Design Checklist
- There is a good standard of visual and acoustic privacy within the apartments and their private open spaces (ground floor courtyards or above-ground balconies)
- The building minimises overshadowing of private or communal outdoor spaces of adjacent properties, including potential future development
The distance between buildings is one of the key factors in the success of any development, and in how the development is perceived from the wider environment.
Building separation also has an effect on other outcomes, including:
- visual and acoustic privacy
- the perception of 'building dominance' from other developments
- extent and quality of outlook
- admittance of sunlight and daylight
- microclimatic performance, especially shelter from wind
- provision of on-site open space between or behind buildings
- support for landscape planting, especially trees.
It also helps to determine the character of an area. Higher density areas tend to comprise of buildings and dwellings that are co-joined, while lower density developments may include more freestanding buildings.