we have
opposed schemes that have not been good enough.
On four occasions over the last decade, CABE has
even taken part in public inquiries. In each case, our
views on design have counted in the inspector’s
decision. In York, we successfully opposed a badly
designed shopping scheme in 2003, to prevent it
from blighting the city, and the application was
ultimately rejected.
Alongside the process of design review, CABE
has offered regular training to planning officers,
councillors, and their strategic advisors. CABE
has run workshops for local planning departments
to improve their core strategies, helping them to
understand their place and set out a clear spatial
vision for the future. And we have delivered design
training to the Planning Inspectorate in each of the
last three years, targeting their 35 designated
design champions who then cascade the training
throughout the Inspectorate.
Like anyone, local decision-makers value individual
recognition and support. In 2001, CABE helped to
launch the Prime Minister’s Better Public Building
Award, which celebrates schemes that are both
well designed and well procured. We have also
encouraged a network of local design champions as
a way to encourage stronger local leadership. These
efforts to embed a culture in local government that
values good design have become more significant
since the Planning Act 2007 gave local authorities
a specific duty to deliver good design.
But when is a critical friend like CABE really of most
help to local decision-makers? The reality is that
Manchester Civil Justice Centre: CABE offered enabling advice at
the start of the project and reviewed design proposals. The resulting
building, which features 47 courtrooms and a 60-metre glass façade,
was commended by Prime Minister’s Award judges as ‘a modern rival
to the Royal Courts of Justice.’ CABE has advised on the designs of 11
courts buildings nationwide
City Library, Newcastle: CABE supported the city council by advising
on the design brief and evaluation criteria and commenting on final
designs for this PFI project, which opened in June 2009. Tony Durcan,
the council’s head of culture, says: ‘CABE helped us articulate and
maintain our ambitions. Without CABE I don’t think we would have
been as successful’
even when they aspire to create better places,
councillors and officers are often faced with
proposals from property developers for whom
achieving a good design is not the primary motive.
Short cuts are defended on the grounds of
affordability, despite the glaring evidence that
bad development destroys the viability of so
many communities.
In practice, developers can often hold local
authorities to ransom by threatening to walk away
unless they accept what’s on the table. When that
happens, it takes vision and dogged leadership to
insist on high design standards. CABE’s job has
been to stand alongside these local decisionmakers
and reassure them that the fundamentals
and dividends of good design apply everywhere.
CABE Ten year review 11

The Collection, Lincoln: this new city museum, housing artefacts
reflecting Lincoln’s development and offering exhibition and learning
spaces, opened in 2005. CABE helped the city council to select an
architect, advised on the design of the building with two design reviews
– and contributed to the masterplan for regenerating the wider
Flaxengate district
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CABE Ten year review
What has it cost to deliver this advice to towns
and cities up and down the country? Last year,
design review cost the taxpayer £650,000 at
an average cost of around £2,500 per review.
That seems like very good value if the 120,000
homes seen at design review in the last year
emerge better, or if it improves public places in
major urban development schemes worth
up to £4 billion.
85 per cent of local authorities
use our design review service
Local decision-makers in turn value CABE because
it is independent. And most developers respect a
judgement based on the opinion of professionals
with no stake in the project but a great deal of
experience from highly successful schemes
elsewhere. Over the last 10 years, CABE has
been instrumental in making design the focus of
all new development. This has succeeded in raising
expectations and achieving life-enhancing projects
across the country.
As Britain deals with recession and contemplates
recovery, the importance of places that are well
designed and well maintained will become ever
more apparent. Local people in positions of
responsibility will need all the support we can
give them. ■
The Collection by Panter Hudspith Architects © Michele Turriani

CGI of London 2012 Olympic Park, urban design and landscape framework by EDAW/Allies and Morrison Architects © ODA
London 2012 – supporting good
design and getting value for money
Park life: the Olympic park in east London will include 10 hectares of
meadows and access to 3km of neglected rivers. It is probably the most
important legacy project from London 2012
London 2012 is the largest, most high-profile
regeneration project in Europe right now.
Expectations for the Olympic and Paralympic
Games are huge, both at home and abroad. CABE
has worked with the Olympic Delivery Authority
(ODA) to ensure that good design and value for
money have been at the heart of the project.
A CABE-run London 2012 design review panel
has scrutinised every major design proposal and
the ODA has used a CABE methodology to assess
whether projects are delivering value. We have
contributed to the design development of 26
schemes. ODA chief executive David Higgins says:
‘The advice and input from CABE, including regular
design reviews and contribution to the planning
committee, has been vital in making sure we were
delivering on design quality with no added time or
cost. CABE endorsed the principle of investing
in value.’
After the success of the 2008 Olympics, many
people expected London to try to commission an
extravagant stadium like the Beijing ‘bird’s nest’.
But CABE encouraged the architects to exploit
the design possibilities of a more cost-efficient,
temporary stadium that could be converted to a
smaller capacity after the Games.
CABE has also raised aspirations for the ordinary
projects that will support 2012, like the utilities
buildings and infrastructure. Our concerns about
the original bridge proposals led to the appointment
of new designers, whose rational and elegant
alternative helped to develop the wider park design.
And CABE’s insistence on flexibility and quality
ensured changes were made to the materials and
details of the broadcast and media centre and car
park, which will help the buildings to work better
together as a place after the Games have closed.
But the most important legacy project is probably
the park. This will become one of Europe’s biggest
new urban parks for 150 years. Recognising this
opportunity, CABE seconded its head of public
space, Peter Neal, to advise on how it should be
governed, funded, designed and managed. It will
be environmentally sustainable and offer something
for everyone.
‘It is vital that good design runs through the heart
of the ODA and is incorporated into every aspect
of the planning and delivery,’ says David Higgins.
‘Involving CABE from the start has helped us to get the
most out of the park and venues for the long term. ’ ■
‘Involving CABE from the start
has helped us to get the most
out of the park and venues for
the long term’
David Higgins, chief executive
Olympic Delivery Authority

Cranfields Mill, Ipswich by John Lyall Architects © Morley von Sternberg
What has
CABE done for
better homes?

Cranfields Mill, Ipswich: CABE reviewed designs for the
waterfront redevelopment and championed the bold use
of tall buildings in this setting

Cranfields Mill, Ipswich:
giving the council confidence
High ambition: the redeveloped Cranfields Mill features a 23-storey
tower that is now the tallest building in Suffolk
Cranfields Mill is an ambitious project right on
the dockside at Ipswich. The scheme features 300
homes, restaurants, shops, offices and a theatre for
regional arts agency Dance East. It is an integral
part of regeneration plans for the Suffolk town.
CABE first saw the proposal, by London-based
John Lyall Architects, when it came to our design
review panel in 2004. We liked the ambition, as
well as the way the architecture integrated with
the historic waterfront.
But the intention to introduce a 23-storey tower –
the tallest building in Suffolk – met with some local
opposition and we shared a few of those concerns.
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CABE Ten year review
The residential towers that made up the scheme
needed to work better with the buildings on
the waterfront.
This was Ipswich Borough Council’s first encounter
with CABE. Its conservation and urban design
manager, Bob Kindred, says the fact that CABE
championed the bold use of tall buildings in
this setting, but also wanted changes, proved
instrumental. ‘It gave the planning committee the
confidence it needed to support the proposal, and
at the same time to demand better quality design.’
The scheme has faced uncertainties, not least when
a dip in the residential market put funding at risk.
But CABE’s involvement helped the local authority
both to maintain quality and retain the original
architect throughout.
The scheme is due for completion in autumn 2009.
East of England Development Agency director
George Bennett says that CABE’s insistence on
high quality has helped to make Cranfields Mill a
flagship development: ‘This has created widespread
confidence in the regeneration of the area.’ ■
‘CABE gave the planning
committee the confidence it
needed to support the proposal,
and to insist on better
quality design’
Bob Kindred, Conservation and urban
design manager, Ipswich Borough Council
Cranfields Mill, Ipswich by John Lyall Architects © Morley von Sternberg

