Office for Place seeks design code and research leads

Applications are being sought by the government to be its arbiter of good design. The Office for Place, a quango set up by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, is seeking a senior architect or urban designer to become its design code lead. The role will “lead on the development of tools and processes to help local authorities and communities set their own design codes”. The Office for Place was created to ensure that future development is, in the words of secretary of state Michael Gove, “beautiful”, through the creation of local design codes. The quango was set up by his predecessor, Robert Jenrick, in 2021 and is chaired by Create Streets founder Nicholas Boys Smith (pictured). It is also seeking “an experienced research practitioner with expertise in the built environment” to serve as a research lead. The successful applicant will lead on the commissioning and undertaking of research for the Office for Place. The closing date for applications is 5 June 2023. Boys Smith said: “We know from increasingly robust research that too many of the lives our fellow citizens lead are damaged by poor places, no friends round the corner, less sense of community, less walking, less local pride. “You can measure this in shorter lives, in poorer air, in lost trust, in more opposition to housebuilding. The Office for Place is being created to help solve this and to help neighbourhoods and communities, public servants and developers more readily create and steward healthy, beautiful and sustainable places. “Please come and join us and help set the placemaking agenda for many years to come.” To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews