Core Partners sign on

Three major developers have signed up to be core sponsors of the Quality of Life Foundation this summer, including one of the largest property managers in the UK, The Crown Estate.

The Earls Court Development Company, delivering London’s largest cleared Zone 1 development site for the west London mixed-use scheme, has also signed on to the two-year programme, alongside Lovell Homes, which has seven regional offices across the country.

Quality of Life Foundation Core Partners are making the commitment to balancing purpose and profit, improving the way UK homes and communities are created and cared for.

Dan Labbad, CEO of The Crown Estate, says: “The Quality of Life Foundation Framework comes at a moment when everyone is re-evaluating what is important to them, especially where we live and how we work. As an industry, we also need to reflect on this as we enter a new era for the nation. As we consider the principles which will guide the future of development and regeneration, we need to assess how we ensure the wellbeing of our people and our communities, and what it means to be sustainable.”

As part of the core partners’ programme, we bring together like-minded organisations with other key stakeholders to discuss how to take a more long-term approach to development.

“The Quality of Life Foundation establishes a framework against which the development sector as a whole can be measured,” says Rob Heasman, CEO of the Earls Court Development Company.

“The approach towards health and wellbeing set out by the Foundation reflects the way in which we are considering our own masterplan. We have an opportunity at Earls Court to bring forward a development which reimagines the site as the new benchmark for positive city life, creating a sense of place from day one through a thoughtful and inclusive approach to masterplanning which encompasses social and environmental sustainability, reflecting the needs of the whole community. We strongly support the work of the Foundation and the drive to place health and wellbeing at the forefront of the way in which we, as an industry, design and deliver our future homes and communities.”

The working relationship between our partners is also designed to encourage them to pilot our services, including a strategic review of a development’s social sustainability at pre-planning and resident-led post-occupancy evaluation that asks people what they think and feel about where they live.

Mary Parsons, Regeneration and Partnerships Director at Lovells says: “Lovell is proud to support the valuable work that the Quality of Life Foundation is doing to really understand how people feel about their homes and communities. For us as a developer, that understanding of the impacts of the homes and places we create on the health and wellbeing of the people that live there is essential to our placemaking approach.”

It is hoped that by building deeper trust with the public and stakeholders, developers can create successful communities that offer social, environmental and financial returns.

If your organisation would like to become a core partner then please contact matthew@qolf.org.