On Wednesday 12th September, DSE Design Advisor Helen Goodwin, together with Tom Selby of Croydon Borough Council’s Placemaking Team, led a training session for Slough Borough Council to strengthen the commitment to design. The objective of the session was to explain the relationship between design and place-making and to empower development managers to become proactive in the design process, helping to shape high-quality development through their pre-app discussions with developers and design teams based on a better understanding of the meaning and value of good design.
The session helped to bring different council departments together around the table to discuss a vision for what Slough could become. Learning from the step-by-step journey which Croydon council has taken to establish a successful Placemaking team over the past two decades, the council learned how important it is to set a shared vision for a town centre to inform policy frameworks and to reframe people’s opinion of the place where they live and work.
To discuss DSE’s design support or training for local planning authorities contact David Tittle, Head of Design Advice david@designsoutheast.org or 01634 401166.
