Hughpearman.com

For a man who is usually associated with designing big expensive one-off classical houses for rich people, Robert Adam sounds boyishly enthusiastic about new-town planning. As well he might. He's got himself two whole new waterfront city districts to design. Not just anywhere, either. They're in Leith and Granton, the ports of Edinburgh. Despite his name and stylistic preferences, this particular Robert Adam is unrelated to his 18th century Scots-born namesake. That's just a happy coincidence. There's another difference, too: our 21st century Adam is designing his new Scottish settlements in such a way that modern architects can build alongside the traditionalists without anyone throwing buns at each other. How does he manage this? The secret is something that has been causing quite a bit of anguish in British architectural circles lately. The phrase is "design codes".