Building for Life
Building for Life is the national standard for well-designed homes and neighbourhoods. It is run by a partnership between several national agencies, led by CABE and the Home Builders Federation.
Building for Life promotes design excellence and celebrates best practice in the house building industry through the Building for Life awards. Good quality housing design can improve social wellbeing and quality of life by reducing crime, improving public health, easing transport problems and increasing property values.
The 20 Building for Life criteria provide a framework for functional, attractive and sustainable housing. They cover:
- environment and the community
- character
- streets, parking and pedestrianisation
- design and construction.
Building for Life assessments
Building for Life assessments measure the design quality of new housing developments using the 20 criteria. Anyone can make an informal assessment of a housing development however formal assessments can only be made by an accredited Building for Life assessor.
CABE is setting up a nationwide network of accredited assessors, and the Architecture Centre in Bristol with the Architecture Centre for Devon and Cornwall and Creating Excellence will be working with CABE to provide training and support.
From April 2009 al schemes over 10 units must be assessed using Building for Life criteria in local authority annual monitoring reports.
CABE also used the 20 criteria as the basis for our national housing audit, for more information download the full report
Building for Life awards
The Building for Life awards celebrate well-designed housing projects and neighbourhoods in England. They are given annually to new projects that demonstrate a commitment to high design standards, good place-making, and sustainable development.
