CABE has published its annual report for the year to the end of March 2010.
This covers performance in areas including housing, education; public space; and sustainability. CABE met or exceeded every one of its targets last year.
CABE’s design review team offered advice and support to 236 major new developments across the country through 324 separate reviews. Each of these reviews cost around £2,500. Meanwhile, our public space team directly supported more than 40 local projects, and helped lead the Skills to Grow partnership which is tackling the serious skills gap facing the green space sector.
CABE worked with 82 per cent of local authorities in England to increase their knowledge about good design and their skills to deliver it. For example, one of the most important tasks facing planners today is getting their core strategy right and CABE worked face to face with 74 local authorities helping them embed good design in these pivotal documents.
To help improve the quality of new housing, CABE trained 250 officers from 170 Local Authorities as Building for Life assessors. This gives them a consistent way to assess and negotiate the quality of homes proposed for their area. A record 36 schemes also achieved the Building for Life standard and we shared these examples of great practice with every planning team in England.
CABE continued helping schools design the campus and teach the curriculum. In May 2009, a minimum design standard was introduced for most new schools, following advice from CABE. This improved the quality of 73% of the schemes brought forward. We also ran Green Day, a project which helps teachers and pupils make their school sustainable. Over 120,000 pupils got involved, learning about the connections between climate change and the built environment.
More people than ever used the CABE website, which attracted 560,000 unique visits. Publication downloads from the site rose by 29 per cent, to 208,000, which illustrates the scale of demand for this kind of practical advice.
Throughout the year CABE continued to test the impact of what CABE does. Independent research found that more than eight out of ten of our customers – architects, planners, parks managers, teachers, councillors and transport professionals – changed what they did as a result of using CABE services or reading our research and guidance. In addition, the value of CABE advice to the public purse was estimated at £84 million per year for schools, and £850 million per year for housing.
The report contains accounts as well as a record of performance, with a management commentary which describes activity in more detail.
CABE Annual Report 2009-10: LINK
