What is design quality?
The term design quality is often used in relation to the built environment for ensuring value and competitiveness within the construction industry. It is, however, an ambiguous term and difficult to define. Design quality comprises a number of interconnected factors based on the aspirations and needs of housing residents and those people involved in the designing of new housing. This consists of the broad characteristics that make up new housing developments, such as site context, location, aesthetical considerations, internal and external features, briefing requirements and constraints.
Design quality is difficult to define because contrasting inter-pretations are made by the determining parties, such as the house occupier, design team, client and government. A first time buyer rates price, location and the size of rooms higher than that of build quality and external appearance. Housebuilders, on the other hand, are said to determine build ability with stand ardisation, speed and cost, and good market research before hand as the most important elements of design quality. The Housing Corporation see design quality as the delivery of desirable, affordable homes utilising innovative approaches to satisfy the needs and aspirations of occupiers.
The Home Builders Federation, however, distinguish between product quality, design quality and customer service quality, arguing that design quality falls into two areas, urban design and aesthetic quality.Matthew Carmona, head of planning at University College London, believes that design quality derives from a complex framework of 17 principles that draw on the evolution of housing design, including legibility, homeliness and choice.