Redrow champion’s good design

Fri, Dec 22nd 2006, 11:00

Award winning housebuilder Redrow is promoting urban design excellence.

Redrow’s ‘design champion’ Paul Pedley, the executive deputy chairman, has demonstrated his commitment to improving design quality by the delivery of Redrow’s first Urban Design Centre.

Earlier this year, Paul was named among the first six housebuilding industry design champions in an initiative led by CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment).

Redrow’s new Urban Design Centre will be based in Northampton and will focus initially upon the unique challenges within the company’s Southern and Midlands regions – a total of six regional housing companies covering an area from Staffordshire down to the south coast.

Steve Clarke, Redrow’s regional director of design, explains: “Redrow recognises the fundamental role of urban design in the delivery of high quality environments and the creation of new communities where our customers will choose to live and be part of.

 “CABE has called on every publicly quoted housebuilder to appoint a design champion at board level. Their  role is to make sure that design issues play a central role in business strategy and that the commercial and social benefits of good design are clearly communicated to the individual teams delivering new projects at a local level.

 
“Establishing the Urban Design Centre is a pivotal part of Paul Pedley’s role as a design champion and will help to ensure that Redrow achieves the shared objectives of all the Government agencies and our customers for high quality environments.”

Redrow has already appointed a design principle, Irina Merryweather, who will head the centre and is in the process of building a team of urban design professionals who share her passion for the creation of high quality places.

Steve continues: “The Urban Design Centre will act as ‘consultants’ to Redrow’s operating companies and work closely with the existing design and technical teams. The mantra will be ‘adding value’ by delivering solutions of a consistent high quality, that maximise the potential of every site, minimise cost through the use of proven techniques and product, and reducing delivery time through a proactive, professional approach with local communities and planning authorities.”

Irina Merryweather relishes the challenge of running Redrow’s first Urban Design Centre. A qualified urban designer, she has worked for English Partnerships for over seven years, with previous roles within the Commission for New Towns and with planning and architectural consultants.

She has worked at a national level across the UK and her experience embraces strategic sites, urban extensions, town centre regeneration projects, brownfield sites such as former coalfields, hospital sites and ex-MoD land. Her qualifications include a degree in architecture and town planning from the St. Petersburg University of Civil Engineering and a post-graduate diploma in urban design from the Joint Centre for Urban Design at Oxford Brooks University.

Irina says: “My design experience has largely been with Government agencies that have promoted high standards of design through their policies. I am delighted to have joined Redrow, a company that not only shares this vision but is able to ensure its delivery. The commitment to raising the quality of design comes from the highest level within the company and is exemplified by initiatives like the Urban Design Centre.

“I am excited by the initial challenge of building and developing a new team that will bring the skill of urban design and the art of creating places into the heart of the industry.”

The centre occupies new offices at The Lakes business park in Northampton and, following an intensive period of recruitment, is due to be fully operational in January 2007.

Director of campaigns and education for CABE, Matt Bell, welcomed Redrow’s introduction of a centre of excellence for urban design, saying: "Once you've got price and location sorted, the thing homebuyers want most is character. And character comes above all from good urban design - it's what gives a neighbourhood its identity. I think it will prove good business sense for Redrow to set up this urban design centre, and I hope other housebuilders follow suit. We need more and better homes."

Redrow builds around 5,000 new homes annually across England, Scotland and Wales, offering everything from its first time buyer Debut range to glitzy city centre apartments, traditional family housing, elegant townhouses and sympathetic conversions of grade II listed period properties. For details of properties and prices in your area call 0845 676 0500.