The Housing Corporation has called in Cabe to carry out a design audit of its development programme.

Steve Douglas, acting chief executive of the Housing Corporation, announced yesterday that he had asked the design watchdog to assess the schemes developed under the quango’s 2006-08 programme.

Cabe will examine whether output matches the promises made by developers when they received funding approval.

Meanwhile, English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation have updated their Urban Design manual with a 207-page supplement and website. The Urban Design Compendium was first published in 2000.