Change of https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-for-a-healthy-life

Change description : 2026-08-07 13:52:00: A new version of Building for a Healthy Life has been added. This corrects an error in Consideration 7. Irina Merryweather has been added to credits. [Guidance and regulation]

Showing diff : 2026-06-10 12:06:57.527736655 +00:00..2026-08-07 12:52:26.822497742 +00:00

Guidance

Building for a Healthy Life

A design toolkit for neighbourhoods, streets, homes and public spaces.

From:
Homes England
PublishedPublished:
17 May 2026
Last updatedupdated:
107 JuneAugust 2026 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

Building for a Healthy Life (2026 edition)

PDF, 22.222.1 MB, 112 pages

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Building for a Healthy Life (2026 edition) (HTML)

HTML

Details

For over 20 years, Building for a Healthy Life has been applied to residential development, with expertise of its many contributors in streets, landscape and place design.

Building for a Healthy Life uses 12 core principles to assess placemaking, giving clear examples of what good placemaking looks like. It uses a traffic light system to assess a development scheme’s approach to these core principles.

This updated 2026 version includes illustrated tips showing what improves new places and what can spoil them.

Homes England adopted Building for a Healthy Life as its key design quality indicator in 2019.

Updates to this page

Published 17 May 2026
Last updated 107 JuneAugust 2026 href="#full-history">+— show Show all updates

  1. A new version of Building for a Healthy Life has been added. This corrects an error in Consideration 7. Irina Merryweather has been added to credits.

  2. An HTML version of 'Building for a healthy life' has been added.

  3. An amended version of the PDF has been published.

  4. First published.

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Update history

2026-08-07 13:52
A new version of Building for a Healthy Life has been added. This corrects an error in Consideration 7. Irina Merryweather has been added to credits.

2026-06-10 13:06
An HTML version of ‘Building for a healthy life’ has been added.

2026-05-20 08:56
An amended version of the PDF has been published.

2026-05-17 17:00
First published.