Rostron Brow, Stockport by TADW Architects © Eddy Rhead eddyrhead@hotmail.com
What has CABE done
for better homes?
For the last decade, CABE has set about
ensuring that the people who fund, build and buy
new homes specify good design and are determined
to demand good quality housing. This is unfinished
business. But a lot has changed.
First, there was a problem of definition. What is
good design, after all? In response, CABE has
worked with the Home Builders Federation (HBF) to
establish a set of criteria against which anyone can
judge the quality of homes. Over the last eight years,
Building for Life – a joint initiative led by CABE and
the HBF – has become the national standard for
well-designed homes and been widely adopted
across the public and private sectors.
Second, there was an absence of data. So CABE
set about identifying the scale and nature of the
problem. Between 2004 and 2006, our housing
audits provided a vivid insight into the kind of places
that had planning permission in the period before
2003. This research established a benchmark for
housing quality across England which can now be
used to measure progress over the next 10 years.
The housing audit was important because it made
the quality of homes as important as the volume
and speed at which they are produced. CABE
recommended that Building for Life be embedded
in the planning system as a way to improve the
quality and consistency of decision-making. Since
then, CABE has trained 306 individuals as
accredited assessors, working with regional
architecture centres. By 2011, every single local
authority will have trained assessors.
CABE has provided enabling advice
on 370 housing-related projects
Housing is developed within a policy context.
When CABE was set up, national planning
guidance was not just unclear on design – it was
counterproductive. Our advice helped change this.
CABE contributed decisively to PPS1, which
changed the presumption in favour of good design,
and PPS3, which set out more clearly than ever
before how planners should consider design.
Building for Life has now been brought into the
performance management framework for local
government, through annual monitoring returns.
And for the first time ever, the government itself
now has a target for the quality of housing in its
departmental strategic objectives.
Rostron Brow, Stockport: a small scheme for Northern Counties
Housing Association whose design responds sensitively to its historic
town centre setting. Rostron Brow won a Building for Life award in 2008.
We’ve given 69 of these standards for good housing design so far
CABE Ten year review 17

As the policy context has shifted in favour of design,
so CABE has produced state-of-the-art guidance on
how to create great places through planning. This
has changed the terms of the debate. There is now
a canon of practical guidance on residential design
available to planners and developers alike, from By
design (2000) and Better places to live (2001), to
Design and access statements (2006).
Over the last 18 months, we have shifted our focus
to support over 50 local authorities preparing their
local development frameworks. CABE has helped
them to embed a design ethos in their core strategy
Estate of the nation: CABE’s housing audits of 2004 – 2006 found
that most consumers were getting a raw deal on new home design.
Just 18 per cent were judged good or better – with one in three so poor
they shouldn’t have been given planning permission. An affordable
housing survey for the Homes and Communities Agency in 2008 found
most new schemes to be average. Using Building for Life, CABE is
working closely with developers and the HCA to improve standards
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CABE Ten year review
– the overarching document that all local authorities
produce setting out their 15 to 20-year vision for a
place – so any prospective developer understands
the kind of places wanted. The critical analysis that
has been so lacking in the past is emerging through
this process.
We’ve awarded Building for Life
standards to 69 housing schemes
– 32 of which have been gold
standard
Much of the power of CABE’s influencing work has
derived from direct experience. For the last seven
years, we have offered practical advice to both local
agencies and communities as they plan for, design
and deliver new homes. We have provided direct
technical support through the contribution of our
enablers and staff to 652 projects. Of those, 370
have been within housing-related programmes,
addressing a range of places and contexts – from
empty homes and economic decline, to complex
estate renewal, major new developments and urban
extensions.
We have helped clients to create exemplary new
housing in places like White City in London (the
Bourbon Lane scheme by Octavia Housing and
Care), Canklow in Rotherham (with South Yorkshire
Housing Association) and Boscombe in Dorset
(new housing and community library). We have
worked with community groups and local authorities
on estate renewal programmes like the regeneration
scheme for Southey Owlerton in north Sheffield, and
the redevelopment of the Lyng Estate in West
Bromwich. We have given expert advice on
proposals for major urban extensions in places from
Northstowe near Cambridge to Cranbrook in Devon
and Bardon Grange in Leicestershire. And we have
funded local architecture centres to help the public
get involved in housing and regeneration plans for
their area. MADE, for example, successfully used a
mix of IT, workshops and activities in the community
Regency View, Tividale © Jon Walter / Third Avenue

Adelaide Wharf, London by AHMM © Timothy Soar
Adelaide Wharf, London: this 147-home canalside scheme
in Hackney was a Building for Life award winner in 2008

to help people in Birmingham influence the look
and feel of local development and envisage how it
would affect their own community.
Among the greatest barriers to delivery has, of
course, been the lack of skills. CABE has
championed new ways to create a body of
professionals with the right skills to produce good
quality homes. Flagship events like the urban design
summer school have run every year since 2004,
training 667 councillors, officers and practitioners.
A year later, CABE pioneered a national programme
of design training for 600 highway professionals:
this was the first design training this group had ever
been offered that required them to think about
places in the round, rather than just roads.
Meanwhile, 38 design task group events have been
held around the country. These in turn have given
1,130 individuals from 369 organisations the
chance to learn how best to deliver plans for
housing growth and market renewal.
CABE has also shifted the priorities of its work on
design review as housing need has become more
urgent. In 2008/09, we reviewed a record 205
separate housing schemes. Our advice on these
developments will influence the quality of more than
120,000 new homes. You get a flavour of design
review from the stories of schemes like the Paper
Mill Site in Bury. CABE reviewed the scheme in
March 2006 and said a fundamental rethink was
required. When the client team returned in July that
year, the new designs showed a clear hierarchy of
streets, each with a different character; good
connections to the surrounding area; and an
excellent arrangement of the housing. The scheme
received outline planning permission and future
residents will live in a place they can be proud of.
So where have we reached in 2009? Few people
today contest the importance of good design, and
there is a growing list of exemplary neighbourhoods
where most people would love to live. In 2007, for
example, nine schemes were awarded the Building
for Life standard; in 2008, it was 28.
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CABE Ten year review
Bourbon Lane, West London: this 78-home Octavia Housing and Care
scheme incorporates social, shared ownership and affordable homes on
a tight central London site. CABE led a housing design competition for
the site as part of an Anglo-French housing initiative. The completed
Bourbon Lane won a Design for Homes award and a Building for Life
standard in 2008
By 2011, every English local
authority will have accredited
Building for Life assessors
CABE has directly changed the policies and
practical means by which public agencies fund and
plan for new housing. We have helped stimulate an
ambition within the housing industry to continuously
improve its product. We have fought for the quality
of individual schemes and we have given many
planners the confidence to make decisions in favour
of good design.
And yet it is true that much of our housing stock
remains poor, both in absolute terms and with
respect to environmental standards. We remain
some way from ‘good ordinary’ everywhere. Despite
the recession, we must see high-quality homes as a
prerequisite for public and community support. It is
not a matter of tiresome regulation, but a wise
investment decision, and a common right to live
in a place that is designed and built well. ■
Bourbon Lane, west London, by Cartwright Pickard Architects © Michele Turriani

