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One of the greatest strengths of Design Review is that it brings different perspectives together around a shared ambition: creating better places. The value of the process is often best understood by those who have experienced it first-hand. We invited Swansea Council and Urban Splash to reflect on Design Review from the perspectives of a local planning authority and a development partner, and to share what they have learned through working with the process over a number of projects.

A Local Authority Perspective

Steve Smith, Placemaking and Heritage Lead, Swansea Council

Swansea Council has been engaging with the Design Commission for Wales’ Design Review service for more than two decades as part of our commitment to achieving positive placemaking outcomes. We encourage projects to engage early, when proposals are still evolving and there is genuine opportunity to influence key decisions.

The Design Review service offers an expert impartial review of emerging proposals. We encourage projects in Swansea to engage with this service early at the pre-application stage. The Design Review brings together an expert panel that can offer a wide range of specialist inputs from a variety of backgrounds. This is always positive and collaborative conversation, and projects are always improved by this process.

As an example of the range of projects that Swansea Council has taken to the Design Commission for Wales this includes single bespoke houses in sensitive locations, large scale strategic housing developments, heritage regeneration projects, regeneration strategies and priority city centre regeneration projects such as the current Urban Splash proposals for repurposing the Swansea Civic Centre.

It is not a prescriptive process where applicants are told what to do by the Design Review Panel, instead they are encouraged to explain their proposals and to consider alternative perspectives. We have found that this not only improves the final outcomes for places and communities it also gives the designers and project team a broader reference to progress their placemaking culture for future projects.

We would certainly recommend that all Councils in Wales make use of this free service to improve outcomes for communities and places and all scales.

A Developer Perspective

David Warburton, Development Director, Urban Splash

We have seen great value in early and ongoing design review engagement.

Collaboration sits at the heart of our approach, as we recognise that we can’t create meaningful places on our own; we need to engage with diverse voices, partners, and stakeholders throughout the design process.

Our experience with the Design Commission for Wales in Swansea exemplifies this philosophy in action.

Initially, we approached DCFW with some  hesitation, as we were engaging very early before our ideas were fully formed. However, this proved invaluable, with early dialogue that helped confirm support for our core proposition of delivering a new City Waterfront district for Swansea: creating a world-class visitor destination while genuinely serving local communities.

Rather than prescriptive design direction, we received encouragement to be even bolder – a tacit endorsement that gave us confidence to push boundaries.

The ongoing relationship has been transformative. When we returned to DCFW after three months of design development, the Commission acknowledged both our exemplary early engagement and the resulting scheme quality. This validates our belief that meaningful engagement throughout the process yields better outcomes.

We’re now committed to engaging with DCFW on all major schemes as part of our partnership with Swansea Council. Our experience has shown that the greatest value comes from engaging early, embracing constructive challenge and using Design Review while ideas are still evolving.