Good Quality Homes for All Londoners Guidance

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Consultation has concluded


7 storey residential apartment building in Camden, with the top two storey's set back providing more outdoor roof space. There are trees and a bus stop in front of the development.


This consultation is now closed.

Housing is the most common land use in London, yet there is not enough. Many more homes need to be built, but to achieve this we need to make the best use of available land and ensure homes are of the quality that Londoners deserve. The design of housing can significantly affect the quality of our lives and our mental and physical wellbeing. Well designed housing can meet changing needs and help create great places for new and existing residents.


The draft Good Quality Homes for All Londoners guidance is a suite of documents that provides guidance on ensuring land is used in the best way to deliver the right quantity of new housing, at the right quality, in the right place, embedding high-quality design at the centre of housing delivery.


Module A sets out a design led methodology for optimising site capacity at the plan making stage and provides an approach to assessing sites’ suitability for development. This module also offers a site capacity toolkit which includes downloadable digital models of residential types and an Indicative Site Capacity Calculator.

Module B provides guidance on assessing the quality of small site development and preparing design codes to increase housing supply from small sites, offering Design Code examples.

Module C presents a set of housing design standards for use when designing or assessing new housing.

Module D comprises a library of best practice, real world examples which demonstrate how different aspects of the guidance can be delivered.


These modules can be viewed in the documents library.

An alternative version that is accessible for screen readers is available using the links below:


Illustration showing potential redevelopment through a new housing cluster within typical mid-terrace housing typology 2. Illustration sketch-up showing mid-range density development comprising three linear blocks and two villa blocks within wider townscape


What has happened so far

Work started on the draft guidance in 2018/19. It has been developed with a broad network of built environment professionals and stakeholders, including the Mayor’s Design Advocates, young Londoners working with the Stephen Lawrence Trust, and borough officers through Urban Design London.

The draft guidance was also published for information in March 2020.


Equality Impact Assessment

The equality implications of the draft guidance have been assessed through an Equality Impact Assessment which can be viewed in the document library.

An alternative version that is accessible for screen readers is also available.

Please share your views on our assessment and any potential equality impacts by completing our survey below.


What happens next

Four guidance documents have been developed out of the 'Good Quality Homes for All Londoners' guidance that went out for a public consultation between 13 October 2020 and 15 January 2021. Following this consultation, the documents (previously called Modules) have been revised to each become a separate London Plan Guidance (LPG) document.  Please see https://consult.london.gov.uk/designandcharacterisationguidance for more details of these documents.


7 storey residential apartment building in Camden, with the top two storey's set back providing more outdoor roof space. There are trees and a bus stop in front of the development.


This consultation is now closed.

Housing is the most common land use in London, yet there is not enough. Many more homes need to be built, but to achieve this we need to make the best use of available land and ensure homes are of the quality that Londoners deserve. The design of housing can significantly affect the quality of our lives and our mental and physical wellbeing. Well designed housing can meet changing needs and help create great places for new and existing residents.


The draft Good Quality Homes for All Londoners guidance is a suite of documents that provides guidance on ensuring land is used in the best way to deliver the right quantity of new housing, at the right quality, in the right place, embedding high-quality design at the centre of housing delivery.


Module A sets out a design led methodology for optimising site capacity at the plan making stage and provides an approach to assessing sites’ suitability for development. This module also offers a site capacity toolkit which includes downloadable digital models of residential types and an Indicative Site Capacity Calculator.

Module B provides guidance on assessing the quality of small site development and preparing design codes to increase housing supply from small sites, offering Design Code examples.

Module C presents a set of housing design standards for use when designing or assessing new housing.

Module D comprises a library of best practice, real world examples which demonstrate how different aspects of the guidance can be delivered.


These modules can be viewed in the documents library.

An alternative version that is accessible for screen readers is available using the links below:


Illustration showing potential redevelopment through a new housing cluster within typical mid-terrace housing typology 2. Illustration sketch-up showing mid-range density development comprising three linear blocks and two villa blocks within wider townscape


What has happened so far

Work started on the draft guidance in 2018/19. It has been developed with a broad network of built environment professionals and stakeholders, including the Mayor’s Design Advocates, young Londoners working with the Stephen Lawrence Trust, and borough officers through Urban Design London.

The draft guidance was also published for information in March 2020.


Equality Impact Assessment

The equality implications of the draft guidance have been assessed through an Equality Impact Assessment which can be viewed in the document library.

An alternative version that is accessible for screen readers is also available.

Please share your views on our assessment and any potential equality impacts by completing our survey below.


What happens next

Four guidance documents have been developed out of the 'Good Quality Homes for All Londoners' guidance that went out for a public consultation between 13 October 2020 and 15 January 2021. Following this consultation, the documents (previously called Modules) have been revised to each become a separate London Plan Guidance (LPG) document.  Please see https://consult.london.gov.uk/designandcharacterisationguidance for more details of these documents.

Consultation has concluded

  • Have you looked at the three new FAQ's?

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    Following our consultation events these questions were asked by participants. Check out our FAQ section for our response ...

    1. Where could area design codes be introduced?
    2. Is the new design-led approach to determining capacity more open to interpretation than previous methods?
    3. Are viability considerations factored into the model?

  • You have the option to submit other housing typologies in Sketch-up

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    Through new London Plan policy and the Good Quality Homes for All Londoners guidance we are advocating a ‘Design-led approach’ to optimise development sites across London and ensure suitable capacities that provide the homes that Londoners need without negatively impacting upon existing areas. As part of this new approach, the GLA recommend SketchUp – a 3D digital downloadable resource – to model layouts, uses and typical building types as part of local plan-making. This will mean site allocations in local plans that best reflect local context and character and provide a clear guide to local residents and those wishing to develop sites.

    We have produced a video guide which you can access on the consultation site.

    If you have a suggested housing typology for use with the Sketch-up tool – please upload it to us in response to Module A.

    Any queries, please email the team directly at QualityHomesLPG@london.gov.uk

    We look forward to receiving your responses to the consultation and will publish a timetable for reporting back to you in due course.

  • Consultations Closing - 15 January 2021

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    London Plan Guidance Consultations Closing: 15 January 2021

    Thank you all for registering with our consultation platform for the five London Plan Guidance documents on consultation.

    We delivered a range of online events for Boroughs, the development industry, and the public. Some of these events were recorded and are available to watch on this website – look on the right-hand side on this project site for videos to catch up on.

    If you can ensure your consultation comments are submitted on this site following the survey format, this will help us analyse your comments more efficiently and report back quicker on the consultation.

    If you have suggested changes to the guidance in a tracked change format – please email those changes to the project stating clearly who you are if already registered and submitting comments on our consultation site. This will help us link up your submissions - email the project email address as follows:

    Good Quality Homes for All Londoners – QualityHomesLPG@london.gov.uk

    Public London Charter - PublicCharterLPG@london.gov.uk

    Circular Economy Statements Guidance - CircularEconomyLPG@london.gov.uk

    Be Seen Energy Monitoring Assessments Guidance - EnergyMonitoringLPG@london.gov.uk

    Whole Life-Cycle Carbon Assessments Guidance – WholeLifeCarbonLPG@london.gov.uk

    Any questions? please email the project email and one of our team will come straight back to you.

    The consultation closes at 23.59 on 15 January 2021. Thanks for participating.