Tag Archives: design quality

The Norfolk Way

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Matt Wood

I finally managed to get together with Mid-Norfolk MP George Freeman at his constituency office in Dereham last week. I’ve been keen to talk to him since seeing his ideas on sustainable rural development – his ‘Norfolk Way‘ campaign – … Continue reading →

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Contemporary Vernacular?

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Matt Wood

Coming back to the issue of special and normal buildings (as I did in the last post), put me in mind of a house which I drive past occasionally on my way up to Holkham Hall, where Lucas Hickman Smith … Continue reading →

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The Cork Rural Design Guide

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Matt Wood

In a recent post I talked about the impact that local ‘design guides’ might have on how developers approach the design of new housing, and previously I’d talked a bit about the Norfolk Residential Design Guide. I noted that aside … Continue reading →

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On ‘Local Distinctiveness’

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Matt Wood

In my previous post I reflected on the complex issue of ‘local distinctiveness’. Back in 2006 I attended a seminar run by the English Historic Towns Forum entitled ‘Designing for Housing Growth: Sustaining Historic Towns’, and was quite alarmed by … Continue reading →

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Building Norfolk

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Matt Wood

Matthew Rice’s book ‘Building Norfolk’ attracted quite a lot of attention when it was published last year; not surprisingly. It is a beautiful book full of exuberant, colourful drawings. I could write a whole other post, lamenting the death of … Continue reading →

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Greetings from Legoland

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Matt Wood

This week, Housing Minister Grant Shapp’s wrote to the Design Council, which has taken over the charred remains of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), torched in the Coalition’s ‘bonfire of the quangos’. He urged them to … Continue reading →

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Contemporary ‘Farmsteads’ #2

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Matt Wood

Before I signed off at the end of the year I was talking about contemporary ‘farmsteads’ – one of my four rural archetypes. I had it in mind to talk about how a dense grouping of dwellings laid out around … Continue reading →

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Design Quality Outside the Planning System?

Posted on September 23, 2010 by Matt Wood

Given that the current planning system hasn’t generally managed to produce new housing of inspirational and enduring quality, it is perhaps odd that my biggest concern about Community Right to Build is to do with design. It’s true that planners … Continue reading →

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