Each local authority in South Hampshire, as a signatory to the charter, is committed to delivering the following the PUSH Quality Places Charter. As stated above, the collaboration between Winchester City Council and other bodies and organisations within the public realm is required to ensure the management of high quality places. Therefore requires all involved to follow the principles of the PUSH Quality Places Charter, detailed below:

• Leadership and management structures to ensure that creating quality places is a high priority;

• A design-led multi-disciplinary culture which plans, designs and manages new and existing places in an integrated way to achieve high quality;

• Place making and quality design policies which underpin development plan documents, including detailed guidance on creating high quality development where necessary;

• Decision making which uses the wider value of creating quality places as a prime consideration rather than cost alone;

• Opportunities to improve the quality and management of existing places;

• Appropriate place awareness and design training for leaders, councillors and officers;

• Community involvement in the planning, design and management of places

The Solent Quality Place Awards celebrate high quality architecture and place making. The Awards, which originally focused on the Solent area, now extend to the whole of Hampshire. The Awards are made every few years with the last ones held in 2016.

Previously known as the Solent Design Awards, they have been refreshed and rebranded as the Solent Quality Place Awards for 2019 to better raise awareness and demonstrate the best in place-making. The Awards are not just about highlighting architectural excellence, but are about recognising a development that contributes to improving the economic, social, cultural and environmental life of those who live, work, learn and relax within the County.

The Awards have been simplified to two categories:

•The Solent Quality Place Award which is for a scheme of any size that the judges feel has created a recognisably high-quality place through a new development or refurbishment, and provides publicly accessible spaces and places in or around them, creating an area which more people want to use and enjoy; and

•The People’s Choice Award where the public can vote for their favourite, from a shortlist of sites chosen by the judges.

Click here to view previous winners of the awards.