Design coding, what’s next?

The National Planning Policy Framework consultation has brought design codes back into focus for us at the Quality of Life Foundation. Vicky Payne, our Strategy Research and Engagement Lead, worked on the 2021 National Model Design Code (NMDC). She explains the basics of design coding, the background to the NMDC and the current policy direction.

A design code is a set of clear, measurable rules that control the design of a place.

They differ from design guides in that they enable binary decision making; yes the code has been followed, or no it has not.

A design guide might say “heights of new buildings should be in keeping with the surrounding area”. A design code might say “heights of new buildings should be between 3–5 storeys”.

Codes can be made flexible by having wider acceptable ranges or fewer rules.

The Government published the National Model Design Code in 2021, and made accompanying changes to the National Planning Policy Framework. This sought to give design coding a greater role in the planning system.

Its development was influenced by the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission (BBBBC 2019–2020) the National Design Guide (2019) and the Planning White Paper (2020) which explored the idea of a zonal system.

Design coding had been used on individual sites up to that point, but the 2021 changes formally required local planning authorities to produce codes and introduced the possibility of setting design rules for a wider area.

A pilot programme in 2021 gave 15 teams £50,000 each to test the coding process. Then the “Pathfinders” programme in March 2022 awarded £3 million to 25 teams to demonstrate best practice. The updated NPPF wording emphasising the importance of design seemed to be filtering through into decision making.