The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment (PFBE) is an educational charity which seeks to improve the quality of people’s lives by teaching and practising ecological ways of planning, designing and building for sustainable development with a primary focus on urban areas. When these principles are applied, the expected outcomes include: improvements in public health, livelier and safer streets, more affordable lifestyles for families and individuals and the increase rather than decrease in the value of neighbourhoods and comminities over time.
To carry out its mandate the Foundation focuses on four core areas of activity which include:
- An education programme
- Policy and research
- Projects and practice and
- Design theory and networks
The education programme offers a mix of accredited conference and short courses with the objective of addressing the challenge of planning, designing and building cities, towns and neighbourhoods with an emphasis on meeting the immediate challenge of environmental sustainability.
Through its Projects & Practice Department, the PFBE is seeking to develop a number of exemplar projects by which to attain its main aims and objectives as outlined above. In that regard, the PFBE has partnered with the KRC to conceptualise and implement the Construction Assistance, Skills Transfer and Learning the Environment (CASTLE) project in the inner-city community of Rose Town located in the Down Town, Kingston area.
The project’s goal - To bring about the sustainable rehabilitation of blighted urban communities through the economic enfranchisement and social development of residents, the community structures and institutions.
The project’s purpose - To create an exemplar for the provision of low cost housing that supports the local economy, employs local skills, materials and well tested architectural typologies to help build a lasting sustainable community.
