Create Streets have recently published our latest visual preference survey. It is a comparison of public preferences for two types of building design on Upper Tachbrook Street in Pimlico, London. Conducted by Create Streets with @DeltapollUK in July 2026. A visual preference survey is an A/B paired-image survey of public design preferences. This survey was conducted with a nationally representative survey of UK adults measuring wider public design preferences. By almost five to one, the public preferred a traditional terrace based on neighbouring Pimlico houses to the existing contrasting building. People have very clear preferences about building and place design. People prefer buildings that are designed to be familiar, rooted within the place they are built and in keeping with the aesthetics of the surrounding neighbourhood, rather than attempting to contrast to it. Design matters and people know what they like. Everyone agrees: the preference crossed every demographic group reported. In an age which is pulling us apart, love of place can bring us together. Left wing, right wing, old, young, rich, poor, male, female: all agreed. The result supports a wider and increasingly international evidence base. This finding corroborates multiple studies across the world in Britain, the Netherlands, America, Norway, Greece and South America. All find that the public strongly prefer buildings and places with some combination of human scale, coherent complexity, ornament, materials texture, ‘biomorphic forms’ (i.e. shapes that echo nature) and buildings that feel more clearly rooted in their surroundings. The implication is practical: new buildings can add homes and floorspace while responding positively to local character. More traditionally conceived streets and buildings with detail, variety in a pattern and more textured building materials are dramatically more popular with the public. createstreets.com/projects/p…

This street is new. Every inch of it.