Weymouth Design Code

Feria Urbanism has been appointed by ECA Architecture and Planning to support them as they prepare a design code for Weymouth town centre. This project is part of the Design Code Pathfinder Programme from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Weymouth is one of 25 areas in England that has been awarded a share of £3 million to help them set their own standards for design locally.

The design code pathfinder 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 by over 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.