Built for Life is a housebuilding industry certification designed to help local communities become more involved in design conversations and in shaping development proposals. Its 12 questions provide a structure for discussions between local communities, the local planning authority, the developer and other stakeholders, to ensure that the design of new homes and their neighbourhood are as attractive, functional and sustainable as possible. Its development is the result of a unique collaboration between house builders, local authorities, planners, architects and academics. It enables stakeholders involved in housing to consider all the elements of what makes "a good place to live" at the design stage.

Design for Homes, which is the project lead, needed not only a public facing website to promote Built for Life but also a complete custom back end database system to manage the certification process and to allow homebuilders to load up a full description of each development, in accordance with the BfL guidelines.

Our solution is built around the Cadenza CMS, and includes a novel browsing tool, allowing homebuyers to view developments near their postcode and then to drill down visually and find out all about the development and how it stacks up against the BFL 12 criteria.

The original website was developed from scratch in only 6 months, and launched by the Minister for Housing in April 2014. Since then we have continued to develop the site, adding more social media integration, and refining the usability of the site for both public and house builders.