March 10th, 2024 The UK can build hundreds of thousands of new homes, without paving the countryside. The key is a different approach to transport planning, according to a major new study, Stepping Off the Road to Nowhere, from Create Streets and Sustrans. The problem: the UK government will have a target to build 1.5 […]
March 9th, 2024 High Speed 2 are using Visual Preference Surveys (VPSs) for the first time giving the public a final say on the appearance of a viaduct design on Balsall Common near Solihull. This is commendable. However, all is not as good as it seems. The actual choice being offered (parapet design) is fairly […]
Marks and Spencer’s proposal to demolish their 1930 Oxford Street flagship store (Orchard House) has proved very controversial with a government call in, an appeal to the High Court and high-profile interventions from (among others) Kevin McCloud, Griff Rhys Jones, Sir Simon Jenkins and Kristin Scott Thomas as well as a host of experts from […]
July 15th, 2024 Much of the knowledge needed to create traditional places where many people want to live is no longer taught in most architecture and urban design courses. Set in the heart of the beautiful market town of Sherborne in Dorset, this course will introduce core urban design and architecture principles and practice. It […]
Feb 26th, 2024 Watch the story of how our design for beautiful Devon homes around a village green increased the number of homes from 34 to 44 and won rave reviews from the planning committee: “I don’t know what else they can do to make this application better.”
Located in the centre of the historic and beautiful Lichfield (the UK’s 9th smallest city), the Birmingham Road Site required a sensitive contextual response that seamlessly ‘plugged into’ the gentle, walkable street network that defines the city. Create Streets produced a design code for development of the 3 hectare site that put residents’ design ambitions […]
March 7th – 8th, 2024 Restitch The Social Fabric Summit Following the huge success of Restitch: The Social Fabric Summit 2022 in London and Halifax, Create Streets and Onward are excited to announce that Restitch will be returning in March, 2024. This time we are taking Restitch to Coventry’s remarkable Cathedral Quarter. This year, Create Streets and […]
February 1st, 2024 Nicholas Boys Smith considers why street scars can spoil our streets and how we can fix it. We’ve all seen this: the freshly laid paving or granite setts, the Yorkstones lovingly laid on a slow street, or in front of a newly repaired parade of Victorian shops. Within months, weeks or, sometimes […]
Create Streets completed Surrey’s new ‘Healthy Streets for Surrey’ street design guide in 2022 to improve the quality of new and existing streets in Surrey and support more beautiful and sustainable development. At the heart of this is a recognition that streets must be created with a clear ‘hierarchy of users’ in mind, designed firstly […]
Developing a strategy for a greener, more connected and more inclusive Cheshire West & Chester with community at its heart. Cheshire West and Chester Council asked Create Streets to carry out a strategic review of their street design strategy and suggest how this could be improved to better meet their ambitious strategic aims to reduce […]