The Armouries, Royal Arsenal Riverside, London by A&Q Partnership © Berkeley Homes
Royal Arsenal, Woolwich:
perseverance wins the day
United for Arsenal: at Woolwich the interests of the developer, local
people and national heritage have all had to be taken into account
The Royal Arsenal, on the Thames at Woolwich,
south-east London, is one of the capital’s most
important heritage sites. It features 22 Grade I and
II listed buildings dating back to 1671, designed by
architects including Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh.
Following its closure as an armaments complex by
the Ministry of Defence in the late 1960s, the 31hectare
site became a focus for regeneration.
Transforming the Royal Arsenal into a successful
new community, while maintaining its historic
character, has required a careful balance of interests
of developer, local community and national heritage.
CABE had to draw on all of its experience of
reviewing ambitious regeneration projects to advise
the developer, Berkeley Homes, and the London
Borough of Greenwich.
We commented on the proposals eight times
between 2004 and 2008. We advised that the
early proposals were low quality and lacked a clear
strategy, and when the secretary of state called in
the scheme for public inquiry, design quality was
listed as the leading consideration in making
a decision.
This led to the appointment of new design teams,
and the scheme improved dramatically. A new, well
thought-out masterplan included a clear strategy for
spaces and streets, and a better relationship to the
historic context.
Tony Pidgley, managing director of Berkeley Homes,
describes the relationship as difficult at first, while
the company tried to manage CABE’s aspirations
alongside those of other stakeholders: ‘But we
were able to put our initial problems behind us,
and address the issues in a professional way. I
am pleased to say that working together we have
produced a superior masterplan for this heritage site.’ ■
‘Working together we have
produced a superior masterplan
for this heritage site’
Tony Pidgley, managing director
Berkeley Homes

Kelmscott School, Waltham Forest by Architecture PLB © Michael Jones
Kelmscott School, Waltham Forest: CABE advised the London borough
on procurement and design for its £50 million BSF programme

What does
CABE offer
our schools?

Engaging Places – better learning
about buildings and spaces
Partnership working: Engaging Places brings teachers and outside
experts together to promote learning across all subjects through
buildings and places. Graveney pupils joined the EP launch
Architecture shapes young people’s lives.
But they’re often unable to analyse or articulate what
they think about where they live and learn. This is an
issue for both teachers and pupils. Design is just as
important to understanding the way the world works
as economics or science. And in that sense, design
literacy deserves to rank alongside the three ‘Rs’.
When Asma Chowdhry, a teacher at Graveney
School in Tooting, in the London borough of
Wandsworth, wanted to get her 13 to14-year-old
pupils involved in learning outside of the classroom,
she knew they were unfamiliar with talking about
buildings and spaces and lacked the full confidence
to explore and experiment with these places on
their own.
Luckily, earlier this year, her school had just become
one of the first to work with Engaging Places, a
partnership led by CABE and English Heritage.
It brings teachers together with outside experts
to look at how buildings and places can make
the curriculum real and relevant to young people.
The programme also provides a website hosting
a searchable database of venues to visit and
learning resources.
Asma was able to call on Catherine Duncumb, an
architecture education officer at the V&A Museum
in London, to work with Graveney School. ‘Linking
24
CABE Ten year review
teachers with professionals is not always easy,’
Asma says. ‘Without Engaging Places, I doubt that
I could have established this kind of partnership for
my pupils.’
Catherine helped Asma prepare a design and
technology project brief. The pupils were asked
to create a design for something to shelter under
or something to carry, inspired by local places.
They walked around Tooting, recording everyday
structures and details that could spark ideas. They
then created 3-D models, investigating the creative
processes that architects use for buildings like the
Gherkin and the Eden Project. A dedicated wiki
helped them to share emerging designs.
‘Engaging Places has made a huge difference to
me and to my pupils,’ says Asma. ‘To have a partner
with a different perspective, someone with an
architectural background, has been great and the
pupils really enjoyed working with an outside expert
rather than a teacher. It was a great opportunity to
take learning out of the classroom.’ ■
‘Without Engaging Places it is
very unlikely that I could have
established such a sustained
partnership for my pupils. It
was a great opportunity to take
learning out of the classroom’
Asma Chowdhry, Teacher,
Graveney School, Wandsworth
© Alys Tomlinson

Caroline Chisholm School, Northampton, by BDP Architects © Michele Turriani
What does CABE offer our schools?
CABE helps schools design the campus and
teach the curriculum. We offer expert advice on
rebuilding or refurbishing the buildings and grounds,
and we deliver resources and programmes that help
teachers use the built environment to inspire
learning about any subject at every age.
Since 2002, CABE has helped improve the design
of 359 individual schools, and given practical advice
to 100 local authorities investing public money in
their school estate. We also work to understand
where the skill gaps are in local authorities and
provide support to help them develop these skills
Caroline Chisholm School, Northampton: CABE helped the local
authority to produce a clear design brief for this PFI project that
includes nursery, primary, secondary and sixth-form facilities. The
building will change over time in response to demands
for themselves. The cost so far to government of
CABE’s advice and support to the Building Schools
for the Future (BSF) programme has been just 70p
for every £1,000 spent in construction costs: this
will affect the quality of 1,097 new schools. We have
also given design advice to over 300 Sure Start
projects, improving the environment in which
15,000 pre-school children learn every year.
Simultaneously, CABE has worked with others to
create a generation of young people who have both
the critical skills to analyse their surroundings and
an appetite to shape the look and feel of places
around them. In just six years, over 230,000 young
people have taken part directly in education
programmes delivered by CABE and the
architecture centres we fund. In 2008/09 alone,
teachers and educationalists used 20,274 copies
of CABE resources, with an overall satisfaction
rating of 89.6 per cent.
Learning about the places where you live and
learn directly effects how young people behave.
The latest CABE research reveals that 80 per cent
of 11–14 year olds say that learning about a street,
building or place would encourage them to
behave better.
Equally compelling is the evidence that
demonstrates how capital investment in school
buildings has an influence on staff morale, pupil
motivation, and effective learning time. The ability
of any pupil to learn is diminished by classrooms
that are airless and poorly lit. Conversely, all children
will learn more in schools that are convenient to
use, efficient to run, and give the staff and students
a feeling of pride and respect. School buildings
should be a resource and a stimulant, not just a
box you are taught in.
These insights are now commonplace. But this was
not the orthodoxy 10 years ago. CABE’s early work
in schools focused on the emerging crop of PFI
schools. With a small budget, CABE enablers
supported authorities such as West Sussex County
CABE Ten year review 25

