Delivering Better Places in Scotland A guide to learning from broader experience Contents ➲ Section 1: About the study and this guide Section 2: Delivering Better Places In Scotland – Learning From Broader Experience Section 3: Background to the study and the Guide Section 4: Case study summary profiles Section 5: How places come about Section 6: Creating better places: leadership and commitment Section 7: Creating better places: effective delivery capacity Section 8: Creating better places: place delivery in action Section 9: Creating better places: investment in stewardship and sustainability over time Section 10: Creating better places: the main lessons for Scotland Section 11: Creating better places: case study profiles and reports Section 12: Glossary Section 1 ➲ About the study and this guide 1.1 Background 1.2 The authors 1.3 This guide Section 1: About the study and this guide 1. Introduction 1.1 Background: The Scottish Centre for Regeneration (SCR) in the Scottish Government, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Scotland and Architecture + Design Scotland (A+DS), have worked with the University of Glasgow to deliver this good practice Guide as a way of helping different stakeholders identify good practice and improve their understanding of related issues in delivering better places. We were interested in what experience there was outside of Scotland and what we might be able to learn for adaption and/or applying here. Of particular interest to us was to understand the practical interventions and related issues involved in creating successful places. We wanted to understand better how different public bodies elsewhere had gone about the task of making places – and markets – work better, what kind of relationships they had developed with private sector interests and how they had engaged those living in or who would come to live in the places being developed or regenerated. SCR is charged with improving knowledge and understanding by connecting people to evidence, expertise and excellence. Together with RICS and A+DS, it is working to create opportunities for learning and sharing best practice through its Mixed and Sustainable Communities Learning Network. 1.2 The authors The Guide was written by David Adams, Steve Tiesdell and George Weeks from the Department of Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow who wish to acknowledge the extensive help they received in undertaking this study from all those in the eight case study locations who contributed time, advice and information to bringing each story alive. They are also grateful for the extensive comments received on earlier drafts from a broader expert group, comprising Chris Watts Associates, David Hogg from Turner & Townsend, David Murdoch from Drivers-Jonas, Hugh Bruce Watt from Pinsent Masons, Ricardo Marini from Edinburgh Council and Stuart Gulliver from Glasgow University, together with those provided by Steven Tolson of RICS Scotland and Diarmaid Lawlor of A+DS who constituted the smaller client group. 2 Section 1: About the study and this guide 1.3 This guide This Guide is one of a number of products published by SCR and its partners. It is intended primarily as an on-line resource for a variety of public, private and community stakeholders who have an interest in creating better places. We have structured it to enable the reader to make optimum use of hyperlinks between the main lessons set out in the summary, the core messages from the study undertaken by the authors and the ‘stories’ from each of the eight case study areas. Over time, we will add to the core content by providing other case studies, making available links to other related research, publications and drawing too on practitioners’ experience of delivering placemaking in Scotland. We will also be organising a programme of events in conjunction with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Architecture and Design Scotland (A+DS) to engage with a variety of policy and practitioner interests to share the lessons and discuss their applicability to Scotland. During the Autumn of 2010 we envisage this including: Re-convening the expert group to provide further critiques and produce think pieces on specific issues highlighted in the guide. Helping different groups draw out lessons for their particular profession or sector. Engaging with specific geographic areas and initiatives who are delivering egenerationr and seeking to create better places Engaging with key Scottish Government colleagues to consider any policy implications and how government might respond to some of the messages. Further information about these activities can be found at the SCR’s Mixed and Sustainable Communities Learning Network. 3 Section 2 ➲ Delivering Better Places In Scotland – Learning From Broader Experience Ensure Good leadership Co-ordinate delivery Control the spatial development framework Achieve fast and co-ordinated regulatory approvals Exercise ownership power Attract funding for advance infrastructure provision Secure design quality through procurement strategies Thereafter: continue to invest and provide stewardship over time Section 2: Delivering Better Places In Scotland – Learning From Broader Experience Summary of key lessons for Scotland The eight case studies together provide valuable lessons about the process of delivering better places and can provide a framework for action in Scotland. They demonstrate how critical the following elements are: Ensure Good leadership Good leadership matters because it drives forward action, breeds confidence, provides certainty for development partners, reduces risk for all involved and widens participation by architects and builders in the delivery. Without such leadership, place delivery relies on rules and regulations. Quality places have an effective place promoter – often a dynamic individual working in a supportive organisational context. In Vauban it was Wulf Daseking, the Chief Planner in Freiburg City Council, who has championed sustainability for the last 20 years. In Newhall it was the Moen brothers who owned the land and wanted something much better than previous average standard developments they had seen. The primary task of the place promoter is to nurture a compelling vision of what a place will be like, inspire action and galvanise support, and ensure effective delivery. The place promoter must foster a place-making culture. This means encouraging organisations to act holistically and work in a joined-up fashion with others to achieve a quality place rather than think and act in silos to suit their own professional interests. The European examples all had stronger place-making cultures than those in the UK and were characterised by a willingness to invest in the front end vision to achieve quality places. Their success has been recognised by others across Europe. For example, Freiburg City (where Vauban is located) was awarded the 2010 European City of the year by the Academy for Urbanism. And Stockholm (where Hammarby is located) was awarded the European Green Capital 2010 by the EU Commission. 5 Section 2: Delivering Better Places In Scotland – Learning From Broader Experience Co-ordinate delivery The more the place promoter can manage and integrate five key tasks, then the greater the chance of creating better places: Control the spatial development framework Achieve fast and co-ordinated regulatory approvals Exercise ownership power Attract funding for advance infrastructure provision Secure design quality through procurement strategies Taken together, these actions are as much about making markets as making places, since over time successful places become self-sustaining and attractive in market terms. IJburg in Amsterdam set out to create a completely new neighbourhood of 45,00 people and was a meticulously planned project with physical and social infrastructure developed in advance of building development. Hammarby in Stockholm demonstrates how a wholesale commitment to design excellence can produce a very successful place and the benefits of early installation of public transport infrastructure. Control the spatial development framework A robust and imaginative spatial development framework or ‘masterplan’ is essential to creating somewhere that functions as an integrated place. The place promoter should oversee the process, making full use of the client brief to control its commission and ensure that what is proposed can be delivered on the ground. Adamstown is an example of how special planning designations can make it possible to deliver new more effective delivery structures. The spatial framework must specify how infrastructure (streets, spaces, utilities, community facilities) and components (blocks, plots, buildings) relate to each other and how together they will deliver the vision. The place leader must take overall responsibility for both generating and delivering the masterplan. The place leader should not delegate delivery to another party as they may deal with implementation difficulties in ways which compromise what was originally intended. 6 Section 2: Delivering Better Places In Scotland – Learning From Broader Experience Achieve fast and co-ordinated regulatory approvals Conflicting requirements of different agencies can significantly delay projects. Local planning authorities therefore need to take an active role in accelerating and co-ordinating the approval process by integrating regulatory demands without compromising quality. In Hammarby design coding, controlled by the City Council, was