Independent design review panel
across the Midlands
The Design Review Panel provides independent, multidisciplinary design review across the East and West Midlands. We work with applicants, architects, developers and local authorities on individual homes, new neighbourhoods, regeneration and other development proposals.
Our national pool of professionals brings different disciplines to the questions raised by your site. Sessions can take place in person or online, with site visits where included. You can commission a review directly.
Find the local context for your project
East Midlands. Explore projects and review preparation for Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland, including Leicester, Nottingham and Derby. Visit our East Midlands page.
West Midlands. Explore experience across Birmingham, Coventry, the Black Country, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Visit our West Midlands page.
These are regional routes into the same national service. The review team is selected for the proposal, rather than treating a regional boundary as a limit on the expertise available.
What independent review can help you test
For a new neighbourhood, consider how movement, landscape, public space and phasing connect the scheme to existing communities. For a town-centre building, test the relationship between reuse, new accommodation, active frontages and the surrounding streets. On a sensitive rural site, explain how architecture and landscape respond to the particular setting.
The purpose is a constructive professional discussion while the design can still develop. Bring the site analysis, relevant planning context, options considered and the questions on which independent feedback will be most useful. The review supplements the work of your design and planning teams.
Midlands experience in the public record
Grange Farm, Brixworth. Three reviews in 2023–24 considered a Northamptonshire rural home. The published account traces changes to architecture and landscape through to the June 2026 planning decision. Read the case study.
Baldwins Gate, Staffordshire. A 2021 site visit and review tested the setting of a proposal for up to 200 homes. The project team’s account describes the design process before the July 2023 appeal outcome. Read the case study.
The regional pages also explore the emerging Gartree Road community near Leicester and the reuse of York Place in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The project map links review records with available public sources. A recorded review does not imply approval or completion.
Independence and the planning decision
The Panel provides advisory professional feedback. Applicants, councils and Inspectors may reach different conclusions, and the relevant decision-maker determines the application or appeal. A positive review is not a promise of permission.
Our independence and safeguards explain how Panel selection and conflicts of interest are managed. For particular project types, see exceptional rural homes and design review at appeal.
Arrange a Midlands design review
Tell us the location, proposal, planning stage and preferred timing. We can discuss the appropriate review format and disciplines. Book at least 14 days ahead; a booking is confirmed after cleared payment. Upload the review information no later than seven days before the session.