Spelthorne Design Code

Client: David Lock Associates, Feria Urbanism, Spelthorne Borough Council, Støriie, Fathom Architects and Latcham

Spelthorne Borough, Surrey

Executive summary from entrant:

The Spelthorne Design Code project demonstrates exemplary breadth, depth and integrity in public engagement. It reached people of all ages and circumstances through walking tours, digital tools, schools’ workshops and a citizens’ panel, building a genuinely representative evidence base. The approach was transparent, iterative and analytically rigorous, with each stage shaping the next. It empowered residents, informed politicians and produced a design code grounded in lived experience rather than abstract policy. This is planning at its most democratic, creative and accountable. It sets a benchmark for how places should be shaped with, not for, their communities.