Tibbalds signs up as partners to the Humanise Campaign

From its early stages we could see the merit offered by the campaign in terms of opening up the conversation around what we want from good development and what the characteristics of 'humanised' buildings should include, particularly with its focus on street level qualities, building an evidence base and the role each building plays in the city over the long term and its impact on future generations. This approach fits well alongside Tibbalds own focus on making people friendly places.

Over the last six months Tibbalds have been supporting the campaign through collaboration with Heatherwick Studio on the development of a practical toolkit for developers based on the five humanise principles. This included a workshop with developers to test the principles and actions. The toolkit is designed to be a simple tool to help structure conversations and thinking within development teams, as well as with designers, planners and communities.

Last week Tibbalds Director Hilary Satchwell presented the emerging toolkit to the Humanise Summit in London. This one-day event titled ‘Do No Harm: Making the Walls of Public Life Healthier for All of Us', brought together a diverse range of interests and attracted more than 120 professionals from across the UK, from Europe and the United States.

Hilary’s section of the day set out the practical actions that developers and others can take to create more humanised buildings and developments. The work includes explaining what the five humanised principles are, why they are needed and how to apply them, as well as a list of ways that the principles can be embedded into planning conversations using the National Planning Policy Framework and National Design Guide.

The five Humanise principles are designed specifically to set out an approach that leads to better buildings by making clear why we need buildings to play particular roles in our cities and towns and to make sure their impact on all of us is properly considered. They bring a people-centred perspective to development across two categories – practice and process. We look forward to sharing more of the detail in of the principles and the toolkit itself in due course.

In signing up as a partner to the campaign we are committed to continuing our focus on people friendly places and humanised buildings. Tibbalds Director Hilary Satchwell said “Making sure that buildings take account of the needs of those that will see and pass by as well as those that go inside and use them is a fundamental part of their role in the cities and towns that we help to plan and design. Thinking long term is a really helpful way of reminding us all that we are all planning for future generations and with finite resources need to make sure we carefully balance human considerations as well as technical ones. We look forward to continuing to support the Campaign and to broadening the conversations around how we can call contribute to making better buildings and places.”

Further information about the summit has been published here:

https://nla.london/news/do-no-harm-making-the-walls-of-public-life-healthier-for-all-of-us