Salford Design Review Forum

We have established an independent Design Review Forum for Salford to champion high quality sustainable design and raise the standard of design quality across new development. 

The Design Review Forum will review large scale major development schemes, typically at the pre-application stage, and provide independent professional advice to developers and the council in relation to design.

As one of the first local authorities in the north west to establish an independent design review forum, Salford is committed to working with developers to ensure that new development delivers the highest standards of design and placemaking.

The forum

In June 2025 applications were invited from built environment professionals to join the forum and following a comprehensive recruitment and selection process, Stephen Gleave was appointed as the Chair of the forum, and Ernst ter Horst appointed as Vice Chair. In addition to these roles, the forum comprises 35 members who bring a huge breadth of expertise across the range of built environment professions including architects, urban designers, masterplanners, landscape architects, planners, transport specialists, engineers and conservation and heritage specialists.

View the biographies of the forum members

Forum sessions

Scheduled Design Review Forum sessions will take place on a monthly basis, and will be held in person at MediaCity, Salford Quays. Each session will involve the Chair or Vice Chair, together with typically three forum members who will be selected from the wider cohort based upon their relevant expertise in relation to the schemes being reviewed. 

Scheduled sessions will typically take place on the afternoon of the third Tuesday of each month, with up to two schemes being reviewed during each session.

The following dates have been diarised for 2025/26:

• 21 October 2025
• 18 November 2025
• 16 December 2025
• 20 January 2026
• 17 February 2026
• 17 March 2026
• 21 April 2026 
• 19 May 2026 
• 16 June 2026
• 21 July 2026 
• 18 August 2026 

In addition to the scheduled sessions, there may be a number of bespoke review sessions which may take place at alternative venues within Salford or Manchester. 

Full details of the service offer are set out within the terms of reference which are available to download below (please note the terms of reference will shortly be updated to reflect that forum members have now been appointed).

Taking a scheme to the Design Review Forum

Generally schemes should be taken to the forum at a relatively early stage in the pre-application process. The constructive and independent advice provided by the forum is likely to be most effective before a scheme becomes too fixed. Early engagement with the forum should therefore reduce the risk of delay at application stage, by ensuring that designs achieve an appropriately high standard.

There is no defined threshold for the size of schemes that are to be referred to the forum, however it will typically be appropriate for larger scale major proposals (for example 30 dwellings or more). Smaller scale schemes may be referred to the forum where it is considered that independent design review would add value, or where there are particular design sensitivities (for example, impact on a heritage asset).

As part of a developer’s pre-application engagement with the council, the planning case officer will advise the applicant team where it is considered that a scheme should be referred to the forum and will schedule this with them.

The fees for engaging with our design review service are set out in the terms of reference. These have been set on the basis of achieving full cost recovery for the service (ensuring it is cost neutral for the council), and have been benchmarked against comparable design review services.

How to contact us

If you would like more information regarding the Salford Design Review Forum, please contact designreviewforum@salford.gov.uk.