Design Panels

It was with some scepticism that, as a planning and development surveyor, I put my name forward for the Inspire East (East of England) Design Panel. I thought such bodies were principally the province of architects and designers – and largely confined their deliberations to matters of aesthetics. Well some do. But I was very pleasantly surprised to find on our first meeting that we have a wide range of development experts. Sure we have architects, landscape architects and urban designers; but our panel also includes planning policy people, transport engineers, community cohesion specialists as well as me.

Our panel sessions are really enlightening. Although I have worked with multi-disciplinary teams before, people have largely been confined to their own professional boxes: often the lead consultant (usually a designer of one sort or another) has had the last word. But in our panel we work much more as a team of equals – everyone has their say and all comments are taken on board.

So what do a local authority and developer get out of bringing a project to our design panel? First they get an honest broker – an unbiased third party view. Secondly they get the collective view of a range of experts from different disciplines, some of which they won’t have on their team. And thirdly they often get some really bright ideas – things they haven’t thought of that come from people who can stand back from the scheme and view it afresh. (You would be amazed to see how far people get with designs that simply won’t work. For example a revised layout suggested by the panel for a waterside development saved the expense of constructing three new lifting bridges.)

Other places and organisations have their own versions of design panels. As I said above, some just include architects and designers. Others include just local people – too many conflicts and petty jealousies. Some are run by individual firms - these tend to have a very narrow focus. And perhaps worst of all, there are those that comprise largely local authority members – again too many conflicts and no expertise in any aspect of design or development. (But anyone who has bought and sold a house thinks he or she is a property expert.)

So it is with considerable regret that I have to let you know that Inspire East and its design panel are being wound up – unless we find a way of funding it that will retain our independence. Bearing in mind the extent of investment in the schemes that come before the panel, the cost would not be huge. Some members may be prepared to put in time pro bono. Developers could be charged a modest levy akin to that for pre-application discussions. Or the local authority might make a contribution. Ideally, both would pay and thereby avoid accusations of conflicts of interest.