Plan healthier lifestyles into new housing developments

Homes England is backing new design guidance called Building for a Healthy Life, which encourages healthier lifestyles to be planned into new housing developments.

The new guidance was commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement to update the widely used Building for Life 12 (B4L12), which Homes England requires developers to commit to using as part of the tender process for purchasing land. The toolkit covers the priorities for creating healthier communities, including improved walking, cycling and public transport links, with reduced carbon emissions and better air quality.

The new guidelines use the same 12-point structure as its predecessor, with examples of good practice that would add up to a green light and bad practice that would earn a red light. However the authors make clear the guidance is intended to prompt discussion rather than as a tick-box scoring system.

Many local authorities include reference to the B4L12 in their Local Plans, and the new guidance is designed to enable them to easily update their plans to link to the new guidance.

David Birkbeck of Design for Homes said: “Building for a Healthy Life works best as the starting point for getting developers, local authorities, communities and other stakeholders to agree on key aspects of a design, such as how new development will connect to existing communities and how people will be able move between the two. Its general focus has not changed significantly, other than to promote the idea of walking and cycling more short journeys. But the use of images helps explain the desired for outcomes and help everybody identify shared objectives.”