Design excellence is a term that exists in statutory planning documents, most notably Local Environment Plans (LEPs) and State Environmental Planning Policies (SEPPs). It describes a variety of requirements intended to lift design quality. Design excellence provisions vary and range from the need to consider urban design themes, undertake a competitive design process and / or undertake a specific form of design competition.

GANSW is currently focussing its efforts on the following design excellence initiatives:

  1. Revised Design Competition Guidelines: Draft Government Architect’s Competitive Design Guidelines issued 2017 (previously the Director General’s Design Excellence Guidelines)
  2. Promoting Design Review: including establishment of the NSW State Design Review Panel, representation on existing local and project specific Design Review Panels (DRPs) and supporting the establishment of new design review processes
  3. Creating tools to implement and evaluate good design: based on the objectives of Better Placed

Find out more about our design excellence initiatives below: