• home
• Regeneration areas
• The Exchange
• Design guidelines

Design guidelines

Alongside Government guidance and best practice in relation to good design, English Partnerships 'Urban Design Compendium' provides a practical starting point to the issues of urban design within The Exchange. Key aspects that should be considered are:

• places for people - for places to be used and loved, they need to be safe, comfortable, varied, attractive, but also distinctive and fun, offering choice and variety;
• enrich the existing - development should arise from, and complement, its setting and context;
• make connections - places need to be easy to get to and around - particularly for pedestrians, cyclists and those coming by public transport - and connected physically and functionally with its surroundings;
• mixed use and form - stimulating, enjoyable and convenient places meet many demands from the widest group of users and social groups. They also weave together different uses, forms, tenures and densities;
• management legacy - development must be well managed and maintained. It must understand the market considerations of developers, long term aspirations of the local authority and community and the delivery mechanisms - and see these as part of the design process;
• design for change - development must be flexible and robust enough to respond to future changes in lifestyle, use and demography. This means incorporating flexibility in the use of built forms (including the public realm), designing for energy and resource efficiency and considering new approaches to traffic control, mode and management