The Quality of Life Foundation (QOLF) has launched a framework that seeks to address the changes that the development industry can make to make sure that homes are ‘acquired, planned, constructed and managed to actively provide a better quality of life for everyone’.
… finding long-term, evidence-based solutions…
…this comes at a moment when everyone is re-evaluating what is important…
QOLF writes:
The UK needs more and better-quality homes. But there is too much short-term thinking in the housing sector, local and national government.
This can result in developments that are of poor quality, badly designed or built in the wrong place. These are bad for both people and the planet. And they will result in public apathy and distrust in developers and councils. We want to change this by finding long-term, evidence-based solutions to these challenges.
Launch of the Quality of Life Framework
Professor Sadie Morgan OBE, Founding Director of The Quality of Life Foundation: “This Framework comes at a pivotal moment for the industry and the UK as a whole. COVID-19 has brought the need for good quality housing into sharp focus and has demonstrated the importance of building resilient communities. Paired with the upcoming planning reforms, it is imperative that there is a fundamental reassessment of how we think about the built environment and its relationship with our overall health and wellbeing. As a society, we should be coming together to ensure that no one has poor health just because of the house they live in. This Framework sets the precedent for future schemes by exploring just how we can do that.”
Dan Labbad, CEO of The Crown Estate:“This comes at a moment when everyone is re-evaluating what is important to them, especially where we live and how we work. As an industry, we also need to reflect on this as we enter a new era for the nation. As we consider the principles which will guide the future of development and regeneration, we need to assess how we ensure the wellbeing of our people and our communities, and what it means to be sustainable.”
Melanie Leech, British Property Federation: “A timely and significant report, with practical and insightful advice for communities, developers, designers, and councils. To create and sustain healthy, happy, and successful places for us, our children, and grandchildren it is imperative that each corner of the real estate sector takes its wider obligations seriously. We welcome this Framework as an important guide for the future.”
The Quality of Life Framework
The Quality of Life Framework addresses the changes that can be made across the development industry to ensure that homes are acquired, planned, constructed and managed to actively provide a better quality of life for everyone.
It brings together all of the Foundation’s work to date into six overriding themes; Control, Health, Nature, Wonder, Movement and Belonging. Positioned around a series of cases studies, the Framework offers practical steps to how communities, developers and their designers, and local authorities can create better places for people to live by placing greater emphasis on health and wellbeing.
