Public realm design guides aren’t just needed to prettify areas, they can help improve security too

A distinguished working party of designers, developers, royal institutions and professional groups have just helped the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), produce a Public Realm Design Guide for Hostile Vehicle Mitigation.

If you haven’t read it yet, you should. It’s a remarkably clear, accessible and interesting document, which I commend to everyone. Everyone with an interest in the built environment has a moral duty to take an active interest in this topic. It is no longer acceptable to leave this counter-terrorism work to security professionals alone.

As you will read in the guide, HVM measures need to be embedded at the earliest stages of a project, and a holistic approach taken to mitigation, which ultimately will save life. Soon of course, the emerging ‘Protect Duty’ (to be known as ‘Martyn’s Law’) will make this a legal obligation as well as a moral one.

In response to new threats and evolving terrorist techniques, this third edition of the guide places a greater emphasis on the protection of people rather than assets. It encourages creative thinking, with an emphasis on a design approach that is site specific, proportionate to the risk and provides multiple benefits for the public realm.

The NPSA team working in this area, who approached the working party, are used to dealing with terrorist threats. They need to be commended for their candour and boldness in reaching out to those beyond the usual security community to ask for guidance and help to both produce the work and then to promote it.

We are (generally!) used to working in an environment of trust and positivity; they are not. The conversations were often fascinating exchanges and revealed a high degree of respect for their work and they in turn for ours. I very much hope that this is a model for future development work.

Educators, institutions, landed estates, developers, designers, professional bodies, suppliers, professional service firms, regional and local government will need to convene to combat areas of vulnerability, since regrettably the world is not a safe place right now.

Most recently, New London Architecture hosted the public launch of this guide. At the launch. I asked how we could repay NPSA’s trust in our community and assist in their vital work. Their reply was simply: “Read the guide and tell everyone about it”. I would urge you to do so.