Context
East Suffolk Council is preparing an evidence base to support future design guidance for developments, ensuring that new development meets high design and sustainability standards.
To inform this work, the council undertook a design review of 21 previously completed residential sites.
East Suffolk Council’s use of Place Analytics
East Suffolk Council was able to leverage PlaceChangers’ Place Analytics tool in support of their extensive review. It helped that the tool was explicitly aligned to provide insights on aspects relevant to health design and planning principles. The tool provided:
- Comprehensive Spatial Data Integration: This involves automatically contextualising key datasets, such as deprivation indices, walking accessibility, and proximity to essential services like GPs and schools, into existing site audits.
- Comprehensive housing profile data, including Energy Efficiency Insights: The tool enabled the council to provide evidence-backed insights on energy efficiency performance.
- Contextual Site Comparisons: Data extraction from on-site and broader 800m-radius contexts allowed for comparative assessments of how developments integrated with their surroundings.
By incorporating data and reports from PlaceChangers’ Place Analytics tool, East Suffolk Council produced a robust evidence base for future residential site planning and design codes.
Outcomes
The Place Analytics tool provided structured, consistent data that will support the council’s future design process. Key benefits included:
- Time Savings & Efficiency: The tool eliminated manual GIS-based analysis, ensuring that technical officer time and workload could be spent on other pressing tasks instead.
- Data-Driven Decision-Making: Clear, structured outputs allowed the team to make well-informed recommendations for future housing design and urban quality principles.
- Seamless Report Integration: Findings from the Place Analytics tool were directly incorporated into a broader review report alongside five other survey datasets to create a comprehensive evidence base.
The PlaceChangers Place Analytics tool provided a wealth of structured data instrumental in our design quality assessment. Having all this information readily available in one place saved significant officer time and allowed us to provide evidence-backed recommendations for future residential sites. For the cost, it was an invaluable resource that streamlined our analysis and will strengthened our future design policies.
Chris King
Design and Specialist Services Manager, East Suffolk Council