Designing better homes
A design-led model for better, faster and more affordable homes.
Scotland's housing emergency is about more than just delivering more homes. Through Housing to 2040 and National Planning Framework 4, housing is positioned as a key enabler of wider ambitions for a fairer, greener and more prosperous Scotland.
The challenge is not only to increase housing delivery, but to translate these policy ambitions into well-designed homes, neighbourhoods and places that enhance quality of life, support community wellbeing and deliver lasting social, economic and environmental value—at pace and at scale.
Creating the conditions for housing delivery
Scotland's housing ambitions will only be realised if national policy can be translated into deliverable projects and well-designed places. We believe this requires new ways of working that bring stakeholders together earlier in the development process.
Design provides the bridge between ambition and reality, aligning needs, understanding the qualities of place and shaping investment around a shared vision. It helps unlock opportunities, navigate complexity and create human-scale neighbourhoods that deliver lasting social, environmental and economic value.
Good housing is about more than buildings. It is about shaping the everyday experience of place—how people move, meet, connect and live within their communities.
Find out more about each area of our work below.
A design-led housing model pilot study
We will use early design support to move housing into faster delivery. This will be done through targeted housing pilots to combine upfront design thinking, better use of data and more hands-on design review. This will give SMEs clarity on feasibility, layout and planning at the point it matters most.
We will update this webpage as the pilot study progresses.
Work will include identifying partners and agreeing pilot sites to test, undertaking design exercises with the partners on these pilot sites and presenting the findings from the pilot.
The pilot will test whether a design-led approach can help create the conditions for housing delivery by:
- Applying early design expertise to explore how constrained and underused sites can be unlocked.
- Testing how data-informed decision-making can support site selection, feasibility and delivery.
- Exploring the role of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) in accelerating delivery and improving outcomes.
- Bringing stakeholders together through collaborative design workshops to align ambitions, constraints and opportunities.
- Developing site-specific visions and design briefs.
Our focus will be on brownfield and vacant urban sites, underused buildings, small and complex sites and rural housing areas.
Working across a portfolio of sites that reflects the diversity of Scotland's housing opportunities, the pilot will test whether a design-led approach can help overcome common barriers to housing delivery while supporting better place outcomes. By generating evidence across different contexts, the pilot will build an understanding of where and how this approach can add value, informing its potential application at a wider scale across Scotland.
Building capacity through a National Housing Catalogue
Alongside our pilot projects, we are working with our strategic partner BE-ST and others to develop the scope for Scotland's National Housing Catalogue. The Catalogue has the potential to become a shared platform for innovation, supporting the adoption of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), improving access to high-quality housing solutions and strengthening links between design, manufacturing and delivery.
We will update this webpage as the programme of work develops.
Advancing Thermal Justice in Housing
We are contributing our expertise to a new research project on thermal justice and housing design, led by the Universities of Strathclyde, Edinburgh, Oxford and Bath. Bringing together expertise from architecture, law, psychology and the biological sciences, the project seeks to improve understanding of how housing design influences thermal comfort, health and wellbeing.
The research will help inform future housing design by providing new evidence on how homes can better support people throughout changing environmental, social and economic conditions.
We will update this webpage as the programme of work develops.
Learning from exemplary housing and place design
Alongside the pilot, we are developing a resource that brings together exemplary housing projects from across Scotland and beyond. Drawing on lessons from leading projects, it explores the relationship between homes, streets, public spaces and landscape, demonstrating how successful places emerge through the integration of housing, movement, nature and community life.
By showcasing examples of high-quality housing and placemaking, the resource aims to support sector learning, inspire innovation and promote a culture of design quality. Together with the pilot, it will help build understanding of how design can translate housing ambitions into better places and experiences of everyday life.
We will update this webpage as the programme of work develops.
Our previous work on housing
Housing has been a central part of our work for many years. Below are some projects we’ve worked on in the past:
- Town centre living: more homes at the heart of great places report
- 10 Principles of a caring place: designing for the ageing population
- Housing to 2040
You can also view our resources and articles on our website related to housing.
Header image of Fraser Avenue. Credit: 7N Architects
Related case studies
We have a variety of detailed case studies for you to explore. These case studies can provide you with comprehensive information of small to full-scale development projects that incorporate a collaborative approach to planning and designing better homes.
Project partners
Supported by BE-ST