Designing Social Value

Making the world a better place - through design

Building Design has launched a new initiative placing social value at the heart of our coverage

Building Regs changes ‘not fit to meet net-zero target’
2020-01-23T07:00:00+00:00By Jim Dunton
Architects warn Part L and Part F proposals ‘could have disastrous unintended consequences’
Your planet needs you
2020-01-23T07:00:00+00:00By Kat Scott
Kat Scott explains why she is working with the Architects Climate Action Network – and how you can get involved
Building Design columnist wins £100,000 award
2020-01-22T07:00:00+00:00By Elizabeth Hopkirk
David Rudlin and Manchester architecture lecturer to study 100 high streets
Housebuilders lambasted for producing overwhelmingly bad designs
2020-01-21T07:00:00+00:00By Joey Gardiner
Bartlett’s national housing audit finds ‘unethical’ housebuilders designing just 26% of homes well
Should architects be paid more?
2020-01-21T07:00:00+00:00By Martyn Evans
Building Design’s client columnist looks at how this might actually happen in the real world - and it involves relationships
Our first forays into delivering social value
2020-01-09T07:00:00+00:00By Andrew Mellor
Andrew Mellor outlines how local consultation altered a regeneration project in Truro

How apprenticeships are pioneering diversity in the profession
2020-01-08T07:00:00+00:00By Katherine Birkett
Architectural apprentice Katherine Birkett asks why more practices and students aren’t seizing the new route into architecture
Our adversarial procurement system is not fit for collaborative construction
2020-01-07T07:00:00+00:00By Eleanor Jolliffe
Design & build contracts de-skill architects and make accidents more likely, argues Eleanor Jolliffe
How design aspiration withers in the face of private-sector cunning
2020-01-02T07:00:00+00:00By Flora Samuel
Building Design’s social value columnist Flora Samuel examines the story of one estate
The Social Value Act has thrown architects a lifeline – and we must grasp it
2019-12-30T07:00:00+00:00By Ben Derbyshire
Ben Derbyshire explains how the profession can haul its way back up the foodchain
We need to harness the green equity in our buildings
2019-12-23T07:00:00+00:00By Fernando de Roda
This urgently needed measure can help us combat climate change, writes Fernando de Roda
Social infrastructure must be designed into new communities right from the start
2019-12-20T07:00:00+00:00By Darryl Chen
In a divided world, we need architects’ innovative thinking to create places that bridge social divides, says Darryl Chen
Perkins & Will to design projects twice in zero-carbon drive
2019-12-19T07:00:00+00:00By Jim Dunton
Newly merged architects to give RIBA stage 2 reports on closing emissions gap for all projects
Imagine a neighbourhood where social value is part of its DNA
2019-12-10T07:00:00+00:00By Flora Samuel
What would the characteristics of such a place be, asks Flora Samuel
How to design well for people with dementia
2019-12-06T07:00:00+00:00By Robin Callister
Architects need to include safe outdoor spaces when they design senior living schemes, writes Robin Callister
We need to talk about money
2019-12-04T07:00:00+00:00By Eleanor Jolliffe
Eleanor Jolliffe looks at the rise and fall of fee scales
How to do ornament that’s not a crime
2019-11-29T07:00:00+00:00By Gillian Darley
Gillian Darley on the delight of a well-crafted detail
Plasticine and power: Modelling the social value of urban design
2019-11-28T07:00:00+00:00By David Rudlin
Social value is easy to pursue when working for enlightened clients – but what about all those other projects?
What every architect should know about loneliness
2019-11-27T07:00:00+00:00By Sara Veale
Social isolation is as deadly as smoking. How can design bring people together in meaningful ways?
Good placemaking is more about economics than design
2019-11-26T07:00:00+00:00By Graham Haworth
Graham Haworth argues that social value is one of the ways to create real communities
Entries open for Architect of the Year Awards 2020
2019-11-25T07:00:00+00:00
Deadline for AYAs is February 7
Robin Nicholson: To tackle the climate emergency we need new values
2019-11-25T07:00:00+00:00
Architects have a great deal to contribute but only if everyone is involved, says the Cullinan Studio partner
A beginner’s guide to the Social Value Act
2019-11-22T07:00:00+00:00
It’s the act you’ve been waiting for if you want to do good, says Guy Battle
David Morley: Social value is tangible – and measurable
2019-11-22T07:00:00+00:00
The practice founder says linking indoor and outdoor spaces with nature improves crime rates, health and social cohesion
When someone mentions value engineering, bring up social value
2019-11-21T07:00:00+00:00By Julia Park
Investing in good design from the start reaps long-term social and financial benefits, writes Julia Park
Nick Deeming: Architects must find a way to measure their indirect social value
2019-11-21T06:00:00+00:00
The biggest thing architects have to offer is still the hardest to quantify, says the Faulkner Browns partner
Chris Harding: We’re developing a practice-wide strategy on social value
2019-11-20T07:00:00+00:00
BDP’s commitment to what it calls shared value has grown from its socially progressive roots, says the practice’s chair