The Bishop Review launched in October enthusiastically recommends a networked system of design support, providing local people with access to technical built environment expertise and advice. The review, commissioned by the Design Council Cabe, was conducted by the former Director of Design for London, Peter Bishop. During the summer 2011, Peter undertook an extensive consultation with all those concerned with the built environment including an event in Sheffield hosted by Integreat Plus.
The Bishop Review concluded that Design Council Cabe should become a centre of excellence for design in the built environment. This echoed what many people said they would miss from the old CABE operation, their research and guidance publications. The review called for more research into value of good design.
The report advocates that Government should recognise Design Council Cabe as its key advisor on built environment design matters. Many of those consulted were alarmed at the rapid reduction of staff in local authorities with the skills to assess and evaluate design quality so the report called for a review of capacity in local planning authorities.
The Bishop Review called for the National Planning Policy Framework to elevate the value of design review, strengthening the existing wording which makes reference to design review but perhaps minimalizes the significance it could have in the planning policy. The Bishop Review recommends that that Design Council Cabe does the major national reviews (for example of infrastructure projects like HS2) but that most design reviews should be carried out by the national network organisations like Integreat Plus or at a more local level. Importantly Bishop recommends some form of ‘light-touch’ accreditation for Design Review panels which is likely to be introduced next year.
We will need to see how the Government and Design Council Cabe roll out the reports recommendation over the few months.
Please click the image above to read a copy of the report or visit this link: http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/CABE/bish/Bishop-Review-Background
