What changes are needed to the NDG and NMDC and why

[edit] National Design Guide and the National Model Design Code updates

Back in December 2024, the Government at the time confirmed that both the National Design Guide (NDG) and National Model Design Code (NMDC) would be updated this season. While the changes are predicted to be modest, they present an appropriate opportunity to consider how these documents might evolve, and how even small refinements could help accelerate housing delivery without compromising quality.

Essentially a broad checklist for making spaces well-designed and in tune with community needs, the current NDG considers building design, green spaces and road layouts, and aims to create areas that are attractive, healthy and easy to navigate. The NMDC provides a roadmap to local authorities to prepare design codes and builds on the NDG by detailing particulars such as materials, building heights, car-parking and street widths. Embedded in policy, these national-level guidelines are frequently quoted in planning decisions, appeals and inquiries and offer a useful foundation and point of reference to assess the quality of design.

While last year’s NPPF modifications marked a significant shift in national planning policy, the imminent tweaks to the NDG and NMDC are anticipated to be relatively minor – more a case of refinement than reinvention. Crucially, they’re not expected to include anything which would delay the process of expediting planning consents.

[edit] What changes are required and how can they facilitate both quality and speed in housing delivery?

The NPPF gives the NDG and the NMDC considerable weight. Paragraph 133 of the revised NPPF outlines that to provide maximum clarity about design expectations at an early stage, all local planning authorities (LPAs) should prepare design guides or codes consistent with the principles set out in the NDG and NMDC.

Meanwhile, paragraph 138 states that the NMDC is, the primary basis for the preparation and use of local design codes and removes the requirement for local design codes to be the primary means for assessing and improving the design of new development. Ensuring these guides are refreshed is important. In practice, they’re not only regularly cited in appeals and real-world applications, but they also serve as a “default” guidance for LPAs overstretched to deliver more homes, especially where time and resources to develop bespoke design codes are limited.

Following the widely welcomed removal of the word “beauty” from the revised NPPF, there’s a renewed emphasis on clarity and objectivity in design, as well as substantially increasing housing output. By refreshing the NDG and the NMDC, these guidelines will be brought in line with a more grounded and practical policy direction.

LPAs are stretched, and with Labour’s 1.5 million homes target, it is essential to keep processes straightforward. Excessive specifics risk complicating planning and hindering the construction of much-needed market, social and affordable housing. A one-size-fits-all approach, therefore, should be replaced with localised, context-sensitive design. It makes complete sense, in both architecture and planning, that design codes – where they exist – should be applied at a local level. To suggest that a local authority should have a single design style covering its jurisdiction is the antithesis of good design: places should always respond to their immediate surroundings.

Perhaps more significantly, given the push for growth and the magnitude of national housing targets, it is vital that both the NDG and NMDC support those councils that lack the internal capacity to create their own guidance. As such, the updated documents must remain well-defined, accessible and straightforward to apply, specifically for authorities already under pressure. There is a misapprehension that good design takes time. In practice, good design policies – those which stem from national policy but are implemented through local policy – are instrumental in allowing schemes to progress quickly, even on difficult sites.

Our recent experience in North West Hatfield illustrates how transparent, early-stage design guidance – aligned with local policy and national principles – can pave the way for complex, large-scale, multi-phase developments. Prepared on behalf of Gascoyne Estates and adopted by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, the Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) outlined a phased vision for a new neighbourhood that includes 1,750 homes, primary and secondary schools, employment space and transport and travel links. Carter Jonas’ Masterplanning and Urban Design team led the preparation of a Development Framework Supplementary Planning Document which set out key requirements for the delivery of a well-designed, high-quality neighbourhood for Hatfield.

LPAs and developers working on social and affordable homes typically face tighter budgets and more pressing timelines. Updating guides to make them easier to interpret – and to minimise delays caused by design-related back-and-forth – could also benefit resource-strapped housing associations and councils.

There remains a common misconception that the swift rollout of housing – particularly social and affordable types, which are typically in even higher demand than open market units – comes at the expense of quality. But with the aid of the updated NDG and NMDC – as well as the revised NPPF – councils and housing associations will hopefully be better equipped to define what good design looks like.This ease of understanding can remove a lot of the guesswork and,in turn, help reduce unnecessary costs.

For social and affordable housing, fostering inclusive,well-connected and sustainable places – underpinned by tenure-blind design – is a central aim.Creating communities is one of the NDG’s core characteristics, with factors such as social interaction,walkability, green space, mixed-use development and inclusion all seen as fundamental. Updates to this document should seek to refine and reinforce these principles, ensuring they continue to support diverse tenures and neighbourhoods, including those with a high proportion of affordable homes.

Ultimately, consistent and clear policy and guidance are what is needed to enable good-quality design and facilitate the timely delivery of market, affordable and social housing. While recent updates to the NPPF have marked an important shift, the forthcoming revisions to the NDG and NMDC must continue this trajectory. Change for change’s sake is rarely the right course. While politics may flourish on dramatic twists and turns, policy works best when it remains clear, measured and consistent.

This article appears in the AT Journal issue 154, Summer 2025 as "National Design Guide and the National Model Design Code updates: What changes are required and how can they facilitate both quality and speed in housing delivery?" and was written by Glen Richardson of Carter Jonas.

--CIAT

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