Eden by Grimshaw Architects © Chris Saville / Apex

First Start Nursery, Sheffield by Panter Hudspith© Chris Henderson
Eden Project, Cornwall: one of the first destinations for CABE’s How
Places Work school visits programme. Over two years, 12,000 young
people toured buildings and spaces across England, led by the people
that helped create them
Council and ran a national design competition
for nurseries in Bexley, Bury and Sheffield as part
of our neighbourhood nurseries initiative.
At that time, many school buildings appeared to be
modelled on a curious mix of the factory, the asylum
and the prison. Since then, debates have raged
about the best procurement route. But few people
now deny the need to upgrade our school estate.
There has been a decisive change in our
understanding of why it matters and the aspirations
of both clients and contractors. That is central to
what CABE has so far achieved.
With advice from CABE, schools like Caroline
Chisholm in Northampton have pioneered new
ideas about the kinds of places and the range of
services a school can provide. Here they have
created a centre for learning for pupils from nursery
to sixth form, with a building capable of changing
over time as demands evolve.
Our evidence and experience in 2009 indicates a
step change in the quality of school design since
the early days of PFI, and it is worth recalling some
of the reasons why this has happened. CABE’s
audit of secondary school design in 2006 showed
that just 50 per cent of schools completed in the
previous five years were good enough. Our
recommendations included the creation of a schools
design panel and the introduction of a minimum
design standard.
Both these ideas were accepted by government.
CABE now reviews the proposals for significant
new and refurbished schools three times, and
reports our findings to the local authorities. This
helps them to choose the right bidder and make
the right planning decisions.
Ninety per cent of the school schemes that return to
design review have improved. This shows the value
of independent scrutiny. Great schools, of course,
emerge from effective collaboration between many
people. But an honest assessment of what’s going
Firth Park, Sheffield: CABE’s neighbourhood nurseries competition
encouraged new design thinking for pre-school facilities in Sheffield,
Bury and Bexley. CABE has also advised on 300 Sure Start
pre-school projects
right or wrong, along with practical ways to
solve the problems and share the learning, is
a fundamental requirement of any process.
90 per cent of the designs that
CABE’s schools panel reviews
improve afterwards
Meantime, alongside this revolution in school design,
the curriculum itself has changed. The scope for
learning through the built environment has grown
dramatically – notably with the development of
learning outside the classroom. The government
has recognised that the built environment provides
a unique resource to help teach the whole curriculum.
CABE has been helping to ensure that every school
is enabled to actively use the built environment to
teach. Nowhere is this help more comprehensive than
with the new Engaging Places initiative (p24).
CABE Ten year review 27

Stockwell Park High School, Lambeth: the first secondary school
proposal to receive an ‘excellent’ rating from our BSF schools design
panel – and following its opening where schools minister Jim Knight
announced a new minimum design standard for BSF schools in May 2009
28
CABE Ten year review
A core part of CABE’s job is to inspire that shift
in the way the curriculum is taught. We have begun
with a series of projects and resources that make
it relevant, creative and easy. In 2005, we used the
debate about housing to help 500 pupils in 16
schools understand how decisions are made about
CABE has helped to improve
the design of 359 schools
what gets built where. A national two-year
programme called How Places Work then gave
10,000 young people the chance to visit dramatic
new buildings and spaces and learn about
architecture and urban design from the people who
built or use them. At the same time, CABE funding
of architecture and built environment centres has
helped over 74,000 young people take part in an
incredible array of local projects, such
as ‘Bridging the Gap’, which has given 1,400 pupils
in the Olympic borough of Newham a creative
introduction to architecture in the lead-up to
London 2012.
One of the things these programmes have shown
is the power of learning outside of the classroom.
Eighty-two per cent of the teachers involved in
How Places Work thought their project would have
a lasting positive impact on their pupils, while 63
per cent of the teachers said they would change
their professional practice because of the
experience. Eighty-eight per cent of young people
nationally say they remember more about what they
have learnt on a school trip than in the classroom.
Combine these and you have a very compelling
argument for learning through buildings and places.
No other national organisation offers this
combination of expert advice on new school design
and practical support to the curriculum. It is part of
what makes CABE unique. ■
Stockwell Park High School, London by Sheppard Robson © Sheppard Robson

Frederick Bremer School by Penoyre and Prasad © Tim Crocker www.timcrocker.co.uk
Waltham Forest:
the value of expert advice
The London Borough of Waltham Forest,
north-east London, is using the £50 million
investment it is receiving through BSF to transform
schools across the borough. It wants to make the
school estate more efficient and better equipped
to help young people succeed.
Three secondary school projects form the first
phase of the programme: one, Frederick Bremer,
merges two existing schools into a new building on
a new site. The other two, Kelmscott and Waltham
Forest School for Girls, are refurbishments.
The BSF project team established a vision for
each school. CABE enabler Steven Pidwill’s
expert knowledge steered the borough through
procurement, helping it shortlist three bidders. As
part of their submissions, the bidders used a version
of CABE’s design quality indicator tool. Juries made
‘CABE’s advice on design
was invaluable. CABE was our
critical friend and undoubtedly
raised expectations in the
schools and the BSF team.
It helped to set a unified
commitment to achieving
design quality, despite
the time, budget and
procurement constraints’
Mike Rush, strategic design leader,
London Borough of Waltham Forest
Dramatic entrance: Frederick Bremer features a stunning atrium
entrance space with a library projecting from above
up of senior representatives from the three schools
and the project team assessed presentations. After
shortlisting, the enabler offered independent advice
on the designs.
Mike Rush, strategic design leader at Waltham
Forest, says: ‘CABE’s advice on the designs
was invaluable.’
He says CABE generated enthusiasm: ‘As a critical
friend, CABE raised expectations in the schools
and the BSF team. It helped unify commitment to
achieving design quality, despite the time, budget
and procurement constraints.’
Construction on Frederick Bremer and Kelmscott
schools finished in September 2008. Frederick
Bremer has a dramatic atrium space leading from
the entrance into the depths of the site, with a library
projecting above. At Kelmscott, an extension
housing the reception, assembly hall, dining halls,
computer suite and café has transformed the
relationship between the school and the street.
Kelmscott has received a national award from
Partnerships for Schools for ‘best design for a
remodelled school’. ■
CABE Ten year review 29

Red Lion Square, Stamford: CABE helped to organise a design
competition and helped to shape the process to revitalise this
historic site
What has
CABE done
for our quality
of life?

Red Lion Square, Stamford by Letts Wheeler Architects © Stephen McLaren

Stamford Gateway –
history and modernity
Bringing a historic town square into the 21st
century at the same time as respecting its sensitive
surroundings is no simple task. Yet that’s exactly
what the Lincolnshire market town of Stamford
has achieved.
Stamford is one of England’s finest stone-built
towns. It contains many medieval and Georgian
buildings, more than 600 of which are listed. But
over the years, its central Sheep Market and Red
Lion Square had fallen into neglect, eventually just
used for car parking.
CABE Space helped Stamford Vision, the local
town partnership, to organise an international
design competition to revive the square. On our
suggestion, architect Edward Cullinan agreed to
chair the competition. CABE enabler Justine Leech
was on the judging panel.
Catherine Hammant, the co-ordinator of Stamford
Vision, says: ‘We had a vision but not the design
know-how to produce the top-quality spaces the
‘We had a vision but not the
design know-how to produce
the top-quality spaces
Stamford deserved. CABE’s
support in developing a brief
helped us to reach a design
solution that is simple,
straightforward and flexible’
Catherine Hammant,
co-ordinator, Stamford Vision
Opening time: Stamford unveiled its redesigned Red Lion Square and
Sheepmarket with a pageant in 2007
town deserved. The design competition produced
nearly 40 applications. Without the support of
CABE, we would have had less interest and a
lower standard of applicant.’ The competition winner
paired Nottingham-based architect Letts Wheeler
and artist Wolfgang Buttress.
CABE Space helped to shape the design process.
We helped to involve local people by running
workshops and events and smoothed the way
for the scheme by communicating its value to the
Department for Transport, council officers and
funding bodies, as well as English Heritage. Finally,
our advice helped Stamford Vision to become a
community-interest company set up for the benefit
of local people. This, in turn, gave it the clout
to succeed.
‘The design is simple, straightforward and flexible,’
says Catherine. ‘It has a modern appearance but it’s
in keeping with the area. It looks like it could always
have been there and that’s probably the right
response for this project.’
The Gateway officially opened with a pageant in
September 2007. Retailers have redecorated their
shop fronts and local people run events on the new
squares, ranging from an artists’ market and morris
dancing to hip hop. It’s a happy marriage of historic
and contemporary design and culture. ■
Red Lion Square, Stamford by Letts Wheeler Architects © Catherine Hammant

© Mischa Haller
What has CABE done
for our quality of life?
Money matters, of course. But it’s just one
aspect of quality of life. Social contact matters, too.
And so does the quality of public space. Living in an
environment that is attractive and crime-free makes
people happier. Improving public spaces, especially
in poorer areas, can make a profound difference.
The public knows this. Local authority surveys show
that 90 per cent of urban residents link the quality
of local green spaces with their quality of life.
The problem has been that responsibility for green
space is spread across a huge range of professions,
organisations and sectors. There is no one body
that can realise the whole potential of public space.
What’s more, the issue has failed to register high
on the priorities of some agencies, such as housing
associations, that are directly responsible for it.
CABE Space was created in 2003 as a direct
response to this lack of a single clear voice for the
sector. The previous year, the Urban Green Spaces
Taskforce had highlighted the need for local
authorities to take a strategic approach to planning
and investment in public space. Over six years,
CABE has worked with 180 councils to help them
prepare green space strategies. In 2000 the number
of councils with or preparing green space strategies
was 53 per cent. With our support, this has now
increased to 92 per cent. And the National Audit
Office has found that where local authorities
develop a strategy, over 70 per cent of green space
managers secure more support from council officers
and local politicians.
Delivering these strategies depends on people to
lead them and people to do the work on the ground.
CABE has trained nearly 350 green space leaders in
local authorities and created 60 new apprenticeships
in parks. CABE is also leading the Skills to Grow
strategy, ensuring joined-up support across the
sector and encouraging talented people to join it.
Maintenance of public space, however, is not a
statutory service. So the ability to make a strong
argument for investment is crucial. One of the
critical achievements of CABE Space has been to
create a new knowledge base about the value of
parks and streets and make this widely available to
practitioners. Evidence from CABE has transformed
common understanding of the value of urban green
space in England.
CABE Space has worked in
90 per cent of the most deprived
areas of England
Over 70 different publications from CABE Space
have played a central role in giving green space
professionals the information and confidence to
fight for investment. These include The value of
public space which for the first time made widely
Growing challenge: a skills shortage and declining numbers overall are
creating serious labour problems for the green space sector. Seventeen
national agencies have signed up to a strategy and action plan, led by
CABE Space, to address this
CABE Ten year review 33

available the evidence for how high-quality parks
create economic, social and environmental value;
the good practice guide Start with the park which
has informed and inspired strategic decision-makers
working in local delivery; and Civilised streets
which proposed radical changes to Britain’s cardominated
streetscape. In the past three years
alone, over 85,000 CABE Space publications have
been requested and overall satisfaction levels are
at 91.8 per cent.
CABE campaigns have also engaged the public in
this debate. Streets of shame in 2003 showed the
public’s aspirations for their neighbourhood, and
how their perceptions of the local area affect their
views on the performance of both local and national
government. Parkforce then brought alive the case
for on-site staff in all our major parks. In 2006,
10,000 park staff donned Parkforce badges and
130 local authorities pledged to invest in a
workforce to make people feel safe and welcome
in public space.
83 per cent of green space
managers say that the work
of CABE Space and government
has raised their status
The densest and poorest urban areas often have the
poorest quality green space. So CABE Space has
worked in 90 per cent of the most deprived areas
of England to ensure that green spaces projects
benefit the communities that need them most.
Three of the poorest boroughs in London, for
example, border the new Olympic park. CABE has
been working on the project for over three years to
ensure that the creation of Britain’s largest new
urban park will provide a place that is beautiful,
useful and free for some of the most ethnically
diverse communities in the country.
As much as anyone, children need safe and
imaginative public space close to their homes.
34
CABE Ten year review
Blackett Street, Newcastle: the local authority has created a
pedestrian zone that’s also open to buses, cycle and occasional
motor traffic. It’s an innovative solution for balancing the needs of
all street users
St Neot Doorstep Green: a green space managed by a local friends’
group. CABE supports community groups that want to look after local
parks, through advice and guidance such as our community client guide,
It’s our space
Two years on from the UNICEF report that ranked
British children’s quality of life lowest in a survey of
21 nations, the results of a massive programme of
government investment is now beginning to take
shape on the ground. CABE’s contribution has
been to train 28 local authorities that together are
responsible for delivering £29 million worth of
play spaces throughout the country.
It’s also our intention to make sure that people of all
ages don’t just benefit from great public space, but
are involved in its design. If you want people to feel
ownership of the places around them, they need
St Neots Doorstep Green © Doorstep Greens / Natural England

Kensington High Street © Stephen McLaren

to be involved in creating and managing them.
Since 2007, CABE has pioneered a consultation
tool called Spaceshaper so all sectors of the
community can be heard when changes are
happening. CABE wants this approach to be
adopted by every local authority and every major
landholding organisation in the country. So far we
have trained 225 professionals to become
facilitators and held 80 workshops across the
country to achieve this ambition. And in 2009, a
bespoke version of Spaceshaper is being piloted
for young people.
Quality of life is also about our leisure time. We all
need a break, and in an age of climate change, it
might well be to an English resort. Over the last
Blackpool Tower: the Lancashire resort is receiving £11.5 million from
the CABE-led Sea Change project to provide a new outdoor events
space that will aid regeneration
36
CABE Ten year review
two years, CABE has managed a £45 million
government grant programme – Sea Change – to
invest in the cultural regeneration of seaside towns.
These places are often as deprived as inner cities,
with little industry or investment. So CABE provides
advice and support, alongside the grants, to ensure
each place becomes more vibrant culturally, with a
stronger local economy and a better quality of life
for residents.
CABE is allocating £45 million
Sea Change in grants for seaside
regeneration
Looking ahead, it’s easy to see the coming
decade only in terms of challenges: rising inequality,
increasing obesity, a changing climate and fewer
public resources. Everyone will have to prioritise
investment ruthlessly, which requires credible tools
to quantify the economic and social returns on
better public space.
But we also now know that the dividends are
immense: more beautiful parks, and cleaner,
greener streets which can adapt to climate change;
more allotments and community gardens; better
designed sports and play areas; and all this green
infrastructure managed as a whole. Continued
investment in our public space can deliver a better
quality of life and greater happiness to every
community across the country. ■
Blackpool Tower and beach © Gareth Gardner

Hengrove Park by David Wilson Partnership © Bristol City Council
Bristol:
a good plan means good parks
Well played: a robust strategy has helped Bristol to secure an extra
£2.6 million for play facilities
The city of Bristol has one of the highest ratios
of green space per head in the country. But until
2008 it also had one of the lowest spends per head
on improvements. Now, parks and green spaces in
the city are starting to benefit from £100 million in
investment, guided by a 20-year strategy.
The strategy, which took four years to complete,
sets out a plan to ensure that people have access to
good-quality parks and green spaces close to where
they live. Producing it required detailed technical
knowledge which CABE offered in the form of an
enabler, Len Croney. He helped the Bristol team
analyse the conditions and maintenance of all green
spaces, as well as interpret the government’s policy
guidance on planning for open space, sport
and recreation.
The public’s main concern about Bristol’s parks was
the quality, with poor maintenance identified as the
main reason for people not using them. The average
score in the park quality audit was two, or ‘fair’ , and
the lowest quality green space was often found in
the most deprived areas. The new strategy helps
to prioritise investment, and aims to raise quality
to a minimum of level three, or ‘good’, within
two decades.
‘It was important to have CABE’s endorsement for
the strategy, and to be told that we were embracing
national best practice,’ says Peter Wilkinson, the city
council’s head of parks. ‘That support mattered to
our executive because that is what you want to
report to your authority’s cabinet, to give them
confidence. It has helped push parks up the agenda. ’
Now the city council is developing plans for green
spaces at neighbourhood level, with advice from
CABE, and has produced a guide to good design
for park managers, developers and planners.
One early win has been an extra £2.6 million for
play facilities. Having a robust strategy helped the
council to secure the money, and 28 playgrounds
across the city, including Hengrove Park (pictured),
now benefit from funding under the government’s
Play Pathfinder initiative. ■
‘CABE’s endorsement for our
strategy mattered because
that is the sort of thing you
want to report to your cabinet,
to give them confidence. It has
helped push parks up the
corporate agenda’
Peter Wilkinson, head of parks,
Bristol City Council

