5.11 The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was established to promote high standards in the design of public buildings. It aims to help public bodies towards improved performance as a client, so that public buildings are known for their design quality. Creative design is an essential ingredient in delivering value for money; and through the working life of a building, design excellence can make service delivery more efficient, and enhance the working environment for all those that use public buildings.
5.12 To ensure the public sector receives a high quality of design from public procurement in PFI projects, OGC published 'Improving the Standards of Design in the Procurement of Public Buildings' in conjunction with CABE in October 2002. The report highlighted the importance of ensuring the public procurement process produced buildings that facilitated the delivery of high quality services and which provided optimal value to the taxpayer. The report set out 11 recommendations to ensure the implementation of good design. An example of how some of the CABE recommendations are being applied in practice is the DfES plans for exemplar school design, described in further detail in Box 8.1.