Back in February, in a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, a coalition of organisations – The Academy of Urbanism, Civic Voice, CPRE, Design Council, Place Alliance, Trees & Design Action Group and Urban Design Group – called for the setting up of a new Design Quality Unit for England. The call follows the report of the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission and the publication of A Housing Design Audit for England.
The period since our letter has seen the country locked-down as part of the global effort to slow the spread of Coronavirus. Whilst these are exceptional times, a new pamphlet from the same consortium argues that we need to be thinking about the future, and with that in mind it is Time to get serious about design.