Climate Change Festival, Birmingham © John James
What is
CABE doing
about climate
change?
Climate change festival, Birmingham: a parkour display was
the first of 181 events helping residents to turn the debate
about climate change on its head

Climate change festival:
turning the debate on its head
The debate about global warming is usually
framed in profoundly unhelpful ways. If you want to
change behaviour, the issue needs to be defined
in terms of opportunity and well-being, not doom
and scolding.
One of the most important things to emerge from
the Hothouse in Bristol was the conviction that the
time had come to show how responding to climate
change can improve your town or city. The major
regional ‘core’ cities agreed that CABE should find
a way to inspire people with the idea of how good it
would be to live in a well-designed, low carbon
place. This would secure a public mandate for the
bold political decisions required to make it a reality.
So during June 2008, a third of a million people in
Birmingham enjoyed the UK’s first climate change
festival. CABE and the city council hosted 181
activities over nine days, helping the public see a
direct link between climate change and the design
of the buildings and places around them.
So what are the ingredients of a climate change
festival? First of all, it needs a dramatic focal point.
We set a 29-metre-high electricity pylon right
‘One of the most important
things to emerge from the
Hothouse in Bristol was the
conviction that the time had
come to show how responding
to climate change can improve
your city’
Breaking the mould: the climate change festival encouraged
Birmingham residents to think differently about a changing climate.
City landmarks were recreated as jelly moulds for billboard ads
outside the town hall, sitting in a small field of corn.
The pylon was a brutal object transformed into
something beautiful: nickel plated, it sparkled in the
sunshine, and changed colour through the night
from green to gold. As a piece of surreal art, this
pylon reflected some basic truths about the
delusions which permeate our lives – as though we
can consume without limits and outwit nature.
Next, we curated the city itself, commissioning a
series of outsized picture frames (with a bench
attached) to frame key views of the urban
landscape. They were big and brightly coloured,
inviting families to picnic on them and chew over
how the city might change. One was titled ‘Hot, not
bothered’ and framed the buildings supplied by a
district heating system.
The festival launched with teenagers watching
displays of parkour and ended with mass tai chi in a
city square, and the programme in between included
visits and talks led by architects and local
developers.
It succeeded in providing a platform for political
leadership: Birmingham City Council announced its
intention to cut carbon emissions by 60 per cent in
just 18 years, at that time twice as fast as the target
set by national government. ■
© Andrew Penketh / Alexander Boxill

Parkfield Primary School, Birmingham / Green Day© www.lydiaevans.com
What is CABE doing
about climate change?
A small number of people working in the built
environment sector know what needs to be done
about climate change. But most feel much less
certain, faced with demands for a sequence of
narrow responses to specific issues. Confusion
puts us all at risk of either doing the wrong things
or reaching for technical fixes which do not create
better places.
So CABE’s unique contribution has been to show
how the design of the built environment can begin
to reduce the impact of climate change, and give
clear practical advice on how to respond at the right
scale. A successful long term response to climate
change depends on the creation of sustainable
places, not just low carbon buildings, and on
exploiting the opportunity to make our towns
and cities more attractive places for residents
and investors.
CABE has argued since 1999 that good design
and sustainable design are indivisible – you can’t
have one without the other. The global environmental
crisis is, in large part, a planning and design crisis.
It is a consequence of how things are made,
resources are used, land is developed, buildings
and infrastructure constructed, services supplied
and places connected. We have promoted
systematic thinking, about the relationships
between resource flows, especially energy,
waste and water.
But it was a three-day Hothouse in Bristol in
November 2006 which proved an important catalyst
to take fresh approaches. The Hothouse was held
to link key thinkers and experts with teams from
England’s eight major regional cities and major
businesses, including energy companies.
That was the point at which CABE was given a
mandate by the core cities to do three things.
First, turn the debate on its head, and show how a
positive response to climate change will improve
quality of life in towns and cities. Second, find a way
to get many more young people more involved with
Parkfield Primary School, Birmingham: pupils tend new plants in their
school grounds as part of Green Day 2009, the country’s biggest day of
schools action on climate change
the issue. Third, give decision-makers access to
reliable, independent information about using design
as a problem solving tool. This had to be done in
a way which helped them to deploy the information,
not be swamped by it.
Our response was the climate change festival (see
box, p40), Green Day, and our Sustainable Cities
initiative. All of these have been successful. They
have raised profile and got people talking about
reinvention instead of self denial, and involved and
supported teams in the core cities.
CABE launched Britain’s first Green Day in 2008.
This was conceived as a one-day event to help make
schools more sustainable. The initiative has taken
CABE Ten year review 41

Growing importance: CABE and Natural England brought together
international experts in March 2009 for a groundbreaking conference
on the role of green infrastructure in creating sustainable places
off dramatically. From 30,000 pupils in four cities,
it has grown to involve 120,000 young people from
404 schools during 2009, and become the biggest
day of climate action in British schools.
The learning programme hosted at
www.sustainablecities.org.uk is unique. One of its
principle insights is into the different actions to be
taken at different spatial scales, and it is attracting
attention from many other countries. It provides
expert, peer reviewed advice, best practice
42
CABE Ten year review
Back to the future: the plan for King’s Cross Eastern Goods Yard in
Camden, north London, is one of a small proportion welcomed by
CABE’s design review panel for demonstrating an integrated approach
to sustainable design. The scheme includes local energy generation, a
university in a restored industrial building and stunning new apartments
housed inside Victorian gasometers
internationally, and practical guidance for city
leaders and regeneration professionals. Its
accompanying report, Hallmarks of a sustainable
city, defines a sustainable place.
One way to recognise such a place is to look at
the quality of its networks of gardens, street trees,
parks, waterways and countryside. In 2009, CABE
organised ParkCity, the country’s first national
conference to champion the idea of green
infrastructure, with Natural England. CABE is now
playing a key role in developing the most radical
vision for a new working landscape for generations.
CABE Space is helping teams across local
government to understand how creating and
protecting green infrastructure will help to manage
water stress, keep places cool, support food and
fuel security and encourage healthier forms of travel.
All these activities have marked CABE’s transition,
according to Planning magazine, ‘from an arbiter of
good building design to a role as visionary advocate
of the low carbon city’. To us, this means
championing active citizen participation and
supporting the type of civic leadership which is
rooted in long-term thinking, social equity and a
canny grasp of how places really work.
CABE’s design review service has seen nearly all
the major development proposals coming through
the planning system over the last 10 years. We have
constructively challenged projects taking insufficient
account of climate change. There are some very
good proposals coming through, like the one for
Port Zed in Shoreham, Sussex. But even now, less
than 10 per cent of proposals each year can be
regarded as genuinely designed for sustainability.
CABE has also been advising people working in the
planning system how to improve the quality of local
development frameworks. Tackling climate change
is a key government objective and, with prompting,
there are now more regional, sub-regional and
citywide approaches to making places
more sustainable.
ParkCity © Anna Garforth / Draught

