{"id":91429,"date":"2018-04-26T15:21:22","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T15:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=e6d0b3689be769c8a89a547abfbf95da"},"modified":"2018-04-26T15:21:22","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T15:21:22","slug":"speech-secretary-of-states-speech-at-the-design-quality-conference-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=91429","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Secretary of State’s speech at the Design Quality Conference 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Winston Churchill famously said: \u201cWe shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s certainly true for me.<\/p>\n

As you may know, I grew up above the family shop.<\/p>\n

I lived on a road that has been labelled by one newspaper as \u201cBritain\u2019s most dangerous street\u201d.<\/p>\n

Those experiences taught me a lot.<\/p>\n

The value of family and hard work.<\/p>\n

How few things are more important than feeling safe in your own home and your your own neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

And \u2013 crucially \u2013 how to hold your own against 5 siblings.<\/p>\n

Now I know that I\u2019m not alone.<\/p>\n

Our homes, for all of us, are the making of us.<\/p>\n

That is why today\u2019s event is so important.<\/p>\n

And why I\u2019m delighted that so many of you could be here today.<\/p>\n

And why I want to say a massive thank you for your interest and support.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t recall when a government last held a conference on design quality.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a measure of our commitment on this vital issue \u2013 as not just something that is nice to have.<\/p>\n

A bonus that if you are lucky enough to be able to afford it.<\/p>\n

But as something that\u2019s fundamental to everyone\u2019s quality of life \u2013 regardless of whether you\u2019re buying or you\u2019re renting a place, or whether you\u2019re in the private sector or the social sector.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very fundamental to the way we feel when we get up in the morning and when we go to bed.<\/p>\n

To the opportunities that we have and the futures that we can imagine for ourselves.<\/p>\n

To people coming together to create, quite simply, great places to live.<\/p>\n

Which is why there\u2019s absolutely no question of having to choose between quality and quantity when it comes to building the homes that our country so desperately needs.<\/p>\n

As you will have no doubt have heard many times today, the 2 \u2013 quality and quantity \u2013 go very much hand in hand.<\/p>\n

With communities that are much more likely to welcome new development, if it\u2019s attractive, thoughtful and in keeping with the local area.<\/p>\n

But the gains are, of course, much bigger than just somewhere that looks good.<\/p>\n

It could be a quiet place to study that means you get a better chance at school.<\/p>\n

Parks and other outdoor spaces will be good for your health and your mental health.<\/p>\n

And public spaces that design in opportunities for people to come together across generations can end up designing out isolation and helping to build those strong communities.<\/p>\n

To achieve this, to really raise the bar on design quality, we need to see stronger collaboration right across the whole sector \u2013 which is what today\u2019s event is all about.<\/p>\n

It sounds like you\u2019ve had a busy and interesting day, with lots of great speakers lots sharing their ideas and expertise.<\/p>\n

And excellent examples, such as the University of North Cambridge development, that where they aren\u2019t just aiming to meet short-term targets, but are very much taking that long-term view that we all want to see.<\/p>\n

Something that\u2019s crucial for creating homes that are a much-loved part of the fabric of our local areas not just now, but, potentially, well into the next century and beyond.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also pleased to see that today\u2019s conference has thrown up another positive variation of NIMBY \u2013 BIMBY or Beauty In My Backyard, from The Princes Foundation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m looking forward to that phrase catching on!<\/p>\n

The new technologies on display at the exhibition are also hugely impressive \u2013 as are the new technologies highlighted by the Farmer Review that address the need to build at pace and scale whilst still promoting quality and consumer choice.<\/p>\n

And it was especially inspiring to see that we focused on the views, talents and aspirations of young people.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re remembering one of those young people this week \u2013 Stephen Lawrence.<\/p>\n

An aspiring architect, whose murder 25 years ago, is still hard to bear.<\/p>\n

The work of the Stephen Lawrence Trust \u2013 who we heard from today\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026which gives young people the opportunities which he was denied, to pursue a career in architecture\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026.is a fitting tribute to his memory.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m deeply grateful for all the efforts of everyone involved.<\/p>\n

Their work is a poignant reminder that, in shaping homes, we\u2019re also shaping lives.<\/p>\n

And we owe it to this and the generations to come to leave a legacy of places that, whether you\u2019re putting down roots or just passing through, lift the human spirit.<\/p>\n

Inspired by a strong vision of what we want for our villages, our towns and cities, what we want them to look like and feel like in the future.<\/p>\n

In doing so, we can draw on a rich history of British housing and urban design that is the envy of the world.<\/p>\n

The elegant terraces and town houses, squares and crescents of the Georgian period.<\/p>\n

Victorian terrace houses, avenues and parks.<\/p>\n

Edwardian mansion blocks and flats.<\/p>\n

The detached and semi-detached homes and garden suburbs of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

What will our legacy be like for the 21st century?<\/p>\n

What design approaches are we pioneering that will become the original features of the future?<\/p>\n

What new built environments are we developing that meet the challenges of our age?<\/p>\n

What trails are we blazing?<\/p>\n

Are we truly drawing on the talents of all our people \u2013 with their diverse backgrounds and their perspectives \u2013 as we build that modern, global Britain?<\/p>\n

This is what I want us to be thinking about and aiming for \u2013 with all of us doing our bit.<\/p>\n

For our part, in government, we\u2019ve strengthened the expectations for design quality and community engagement in the planning system.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t, in any way, involve the government dictating what good design looks like, but it makes it clear that it must be rooted in and it must be backed by the local communities.<\/p>\n

Of course, local authorities, they too have a leading role to play in setting a vision for their areas and their plans.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s the job of developers and their designers to respond positively to these expectations; harnessing the talents of skilled professionals \u2013 urban designers, architects, engineers and landscape designers.<\/p>\n

The great projects we\u2019ve heard about today show that we\u2019re already achieving this in many places and creating beautiful, safe, healthy neighbourhoods that command local support.<\/p>\n

The challenge, now, is to deliver this consistently right across the country, so that high quality design is the norm rather than the exception.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m confident \u2013 from the ambition and wealth of talent I see before me \u2013 that that prize is very much in our grasp.<\/p>\n

It only remains for me to thank you all, once again, for attending and contributing \u2013 particularly our speakers and sponsors at the event. Thank you all very much.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secretary of State Sajid Javid’s speech at the Design Quality Conference 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}