ECA Architecture and Planning appointed Feria Urbanism to support the creation of a design code for Weymouth town centre. The project formed part of the Design Code Pathfinder Programme, funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (now the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government). Weymouth was one of 25 areas in England awarded a share of £3 million to develop locally led design standards.

The programme is aimed at helping to improve design quality and design standards within new developments. The programme offers support and funding to local authorities to produce local design codes intended to ensure that communities will benefit from beautiful homes in well-designed neighbourhoods. The programme will seek to involve local communities as part of the production of the design code to ensure it reflects local aspirations.

Design codes are a collection of design-principles to help local areas deliver more beautiful and sustainable places and communities – such as specifying local building materials or deciding the layout of streets.

Feria Urbanism has undertaken a series of engagement events with relevant stakeholders to spark discussion around the qualities of the built environment across the town centre. The first round of engagement was in the form of an in-person workshop, exploring issues around density, building typologies, and green infrastructure.

This was followed by a series of four digital conference calls, using an interactive online mapping platform. Attended 30 people, these allowed a more detailed exploration of landmark buildings, heritage, and the regeneration potential of gap sites. The combined results have been translated into design code drawings that ECA will integrate into their final coding document.