Hackney announces new members of its Design Review Panel

The influential Hackney Design Review Panel (DRP) has been refreshed with the appointment of 37 panel members following a call for applications earlier this year. To help provide continuity, about half of the panel’s roster is composed of previous members who have been re-appointed and the other half is made of new panel members who have been added to bring new perspectives, covering different areas of expertise, with varied experiences and backgrounds.

New panel members, including Sara Godino from XCO2, Victoria Hale from dRMM, Roberto Boettger from 6a Architects, Anne Fehrenbach from Stanton Williams, and Ameya Bhusari from Corstorphine & Wright, have been selected to strengthen the panels range of expertise, particularly in the fields of built heritage, sustainability and biodiversity. They join established panel members such as Russel Brown from Hawkins Brown, Phillip Turner from AHMM, Catrina Stewart from Office S&M, Kasang Kajang from Ksquare.

"I’ve had the pleasure of chairing Hackney’s Design Review Panel for several years now, and Hackney consistently demonstrates some of the highest design and sustainability ambitions of any borough, always in service of its residents. That ambition is physically evident in the quality of what’s built, but it’s also reflected in the immense effort the team and panel members puts in behind the scenes to make it possible."

Amandeep Singh Kalra, Founder and CEO of GreenFlip

The panel’s terms of reference have been updated to ensure it operates in line with current best practice and in compliance with the London Quality Review Charter and the National Design Review Code of Conduct.

These professionals provide invaluable design input into proposed developments in Hackney with an awareness and knowledge of the borough and expertise in a range of disciplines, including architecture detailing and technical design, urban design and place-making, sustainability and retrofit, heritage and conservation, landscape and public realm and ecology and biodiversity.

The panel was one of the first in London when it was established in 2006 to help raise the standard of design across all types of development, as part of the Council’s wider objectives to achieve balanced, sustainable communities and neighbourhoods. It has reviewed more than 200 schemes, many of which are now built and have become nominated and award winning projects.

Hackney faces enormous pressures to provide sustainable growth through new development, making the need for quality design all the more important and the DRP, alongside the Council’s own design experts, is pivotal in achieving this.

The new Hackney DRP membership is as follows: