Housing Design Guide
This design guide aims to assist designers, developers, authorities and stakeholders involved in the design, planning, delivery, approval and maintenance of housing or any other form of residential development in the City of Nottingham.
Foreword by Cllr Linda Woodings ...
'Nottingham is a core city and a significant driver of the region’s economy. The City Council is delivering strategic regeneration schemes within the city centre, alongside a major programme of residential development across the whole city. The platform for growth and delivery of new high quality homes aspires to attract families back into the city and to improve health and wellbeing through high quality open spaces and well designed pedestrian and cycling routes.
With an unprecedented level of development activity taking place, our skilled professional capacity and expertise needs to be as effective and joined up as possible to best influence and impact on high quality Placemaking. The Design Quality Framework (DQF) Audits have shown that extensive officer time is currently spent in Nottingham encouraging design improvements for residential schemes at pre-application and determination stages. This guide will ensure that Nottingham quality design standards are adopted as a norm, guiding developers, officers, decision takers and communities as to what is expected in delivering high quality places at the earliest possible stage in the design process: Before pre- application discussions have commenced. Adhering to this Housing Design Guide will help speed up the delivery process by giving certainty regarding expectations, quality thresholds and planning submission requirements.
It will be expected that designers and developers will read the guidance even before commencing their concept designs. This will free up valuable resources expediting the pre-application and planning process and creating certainty at the earliest possible point. Training on how to interpret, implement and evaluate schemes based on the design criteria in this guide, and a range of other services, are available to support designers, developers and communities through the design process. Nottingham City Council and its experts aspire to remain leaders in Placemaking and exemplar housing developers, also motivating and supporting the public to engage in Placemaking and to embrace Place Governance in the city.'
Introduction
What is this guide? ...
This Housing Design Guide (HDG), a component part of the Design Quality Framework (DQF), aims to:
- Guide designers/applicants through the necessary steps of the design process.
- Set specific parameters for the appraisal of residential schemes.
Who is this guide for? ...
This guide applies to all schemes located within the boundaries of the City of Nottingham. Applicants, designers, planning officers and those making decisions on planning applications shall use this guide as a shared tool to appraise the design of residential schemes and how appropriate they might be to their context/setting.
Who is this guide for? ...
This guide applies to all schemes located within the boundaries of the City of Nottingham. Applicants, designers, planning officers and those making decisions on planning applications shall use this guide as a shared tool to appraise the design of residential schemes and how appropriate they might be to their context/setting.
Housing Design Process
Nottingham City Council strongly recommend that applicants engage in the pre-application process, this has shown make the design process much smoother and faster, also reducing the number of planning conditions. To see what pre-application fees apply to your scheme click here. The City Council works with a staged design process. Once proposals are agreed/signed off by the case officer, applicants can submit information to progress to the next stage.
I. Concept Design
Before you begin to consider your home improvements, please have a look at the Passive Haus guide to achieve a more sustainable, energy efficient design.
Understanding the site and identifying constraints and opportunities + Developing a vision + Agreeing a design approach
Information required as a minimum ...
- Vision for the site and for the development
- Constraints & opportunities
- Site and context analysis including light/shadow analysis
- Environmental strategy for the site
II. Developed Design
Defining place making principles and master planning criteria + Outlining a master plan
Information required as a minimum ...
- Location plan
- Master plan with site levels
- 3D massing/building heights and key views analysis
- Landscape with blue and green infrastructure
- Boundary (private/public) treatment
- Estimated carbon emissions for all buildings
- Waste management strategy
- Highways adoption boundaries plan (also see the New Streets Design Guide)
- Tracking for access (also see the New Streets Design Guide)
III. Detailed Design
Working out the master planning details + Defining architectural design and materiality.
Information required as a minimum ...
- Ground floor layout inserted in the master plan with site levels
- Floor plans
- Elevations
- Sections
- Roof plan inserted in the site plan
- Landscape with blue and green infrastructure details
- Boundary (private/public) treatment in detail
- Waste management strategy in detail
- Public realm details with lighting
- BREEAM or similar sustainability rating certificate
Housing Design Criteria
Our home is our safety net ...
... it is the primal place of refuge, it is our comfort zone, where we go when we feel sick, sad or anxious.
Our home is fundamental to our happiness and belonging to a community gives us opportunities to grow and develop.
Good design can help individual and social development by introducing simple design solutions that trigger human instincts in positive ways.
