As a fully-qualified chartered architect, Scott Black - Land and Development Director at Living Villages - knows a great deal about the design of houses.

But his experience in the field of land acquisition has brought another dimension to his role within the company, following his appointment on May 21 2007.

Scott, 34, gained his BA degree in architecture from Manchester University - and then went on to do his BArch and subsequently his ADPP. The three-part qualification took a total of eight years to complete.

He started work in private practice before joining the Berkeley Group in 1997, where he worked in planning and design. A couple of years later, Scott moved to Crest Nicholson.

"In both cases, I moved into areas where I had more control," he said.

"While working as an architect, I soon realised that the developer had control, which could be very frustrating - so I joined the Berkeley Group.

"Then, while I was working there, I saw that the people in land acquisition had the vision and owned the designs.

"I recognised that was where all the degrees of control in the environment came about. It was the 'engine room' of the development process.

"So after joining Crest Nicholson, I moved into land acquisition. While there, I was promoted to the CNR team responsible for major land acquisitions for the group.

"This involved large-scale regeneration projects, for between 1,000 to 5000 units, such as Attwood Green in Birmingham city centre, Woolston - Southampton and at the Greenwich peninsular.

"I enjoyed the roaming role at Crest Nicholson - I was able to get out there and identify the opportunities, then bring them to reality.

"It was good being at the front end, on the more visionary side of things."

In 2004, Scott teamed up with Hugo Reeve - a fellow architecture graduate from Manchester University - to form Black Reeve Ltd.

"We wanted to do something a little different from most of the volume house builders in the residential property development market, who were building vast suburban estates," he said.

"Through our work, we happened across Living Villages and their development projects, which we found very appealing. Their ideas were both physically and socially sustainable and they seemed to be doing the sorts of things we wanted to do.

"We felt that if we could bring our professional capability to the company and combine it with the product they produced, between us we would have a winning formula.

"I believe Bob and Carole, co-founders of Living Villages, saw the potential value in us, in the same way we saw it in them. We provided the knowledge and expertise - and they provided the product, vision and brand.

"We recognised that they had a groundbreaking, high quality residential scheme with a lot of coverage - but wondered how they could grow the company into other possibilities.

"They knew we could help raise the funds to take Living Villages to the next stage. I had a lot of experience in finding opportunities and getting planning permission and legal agreements.

"Now that expertise has been brought together with the Living Villages brand I am hoping to roll it out on a larger scale, into something bigger and better.

"Between us, we have quite a formidable team."

Scott said that at Living Villages, he saw a brand that was very appealing to the general public - and one that had been tried and tested.

"It is truly about people and how they live, in terms of sustainability - both physical, such as alternative energy sources and socially, creating an environment where you can talk to your neighbours.

"Other ways we can help make it a convivial place to live include allocating space for allotments, where people can grow their own vegetables, and encouraging car-sharing schemes to cut down on emissions.

"This is a different way to live - and I hope it will be the next big thing. I believe it is a winning formula.

"To me, social sustainability is as important or more important than physical sustainability - so I think the current Government policy is often misguided in that respect, as it puts the emphasis on alternative energy and conservation rather than the creation of socially cohesive communities that people want to live in and be a part of where people feel valued and included. If we created communities like this then people will share recourses and energy saving and reductions to CO2 emissions will happen automatically.

"It will be 20 years before some of the measures they are putting in place will pay for themselves in terms of embodied energy - for example solar panels etc - whereas growing vegetables on an allotment can cut CO2 emissions far more effectively, by reducing the need to import and distribute foreign produce across the globe."

Scott said he felt it was important to build developments with a sense of place, where social interaction was encouraged.

"You need a balanced cross-section of the community, with people talking to each other and walking the kids to school, rather than jumping into their cars.

"I see this as the way forward for the future - and I sincerely hope other people will take up that idea, creating a place where people really want to live, to interact, to communicate and to flourish - a living community, or a living village responding to change and most importantly to peoples needs over time

"To me, these ideas are so much more important and stimulating than many of the car dominated design ideas (or lack of them) that help to create the vast rows of suburban pattern housing which unfortunately tends to dominate new housing developments nationally. A by product of this community driven design philosophies also tends to be the creation of more attractive developments.

"Unfortunately, most volume house builders are about building places as cheap as possible to maximise their revenue. But I believe that if you deliver quality, people will pay for it."

Scott said he still has very good connections at Crest Nicholson, who he says share some of the Living Villages concepts.

"They do a great job in the regeneration game, and I learnt a lot from them," he said. "We all believe passionately in creating good places to live.

"There are a raft of developers out there with whom Living Villages sits well. And the more people we can bring on board, the better - but it has to be opportunity-driven."

Scott, who is married with a young son and another baby due in September, lives in St Albans, Herts.

He said: "At the moment I live in a 1960s-built collection of terraced houses with a sense of community, which is important to me. But if I had the opportunity to live in a Living Village in my area, that would really appeal."