Scottish Government

Policy

Designing Places and Designing Streets are the two design policy documents for Scotland.

Designing Places planning policy statement was launched in 2001 and sets out government aspirations for design and the role of the planning system in delivering these. The aim of the document is to demystify urban design and to demonstrate how the value of design can contribute to the quality of our lives. Designing Places is a material consideration in decisions in planning applications and appeals. It also provides the basis for a series of Planning Advice Notes (PANs) dealing with more detailed aspects of design.

Designing Streets supports Designing Places and is the first policy statement in Scotland for street design and marks a change in the emphasis of guidance on street design towards place-making and away from a system focused upon the dominance of motor vehicles.

Planning Advice Notes

Planning Advice Notes provide advice and information on technical planning matters. As part of the modernisation of the planning system, the intention to scale back the amount of planning advice issued by the Government was announced in October 2008. The Planning Advice Note series is being retained but some PANs will be withdrawn and others will be merged and updated. This will result in an overall reduction in the number of PANs and an increased focus on technical planning matters. A full list of current PANs, setting out the proposed approach, is available and you can read the relevant PAN's for Architecture, Design and Place below.

Housing Quality PAN 67 (2003) provides advice on the layout and design of new housing developments. It was prepared in association with Homes for Scotland, Communities Scotland, and with advice from a wide range of representatives from local authorities, architects, landscape architects, and transport planners. Its aim is to achieve improved design and quality in new housing developments.

Design Statements PAN 68 (2003) Design statements can be a valuable tool within the planning process. PAN 68 explains the purpose of design statements, the circumstances in which they should accompany planning applications, how they are prepared, and how they should be structured. The aim is to ensure that both applicants and planning authorities are clear about the role of design statements, and how they can have more of a key role within the planning process.

Conservation and Area Management PAN 71 (2004) There are over 600 conservation areas in Scotland. The designation of a conservation area is a means to safeguard and enhance the sense of place, character and appearance of our most valued historic places. Buildings of character, listed buildings, scheduled monuments, trees, historic street patterns, open spaces and designed gardens and landscapes are important components of these areas. The overall layout and pattern of development may be just as important to the character as individual buildings. The activities that go on inside conservation areas are also important.

Designating a conservation area does not mean a prohibition on development. It does mean carefully managing change to ensure that the character and appearance of these areas are safeguarded and enhanced for the enjoyment and benefit of future generations. This PAN identifies good practice for managing change, sets out a checklist for appraising conservation areas and provides advice on funding and implementation.

Housing in the Countryside PAN 72 (2005) New developments in the countryside, if properly planned, sited and designed, should contribute to the quality of a landscape. The intention is to create more opportunities for good quality rural housing which respects the Scottish landscape and building tradition. The advice is not, however, intended to be a constraint on architects and designers wishing to pursue innovative and carefully considered contemporary designs. PAN 72 updates and replaces PAN 36 Siting and Design of New Housing in the Countryside.

New Residential Streets PAN 76 (2005) has been superseded by Designing Streets.

Designing Safer Places PAN 77 (2006) highlights the positive role that planning can play in helping to create attractive, well-managed environments which help to discourage antisocial and criminal behaviour. It also aims to ensure that new development can be located and designed in a way that deters such behaviour. This document supersedes PAN 46 Planning for Crime Prevention (published in 1994). It reinforces many of the key themes outlined in PAN 46, and brings the advice up to date with a new emphasis on design and quality.

PAN 77 (Safer Places Supplement) (TBA) Over the last year or thereby, the UK Government has been undertaking a review of its counter-terrorism strategy. Although policy on counter-terrorism is a matter reserved for the UK Government, many related issues, such as preparing for incidents and protecting infrastructure fall within those matters devolved to Scotland. A UK wide consultation on improving the safety of crowded places took place early in 2009. The outcomes of the UK document will be interpreted by the Scottish Government and a brief Counter-Terrorism supplement to PAN 77 Safer Places is planned for publication to address any particular Scottish issues arising.

Inclusive Design PAN 78 An inclusive environment is one which can be used by everyone - regardless of age, gender or disability. The objective of inclusive design is to widen the user group for whom an environment is designed. To achieve this, everyone involved in creating places, must understand how to design for this wider user group. This PAN aims to explain the importance of inclusive design and identify the nature of the problems experienced in designing inclusive environments. It describes the legislative context, outlines the roles of the different stakeholders in delivering inclusive design, identifies the particular challenges of applying inclusive design to the historic environment and provides a reference list of more detailed or technical advice.

Control and Management of Fly-posting PAN 80 (2006) Fly-posting, which constitutes illegal notices, advertisements and other printed material, can result in local authorities bearing considerable expense, both in controlling sites and addressing adverse amenity impacts. This PAN draws on recent research as well as existing initiatives, policies and best practice, across Scotland, the UK and further afield to highlight how local authorities can effectively control and manage illegal poster advertising in both urban and rural areas, across the diverse range of communities in Scotland.

Masterplanning PAN 83 The Scottish Government wishes to see a greater focus on the quality of places. It wants to encourage the development of sustainable communities with high quality environments, good transport connections and well-designed, energy efficient, homes.

