URBED :: About

Who we are

URBED (Urbanism, Environment and Design) does what our name suggests we specialise in urban design and sustainability in an urban context. We work across the UK from our base in Manchester and for public and private sector clients. Our background is in urban regeneration, something that remains close to our heart. However recent work has ranged from town centre strategies to outline planning applications for large commercial masterplans, from University estate strategies to urban design guidance.
This work is united by our core values of urbanism, community, environmental sustainability and design.

In 2006 URBED (Urbanism, Environment and Design) became independent.
Established as an employee-owned co-operative, we now have 16 staff and associates, comprising planners and architects together with a sustainability expert and highway engineer. The practice is still linked to URBED (Urban and Economic Development) based in London through the URBED Trust.

What we do

We work in three broad overlapping areas:

1. Public sector consultancy including visioning, strategy development,
consultation, masterplanning and sustainability strategies for towns, neighbourhoods and cities.

2. Masterplanning for developers and housebuilders including developer
competitions, scheme development, sustainability and renewable energy systems, outline planning and design coordination.

3. Research, writing and advocacy including policy reports for
government, research for think tanks and our in-house, publication and event programmes such as the Urban Scrawl and the Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood(SUN) Initiative.

What we believe

All of this work is united by a a foundation of four core principles:

Urbanism: Our work is rooted in the principles of the urban renaissance as set out by the Urban Task Force, with whom we worked. We believe in the importance of creating and sustaining lively, prosperous towns and cities by focusing new development within existing settlements and creating attractive, mixed-use, walkable and socially mixed urban neighbourhoods.

Community: URBED grew out of the redevelopment of Hulme and the Homes for Change Housing Co-operative. A belief in the importance of communities informs all of our work. We run masterplanning training for the National Tenant Resource Centre and most of our work includes round-table workshops, Design for Change charettes or the URBED Routemaster bus that is fitted out as a consultation venue.

Sustainability: Since 1996 we have been running the SUN (Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood) Initiative, exploring how the principles of environmental sustainability can be applied to urban areas. This has combined research for organisations such as the Building Research Establishment with practical work for developers seeking to incorporate sustainable technologies into schemes.

Design: URBED prides itself in combining these principles with a strong design ethos. In recent years we have won five masterplanning design competitions against some of the country¹s leading architectural practices.

This is applied to the process of masterplanning as our primary activity rather than as an adjunct to an architectural practice. All of our major masterplans have been positively reviewed by CABE.