Granary Square by Argent © Anderson Terzic

Festival frames: the climate change festival featured 14 benches
framing views of places set for change. We captioned each bench –
and gave festival-goers somewhere to sit and relax
44
CABE Ten year review
Tough targets for carbon emissions are essential.
But they must not deflect attention away from
adaptation, because infrastructure will inevitably
come under stress. We focused this dual approach
on a topical agenda in 2008 with our joint report
with BioRegional, What makes an eco-town?
150,000 young people have
taken part in Green Day, Britain’s
biggest day of schools action
on climate change
So clients need clarity about what really works,
and everyone has to focus on taking a place-based
approach. Clients need support because of the
skills deficit, and CABE is well placed to transfer
knowledge across different sectors because
of our work with every profession involved in
design, construction and management of the
built environment.
CABE, of course, is not an environmental
organisation. It is about the whole built environment.
And, precisely for that reason, we are uniquely
placed to help tackle the causes and effects of
climate change. ■
Framing the city, Birmingham © Michele Turriani

Creative Exchange, St Neots, Cambridgeshire by 5th Studio© Tmothy Soar
St Neots Creative Exchange:
sustainable building for entrepreneurs
Some kinds of project would never have been
thought of 10 years ago. Creative Exchange in
St Neots, Cambridgeshire, is one of them.
The building serves as an incubator for local creative
businesses. St Neots aims to be a hub for creative
industry, and provide training and support to
students and local people.
The client, Huntingdonshire District Council,
wanted a contemporary workspace that was both
architecturally imaginative and environmentally
sustainable. It secured £700,000 growth area
funding for the project from Communities and Local
Government (CLG). The package included advice
from CABE on the procurement of the design.
The council’s officers had no experience of
commissioning architecture, and Corinne Garbett,
head of people, performance and partnerships,
‘CABE’s advice helped us
to articulate our ambitions
for a well-designed and
sustainable building. It played
an important role in securing
the additional funding and we
now have a building that
contributes directly to local
economic prosperity’
Corinne Garbett, head of people,
performance and partnerships,
Huntingdonshire District Council
Hub of activity: Creative Exchange has become a beacon for
exhibitions, training and events
welcomed CABE’s strategic advice at an early stage:
‘That advice helped us to articulate our ambitions
for a well-designed and sustainable building.’
CABE’s enabler Peter Beard advised the council on
writing a clear design brief and then shortlisting and
selecting the design team, 5th Studio, in 2006.
The client quickly realised, though, that the initial
budget was too low: they needed an additional
£300,000 for a building that could meet high
sustainability targets, contribute directly to the
community, and exemplify design quality. Peter
Beard’s understanding of the project helped to
develop a strong business case to support
negotiations with CLG.
‘CABE played an important role in securing the
additional funding,’ says Corinne Garbett. ‘We now
have a building that contributes directly to local
economic prosperity.’
Creative Exchange has been shortlisted for the
2009 Prime Minister’s Better Public Building
Award. ‘West Cambridgeshire has seen nothing
like this before,’ said the judges.’ Creative Exchange
has become a beacon for exhibitions, training
and events.’ ■
CABE Ten year review 45

Lace Market Square, Nottingham by Bildurn Properties © David Millington Photography Ltd
Lace Market, Nottingham: CABE supported the city’s design-led
approach, leading to the creation of bold new civic spaces

What has
CABE done to
secure value
for money?

What has CABE done
to secure value for money?
Gold Route, Sheffield: kick-starting regeneration
Keeping costs down and getting best value
are always important. Intense pressure on public
finances and private wealth creation only sharpen
the need for efficiency and economy. These are
virtues of good design that CABE has always
advocated.
We have argued for whole-life value to be
embedded in government policy. Now it is embraced
in the Treasury’s Green Book and common minimum
standards for construction. We have supported a
host of public sector clients to get better value as
they commission new schools, healthcare buildings
and public spaces. We have published evidence
that design adds value. Developers and clients have
used this evidence independently for schemes
across the country, from the regeneration of the
centre of Stockport to Centre Square in
Middlesbrough.
CABE’s own business model delivers value for
money. We procure the best advice for public
clients by using the country’s leading built
environment experts on a project-by-project basis.
These design advisors represent almost every
aspect of planning and construction, from clients
to architects, planners, landscape designers and
engineers. Some receive payment for time (at
remuneration well below commercial rates), but
many contribute time and expertise free in the
public interest.
48
CABE Ten year review
As a result, the cost of CABE’s involvement is a
minute proportion of overall costs. On a typical
school or healthcare building, CABE’s expert advice
has cost less than 0.1 per cent of total construction
spend. Clearly, the value far exceeds the cost.
Seventy-five per cent of clients say they will have
a higher quality building because of CABE.
One of the myths CABE has to challenge repeatedly
is that good design is expensive and doesn’t
represent good value for money.
Housebuilders who don’t like to employ architects
make this claim. So do politicians and officials who
want to trim costs and think that it is by quantity, not
quality, that they will be judged. The assumption is
that good design adds to cost and slows down
projects without adding commercial or social value.
In fact, the opposite is true. Good design creates
places that work well and last –and this doesn’t
have to mean higher cost. Bad design, on the other
hand, does cost – with extra expense met in the
longer term by someone other than the developer.
CABE’s advice on typical school
or health buildings has cost less
than 0.1 per cent of total
construction spend
CABE has often advised against costly proposals
in design review, so that architects return with more
efficient and affordable designs, or ones that are
more commercially sound. One of the most common
refrains from our schools design panel is ‘simplify
the layout, take out the gimmicks and make the
school adaptable’. This has led to more elegant,
cost-effective designs, which will be cheaper to
build and maintain. Designs for the new Sarah
Bonnell School in Newham, east London, or
the Bolsover School in Derbyshire illustrate
this beautifully.
Sheaf Square, Sheffield, by EDAW/Sheffield City Council © David Millington Photography Ltd

Centre Square, Middlesbrough by Erick van Egeraat Associated Architects (EEA) and West 8 Landscape Architects © David Millington Photography Ltd
CABE has tackled the myth about the value of
design for individual building types. Groundbreaking
research on the value of housing design and layout
in 2003 was followed by a study of the relationship
between office design and business productivity in
2005. We commissioned these studies in partnership
with credible players in each sector who used them
to shift the mindset and culture of their industry.
At the same time, CABE used that evidence to
influence the policy framework and government
guidance. Guide 7 of the Office of Government
Commerce’s Achieving Excellence was the first
time that government publicly recognised that
‘promoting excellence in design does not
necessarily mean a more costly job if whole-life
costs are taken into account’. In 2003 the Treasury
endorsed this approach by publishing its Green
Book annex on options appraisals, which sets out
the principles on which all public sector economic
assessment is based. That recognition has had a
profound effect on the context in which architecture
is now commissioned.
In 2009, CABE was a lead partner in the publication
of a cross-government strategy, World class places,
which strengthens even further the requirement for
all government departments to ensure that new
buildings and places are costed and valued for the
whole of their life cycle.
It has been a much tougher battle to win these
arguments with developers at a local level. Many of
them simply build to achieve a quick sale. They gain
no benefit from the value that comes from some
aspects of good design, such as lower running
costs, greater durability, or the ability to change a
building or space over time. Most developers think
short term. Prices tend to reflect a trader’s rather
than an investor’s view.
So CABE has sought to arm local government
with the tools and the confidence to insist on
better value through design. A raft of evidencebased
publications has shown how much greater
Centre Square, Middlesbrough: civic square brings civic pride
is the monetary and public value created by good
architecture and urban design. Previously, there
had been almost no information to support a
councillor or planning officer trying to make the case
for investment in high-quality public realm. CABE
studies, such as The value handbook in 2006 and
Paved with gold in 2007, have changed this
situation entirely.
We have challenged those who allow bad design to
burden the economy. The cost of bad design
revealed the risk to the public purse of poor-quality
design. This risk comes not just from higher
maintenance costs and the need for premature
replacement of costly assets, but also in the suboptimal
performance of health, education and
cultural services. It leads to waste and reduces
funding available for other public investment. The
cost of bad design has been influential in other
countries too, including Germany and Japan.
With the advent of carbon budgets for every
government department, whole-life value now has a
whole new dimension. Clients need to know how to
specify for lower carbon. Valuers need to know how
to value it. And architects, planners and landscape
architects need to know how to deliver it.
So CABE’s advice will need to continue to evolve to
help to deliver value from good design. ■
CABE Ten year review 49

