An interdisciplinary team of Heriot-Watt University, University of York and Northumbria researchers has established the Buildwell Network, fostered by a two-year EPSRC Network grant.

Buildwell brings together practitioners, policymakers, researchers and community representatives to reexamine how housing estates can be designed to better support health, well-being and environmental sustainability.

With the UK government planning to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years, the network aims to highlight the opportunity this creates not only to expand housing supply, but also to rethink how the design and layout of new neighbourhoods can support physical and mental well-being through outdoor environments.

The academic leads of the network are Dr. Ian Patterson (Principal Investigator), Dr Sasha Hassan, Dr Louise Delicato (Heriot-Watt University ), Dr Stephanie Wilkie (Northumbria University) and Dr Amanda Mason Jones from the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York.

Dr Mason-Jones said:

“We hope that Buildwell can bring people together to ensure that well-being, sustainability and equity are built into housing developments from the outset. We want to ensure new building developments are places where people can thrive. We will use collaborative and experiential learning approaches to develop shared understandings across business, professional, academic and lived experience boundaries through a series of workshops, site visits and engagement activities.

Through developing a strong network, we hope to bring about real change and ensure that housing developments are designed as environments that actively support health and well-being for all communities and not just a select few.”

We have 2 upcoming events one in Edinburgh on 21 st April 2026 and one in York on 13 th May 2026. You can sign up for either event here.

Please join the network too! We look forward to working with you.