David Hickey,
Regen.net,
11 November 2009
A design review panel has been set up to provide expert advice on the quality of designs for proposed eco-towns, the Government's design watchdog has announced.
Working alongside the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and housing and regeneration quango the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA), the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe) has set up a dedicated eco-towns review panel to review the proposals for the four eco-towns designated by the Government. The four towns are: Whitehill-Bordon in Hampshire; Rackheath in Norfolk; North-West Bicester in Oxfordshire; and St Austell in Cornwall.
Cabe will provide design advice to the relevant local authority.
The panel will be chaired by Sunand Prasad, the former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, with Cabe commissioner Richard Cass serving as vice chair.
Diane Haigh, director of design review at Cabe, said: "We look forward to seeing design proposals that give form to the whole proposition of an eco-town in the UK context. It is in the public interest that these schemes should be reviewed by Cabe’s independent panel - if they can convince this array of experts, they should stand every chance of achieving their aims when finally developed."
The panel’s first review will be on 2 December.
