Designing better homes

Scotland is facing a housing emergency, but housing is about far more than the provision of homes. Housing sits at the heart of the Scottish Government's ambitions for a fairer, greener and more prosperous nation—helping to reduce inequalities, support economic growth, meet climate and energy targets, and create thriving, connected communities.

Meeting these ambitions will require more than increased investment and housing supply alone. It will require new ways of working across the entire housing system. While authorities, housing providers, developers, investors and communities all have a critical role to play, the route from policy ambition to homes delivered at pace, at scale and with confidence remains complex, fragmented and often difficult to navigate. 

We believe that by creating new conditions for housing delivery earlier in the process offers a significant opportunity to unlock sites, reduce barriers and support better housing and place outcomes.

Through a portfolio of live pilot projects spanning a range of national land and development typologies, we are working with partners to test and evidence a new approach to housing delivery centred on early-stage design thinking.

By bringing together data, policy and design before sites enter the planning process, we are exploring how opportunities can be identified earlier, constraints addressed sooner and development pathways shaped with greater confidence while ensuring housing development responds to the needs of local people, place and the environment.

Through this work, we are testing and evidencing the value of early-stage design thinking in housing delivery,

Housing is one of our key focus areas and our work is centred on creating the conditions to build better, faster and more affordable homes through innovative, design-led models that challenge the status quo.

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.

Leading the design guidance element of the Catalogue, we aim to support the housing and design sectors to make better-informed decisions earlier, accelerate development readiness and build confidence in the delivery of well-designed homes at scale.

Learning from Exemplary Housing and Place Design

As part of this work, we are developing a resource that brings together exemplary housing projects from across Scotland and beyond. Rather than focusing solely on buildings, the resource 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 leading examples of housing and placemaking, we aim to support sector learning, inspire innovation and promote a culture of quality across housing delivery.

In partnership with the Universities of Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Oxford and Bath, we are developing new research into thermal justice and housing design. 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.

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.