The National Infrastructure Commission’s Design Group was established in 2019 to champion design excellence across the UK’s major infrastructure projects. As a member of the group, Madeleine co-created the UK’s first Design Principles for National Infrastructure, launched in 2020.
The four principles (Climate, People, Places, and Value) set out a shared vision for how infrastructure can shape a more resilient, people-centred and sustainable future. Endorsed by government and embedded within the National Infrastructure Strategy, they established a national baseline for quality and ambition, encouraging every major project to consider design as fundamental to long-term value, not an aesthetic afterthought.
The principles call for infrastructure that works harder for people and the planet: projects that cut carbon, enhance places, and deliver lasting social, environmental, and economic benefits. They have informed guidance for design champions, procurement frameworks, and policy at a national level, helping shift how the UK imagines and delivers its most significant infrastructure.