This PAN aims to promote the use of masterplanning to create better places. It explains how to achieve more effective masterplanning, how to achieve more consistency in the presentation of masterplans, and it encourages good practice through a range of exemplar case studies. The document covers the masterplanning process from beginning to end - from understanding the need for masterplanning, to preparing, creating, processing and implementing a masterplan.

Design Snapshot

The design snapshot is a short easy read guide which aims to reinforce the importance of urban design and emphasises its role within the planning and development process. It is targeted at those who are either new to the design process or who have a limited knowledge of the subject and want to gain more confidence in design. It is not a manual on design but represents a starting point that builds on the Government's guidance and acts as a good information source to help increase awareness. The Snapshot sets out short answers to 6 key questions about design and signposts readers in the direction of information.

The Practical Projects Series of documents marks a shift away from Planning Advice Notes towards more practical guidance on how to create better places, as well as providing useful recommendations, for all those involved in the built environment.

Polnoon

There are three documents which describe the Polnoon masterplan exercise.

Masterplan: Idea to design This document explains how the Polnoon masterplan was created from an initial idea to the final design. It also provides some lessons learnt during the process. The format has been set out in 6 parts and has been written as an easy-read. It should appeal to everyone, whether a lay person or a built environment professional.

Design snapshot: summary This document provides a quick and easy summary of the Polnoon project.

Picture book: the place at a glance This document has been designed to allow you to quickly visualise some of the design features of the new neighbourhood, Polnoon. It includes a collection of key images, sketches, perspectives and technical plans.

Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative

Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative - Two years on This report provides an overview of the various projects and approahes taken by project teams, describing their achievements and also challenges faced over the past two years. The document aims to highlight the value of shared experience to develop skills and to illiustrate some of the ways in which sustainable communities can be delivered. The last part of the document provides links to detailed research and outputs emerging from the initiative.

Green Infrastructure : Design and Placemaking

This new document providing good practice examples of how to integrate green infrastructure within place-making. The document looks at green infrastructure considerations from site appraisal through to developing designs to deliver sustainable and successful communities and places. It also looks at the policy context and incorporating green infrastructure thinking within development plans, supplementary guidance, master-planning and site specific development briefs.

Rural design: Future landscapes

Rural Design: Future landscapes brings together a range of rural design initiatives which have been carried out by the Scottish Government in conjunction with Orkney Islands Council and Comhairlie nan Eilean Siar. In particular, collaboration was agreed on (1) developing a new approach to writing design guides, (2) working on a kit house re-design exercise and (3) providing masterplanning training. Together, these projects provide new approaches to the rural design agenda by demonstrating how sensitive design should be incorporated into successful place-making for rural Scotland.

Delivering Better Places in Scotland is a practical guide that was published in 2011, it looks at how different public bodies outside of Scotland have gone about creating and sustaining better places and considers what we can learn for adaptation/ application here.

Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative

Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative The SSCI was launched in June 2008 to encourage the creation of places, designed and built to last, where a high quality of life can be achieved. Local authorities, landowners, the development industry and others were invited to submit proposals which demonstrated ambition in addressing a number of principles.

The Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative Report This outlines the assessment process undertaken and summarises the submissions received.

Charrette Series Report As part of the SSCI programme, the SSCI Charrette Series provided the exemplar projects at Ladyfield, Lochgelly and Grandhome with the opportunity to develop masterplans that promote sustainable design, whilst enabling a new level of public engagement in the placemaking process

SSCI Charrette Mainstreaming Programme The Mainstreaming Programme was launched March 3, 2011. Building on the success of the SSCI Charrette Series which ran in March 2010, the Scottish Government has launched a new charrette programme, aimed at mainstreaming this innovative approach to development in the built environment within Scottish design and planning practice.

The Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative - Two years on This report launched on March 17, 2011 which provides an overview of 11 SSCI exemplar projects and the approaches taken by their project teams, describing their achievements and also the challenges faced over the past two years.

Housing Expo

Scotland's Housing Expo 2010 This Document records the achievements of the Inverness Expo, illustrates and explains the buildings and landscaping built for it, as well as describing the reasons for and history of the project. Hard copies are available from the Architecture & Place Division of the Scottish Government and from Architecture & Design Scotland.

Architectural Archive: Documents on the development of policy on architecture

The Development of a Policy on Architecture for Scotland (1999), and the subsequent public consultation and report on the consultation were the first steps in the process to develop Scotland's first national policy on architecture.

The framework document established the context for policy development and set out why government has an interest in the quality of buildings and the built environment and the importance of building to its social, cultural, environmental and economic objectives. The document also set out the issues policy might address and the range of objectives and actions policy might embrace. What was set out in the framework document was strongly endorsed in the public consultation and there was broad support for the sentiments expressed as well as strong cross-party support. The general objectives and aspirations set out in the framework document have thus remained a reference point for policy development and implementation.

A Policy on Architecture for Scotland Scotland's first national Architecture Policy (2001), setting out 40 government commitments intended to help raise awareness of the value of good building design; to promote recognition of the importance of architecture to the cultural life of Scotland; and to seek improvements in the quality of Scotland's buildings and built environments.

A Policy on Architecture for Scotland: Progress Report (2005) described progress on these commitments and provided a review of priorities and objectives.

Building our Legacy: Statement on Scotland's Architecture Policy (2007) was published by the then Scottish Executive in February 2007.