How we promote the value of good design:
The UK's first online image based directory, Architect Search, a free to use service to help clients, from homeowners to market sale housebuilders and affordable home developers quickly source and contact residential architects. Launched in July 2001, over 500 practices have registered. Over 200 have added over 300 pages, 2000 images and details of their work so far. Please call us on 0207 631 0823 with any questions, or click here to go to the site.
Design for Homes employees
David Birkbeck
Chief Executive
020 7631 0823
david@designforhomes.org
David was a journalist before joining Design for Homes as its first CEO in 2000. He set out to transform shelves of design advice into easy-to-use tools, in keeping with the organisation's aim to spread design awareness to operational level. In 2002 he wrote the Building for Life matrix for CABE and the Home Builders Federation which compressed a set of publications into a 20-question audit. The BFL audit is now the government's core assessment tool for amenity, both public and private in housebuilding. On the back of BFL, David joined Dublin's OMP and McCabe Durney to produce Ireland's pre-application assessment tool (which he says works better than BFL).
David created the "Car Parking: What works where manual" in partnership with English Partnership's urban design policy manager Kevin McGeough. He has been the rapporteur for the government's Housing Design Awards since 2004, producing the Housing Design Awards books and, since 2007, an accompanying programme of films on DVD. David was a judge in John Prescott's Design for Manufacture "60k house construction" competition, as well as the Carbon Challenge. In 2006, he edited and published the Superdensity report and set up the swingacat website with the support of Gentoo Group to promote consumer awareness of size and plan in all housing. In 2008, working with Levitt Bernstein's Julia Parkes and David Levitt (a DFH director), he created "High Density Design for Quality and Low Maintenance", a design risk assessment for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
David has sat on the board of the Housing Forum since 2004.
Ivan Lazarevic BA (Hons) DipArch RIBA
Project Manager
020 7631 0823
ivan@designforhomes.org
Ivan was a design tutor at London South Bank University, leading The Landscape and Transitions Studio. He started working with Design for Homes in 2004 researching "The Car Parking What works where" publication. He is a Building for Life assessor and organises and leads Action Learning Tours around UK and Europe.