Our home is where we spend most of the time, it is the most personal space where we can develop a sense of achievement, pride and belonging. Having adequate space to carry out our daily routines can have a tremendous impact on our physical and mental health, on our wellbeing and our family relations. Home personalisation is a fundamental human need. Front gardens, planters and defensible spaces are a landscaped transition between public and private zones that can give occupants the opportunity to personalise their homes with benches, tables, bicycles and other personal objects that contribute to the street character and the livelihood of the neighbourhood. Nottingham supports the introduction of innovative design alternatives such as Custom Build and Self-build. Custom Build allows off-plan-buyers to personalise their homes without compromising the overall quality and coherence of the scheme can be simply achieved through careful design. For example offering a selection of fenestration colour, front garden railing styles or garden features.
1. CONCEPT DESIGN CRITERIA
Proposals need to include master plans that work at fundamental levels. Below are the key criteria that Nottingham City Council will focus on:
1.1 Site analysis & vision
A good understanding of the site and its surroundings should help create a vision and an early concept of how a place will be developed in context and what how the place character would be achieved.
1.2 Communities
Building houses does not only mean providing homes for people but also kick-starting new communities that can grow and develop in harmony with existing communities.
1.3 Health & wellbeing
Good design can help mitigate societal challenges like obesity, loneliness and mental health issues by providing environments that encourage healthier, more active lifestyles. Also see the Wellbeing Design Guide.
1.4 Trees
The benefits of planting trees in cities has been strongly evidenced through research. Nottingham needs to protect existing trees and increase the amount of trees for the benefit of the population and the environment as a whole.
1.5 Nature
Although an increasing population needs more homes and larger cities, natural ecosystems can be compromised by growth. It is fundamental to achieve responsible development that minimises negative impact on urban ecosystems and that creates new ones, in order to protect and sustain our planet for future generations.
1.6 Composition
All of the components of a place need to work together to create comfortable and healthy places where people want to live.
2. DEVELOPED DESIGN CRITERIA
Proposals need to include master plans that work at fundamental levels, creating streets that become places free of crime and enjoyed by all. Here are the key criteria that Nottingham City Council will focus on:
2.1 Perimeter blocks
Historically, Nottingham was built with buildings located at the front of their plot. As plots were small, buildings were often erected forming a continuous street front that defines the street space clearly.
2.2 Boundaries
The lack of definition of boundaries between private and public spaces can cause confusion. Research shows that places where boundaries are clearly defined are less likely to prompt crime and antisocial behaviours and encourage property maintenance and upkeep.
2.3 Hierarchy
Places are safer and more pleasant when people understand which are the most active or connected streets and public places.
2.4 Legibility
Finding the way round easily has been recently linked to health and wellbeing as people release stressors when they get lost. This is why it is so important to design places with buildings and landscapes that can help people create a mental image of the place.
2.5 Urban grain & massing
Proposals need to be designed in context, respecting the heights and volume of the buildings around and street widths. Urban density is dealt with by the Local Plan but a good explanation of how to work with the density requirements can be found clicking here.
2.6 Clustering
The way in which buildings are grouped together can determine the character of a place. Nottingham has a tradition of compact development with green recreation areas and plenty of trees.
3. DETAILED DESIGN CRITERIA
As a general rule, the understanding and skillful application of these principles can deliver good design:
3.1 Proportions
When all the size and position of every component of a building follow a rule (often mathematical), the building is more pleasant to the eye and it is also easier to understand.
3.2 Geometry & mass treatment
These relate to the size and shape of the volumetric components of buildings and how each one of their faces (or facades) are treated.
3.3 Palette & textures
The palette refers to the set of colours used to design facades. It is possible to find out what are the dominant colours in the environment and to use a combination of these for the new building. The texture refers to the grain or roughness of materials.
3.4 Details
Poor quality or poorly installed and maintained details such as window cills and headers, can lower the quality of buildings and streets. The use of details in design can only have positive results if these are incorporated in the fabric of the building, following the overarching design principles.
3.5 Technical quality
Quality is often compromised by poor workmanship, having too many people involved, little coordination and lack of attention to detail. Designers and contractors are urged to address these issues and monitor them carefully on site.
3.6 Layout
Facades must be a true reflection of the building layout in order to make the whole environment (indoor and outdoor) more legible. Buildings must be designed with this consideration in mind.
Housing Appraisals
Nottingham City Council officers will use appraise the proposals at pre-application and application submission stages on the basis of the Housing Design Criteria above.
Officers will appraise the proposals to establish how well the design principles were managed to achieve the desired outcome. Feedback will be given to applicants on the basis of this appraisal system. A simple Appraisal Tool might be used to evaluate the scheme.
The proposal review process is illustrated in the diagram below:
