Leading build to rent developer, Dandara Living is working with the TRUUD research programme to help improve the way health is considered and delivered for urban places.
Based at the University of Bristol, and with researchers across six different universities, TRUUD (Tackling the Root causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development) is a £10 million research project, looking at how urban places can be planned to reduce non-communicable diseases such as cancers, diabetes, obesity, mental ill-health and respiratory illness.
Dandara Living will be working with the intervention team based out of Stirling Management School to co-produce the ‘Changing Mindsets’ intervention. The collaboration will bring together new research from the TRUUD project with Dandara Living’s experience and insights into the development and delivery of large-scale residential projects, with the aim of increasing the prioritisation of health and health inequalities by professionals working in urban development.
The intervention team is led by Dr Krista Bondy. She said:
“Each industry has its own unique language and culture. If we want to be successful in encouraging more action on health, it is important that we work with experienced organisations to make sure our co-produced message is effective. With Dandara Living’s long experience in the development industry, they have the right expertise and influence to help us design our intervention.”
Commenting on the research programme Senior Development Manager Zoe Sharpe, who will be working with the intervention team said: “We are committed to creating sustainable developments so were delighted when TRUUD offered us the opportunity to be involved, and we look forward to collaborating with the team on what is a very exciting and important project.”
The collaboration builds on findings from 224 senior professionals working across the system of urban development, including industry. The data revealed that current thinking around urban development and how it is practiced is not well suited to respond to complex issues such as climate change and health crises. Few interviewees felt that they have sufficient power to be able to bring health and health equity more centrally into their own professional practice.
Notes for Editors
About Dandara Living.
Dandara Living is the specialist rental division of Dandara. With over 3,000 apartments currently under management, 18 pipeline sites and a growing portfolio of almost 4,700 homes and student beds across the UK, Dandara Living is one of the UK’s leading specialists in the design, delivery, and management of apartments in the UK’s build to rent sector today. www.dandaraliving.com.
About TRUUD
Tackling Root causes upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development (TRUUD) is a research project, based at the University of Bristol, looking at how urban centres can be planned to reduce health inequalities. The TRUUD consortium includes the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Reading, Manchester, Stirling and the University of the West of England across disciplines of public health, law, psychology, management, systems engineering, environmental and health economics, real estate, planning, urban development, policy and public involvement.
TRUUD has created an economic valuation model – Health Appraisal of Urban Systems, (‘HAUS’) – that allows developers or planners to consider and adjust a range of health factors. HAUS provides unit costs for more than 70 health outcomes, separated so that they can be attributed across multiple agencies from a societal perspective.
TRUUD is supported by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP), an initiative funded by UK Research and Innovation Councils, the Department of Health and Social Care and the UK devolved administrations, and leading health research charities.
