We have recently recruited and inducted a refreshed St Albans District Design Review Panel to be managed by Design South East on behalf of the Council.
St Albans City and District, located 20 miles north of central London, is home to the City of St Albans and boasts a rich historic environment with important heritage assets, conservation areas and listed buildings, as well as a unique rural landscape character.
Outside of the City, the District is home to a collection of towns and villages which each have their own distinctive character. This is complemented by a wealth of key transport routes and infrastructure, such as the fast Thameslink connection into London, which makes the District highly accessible.
The Council is in the process of developing a new Local Plan, which will act as a blueprint for future development in the borough, to carefully and thoughtfully manage change whilst tackling climate change and improving biodiversity.
Our panel has been recruited based on members’ expertise and their relationship to St Albans District, both professionally and personally, with several panel members who are current residents of the District.
This panel sits alongside Design South East’s Hemel Garden Communities (HGC) Quality Review Panel, which reviews schemes relating specifically to HGC, a collaboration between SACDC, Dacorum Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council. The range of expertise on both panels spans from architecture and urban design, to landscape, sustainability, heritage, community engagement and transport, ensuring that our guidance is well-rounded and place-specific.
Along the new Local Plan, which marks a step-change in the scale of development across the District, the St Albans District Design Review Panel will help the council to ensure that growth in the District is well planned, integrates high quality design and placemaking, and offers sustainable development which enhances the character and rich heritage of St Albans District.
At Design South East, our role will be to deliver independent design reviews for the Council as part of the pre-application process, to uphold design quality and provide clarity of recommendations for applicant teams, leading to the creation of successful places.
Panel manager:
Alice Jenkins
Panel members:
Alex Wraight
Lindsey Wilkinson
Paula Hirst MRICS MBA
Andrej Znak
Angela Koch
Annemarie de Boom
Chris Churchman
Claire Taggart
Dave Heeley
David Ogunmuyiwa
Geoff Gardner
Laurie Handcock
Mehron Kirk
Michael Collins
Peter Neal
Prachi Rampuria
Rafe Bertram
SallyAnne Logan
Seth Rutt
Tom Fox
Vinita Dhume