1999–2009: a decade of change
1999 2000 2001 2002
Lord Rogers’ Urban
Task Force launches
the report from its yearlong
investigation,
‘Towards an urban
renaissance’. The scale
of the job ahead is
signalled by the number
of recommendations:105
CABE opens for
business on 1
September, working from
the St James’s offices of
the former Royal Fine Art
Commission
Sir Stuart Lipton
is CABE’s first chair. ‘We
want to inject architecture
into the bloodstream of
the nation,’ he says
A retail plan for
Princesshay, Exeter, is
CABE’s first major design
review. ‘A proposal of
real architectural
excellence has not been
achieved’, we say. An
improved scheme returns
in 2002 – and the
completed centre
opens in 2007.
Jon Rouse
is CABE’s new chief
executive. An early
meeting at 10 Downing
Street results in the
Prime Minister’s Better
Public Building Award
By design
sets out a new
government creed for
higher standards: ‘good
design is important
everywhere’
CABE reviews
proposals for
Birmingham’s Selfridges:
‘a high-quality civic
landmark which will make
an important contribution
to regeneration’
CABE’s enabling
service set up to advise
clients at the early
stages of design, with
10 of the best built
environment
professionals, or
‘enablers’. By 2009, we
can call on the support
of 323 enablers.
Building for Life
is launched as a
pioneering partnership
between CABE and the
housebuilding industry.
Architect Terry Farrell
is its chair, with designer
Wayne Hemingway
taking over later.
We’ve given 69
standards to great
housing schemes since
CABE moves to
Waterloo, returning the
RFAC’s furniture to the
V&A – but keeping a
bust of Inigo Jones. New
office interior is
newcomer David
Adjaye’s first
UK commission
CABE’s first research
report, The value of
urban design, shows how
excellent design adds
value rather than cost.
Architecture and built
environment centres
benefit from CABE’s
£1 million programme.
A network of 21 centres
now stretches from
Newcastle to Plymouth
Decrepit shop fronts,
broken streetlamps
and congested
pavements earn
Streatham High Road
in south London the title
of England’s worst road
in CABE’s Streets of
Shame campaign
Brindleyplace in
Birmingham and
BedZED in Sutton are
among the first great
places in CABE’s new
online library. By March
2009 there were 316
places we love at
www.cabe.org.uk

2003 2004 2005 2006
Sheep, goats and
chickens help launch
CABE Space at Coram’s
Fields, London. Our
new unit aims to promote
the best in public
space design
Creating excellent
buildings, weighing in at
1kg and 244 pages, is
the first comprehensive
guide created for public
sector clients. In 10
years, we’ve directly
advised 376
public bodies
Linford Christie,
Judi Dench and Ian
McKellan name their own
‘wasted spaces’ as part
of CABE Space’s
campaign highlighting
urban land in limbo.
John Sorrell
is appointed chair of
CABE, after Stuart
Lipton steps down.
Richard Simmons
becomes chief executive
Serious concerns over
designs for the Royal
London Hospital gives
way to warm praise,
following several design
reviews. In 10 years,
we’ve advised on the
design of 33 major
health buildings
Ashford is the venue
for the first CABE urban
design summer school.
Since then, 664
professionals have
attended the intensive
four-day training course.
Planning policy
statement 1 comes
into force, to a rapturous
welcome. No longer is
policy just about refusing
bad design. Instead,
PPS1 says that only
good design can
be accepted
CABE moves its HQ
to a Seifert-designed
tower – the building
formerly known as Space
House – in London’s
Covent Garden
Another rapturous
welcome from CABE,
this time for government’s
mandatory common
minimum standards for
procurement. Public
building costs must
now be considered
over the whole lifetime
of a project.
CABE brings
design and healthcare
professionals together
for a week of 60 events.
‘CABE has played a
key role in supporting a
step change’ in public
building, health minister
Andy Burnham says
The design of eight out
of 10 new private homes
is not good enough,
CABE’s national housing
audit concludes – and
one in five should not
even have been given
planning permission
A proposal for a
former filling station
site on London’s Albert
Embankment startles
our design review panel.
‘This is one of the poorest
tower designs it has been
our misfortune to see.’
The proposal is later
withdrawn.

2007 2008 2009
Following a 2006 audit
which found that half of
new schools were not
good enough, CABE
begins reviewing all
significant BSF school
proposals to help local
authorities make the right
planning decisions
The Thames Gateway
is described in New
things happen as
England’s San Francisco
bay area. CABE’s
identity project positions
the Gateway as much
more than space for
new housing. Work on a
pact follows to ensure
design standards apply
across the area
Ed Vaizey, shadow arts
minister, comments:
‘We need to strengthen
CABE’s resources and
powers so that more
developers are held to
account for the quality of
their design’.
Most of our carbon
emissions come from
air travel and office
energy use, CABE’s first
environmental audit
reveals. Cutting
business flights lightens
our ecological footprint
by a third
Too much carbon
and too little money
means more holidays at
home. CABE begins the
management of a £45
million programme
to boost cultural
regeneration in
coastal towns
Young Muslim
Londoners launch
Your place or mine,
our debate moving the
inclusive design agenda
on from box-ticking on
wheelchair access
Building for Life
is adopted by the Homes
and Communities Agency
and local authorities
assess new homes
using the BfL standard.
Photo credits
1999 Late 90s skyline, London © Phil Wolmuth
2000 Selfridges, Birmingham by Future Systems© CABE
2001 Lacuna, West Malling, Kent by Clague Architects © Environ Sunley
2002 © The Architecture Centre, Bristol
2003 Linford Christie © Jason Bell
2004 The Royal London Hospital © HOK International
2005 CABE’s headquarters © CABE
2006 The Copse, Kettering © Jon Walter / Third Avenue
2007 Greenwich Park © Polly Braden
2008 Mulberry School, London © Dave Morris
2009 © CABE
Schoolchildren from
around the country
converge at the V&A
museum in London for
the launch of the
Engaging Places
education programme
Exactly a century after
Shackleton’s expedition
to the South Pole, his
footsteps feature in
CABE’s national ad
campaign for
sustainablecities.org.uk
Secondary school
designs falling short of
a new minimum design
standard will never be
built out. ‘The threshold
adds real teeth to the
design process,’ says
schools minister
Jim Knight
World class places
celebrates what has
been achieved since
Lord Rogers’ task
force, and sets out
an ambitious strategy
for improving quality
of place.

We couldn’t have
done it without you
Delegates at the 2008 CABE urban design summer school in
Newcastle. Just some of the thousands of professionals we’ve
worked with over the last 10 years.

CABE marked its 10th anniversary in
September 2009. In this review of the
last decade, we look back at our work
to answer a natural question: what
difference have we made? The review
points to some of the challenges that
remain, and is illustrated by some of
the great new places in England. It will
be of interest to everyone who works
with CABE and cares about the quality
of the built environment.
CABE
1 Kemble Street
London WC2B 4AN
T 020 7070 6700
F 020 7070 6777
E enquiries@cabe.org.uk
www.cabe.org.uk
Commission for Architecture
and the Built Environment
The government’s advisor
on architecture, urban design
and public space
ISBN: 978-1-84633-023-0