By Jane Elliott Health reporter, BBC News

Bill Sharkey loves his warm flat

Bill Sharkey considers himself to be a lucky man.

He lives close to his family and to the shops, and feels his immediate environment has a positive effect on his health.

Experts agree, and say the Crown Street Development in New Gorbals, Glasgow, is a prime example of how our living areas can be designed to promote health.

Once a notorious part of the city, the hopelessly overcrowded slum tenements were replaced in the late 1960s and early 1970s with poorly designed and unsuitable flats.

Award

Now they too have been replaced with environmentally-friendly designs and wider streets.

The area, which has won awards for its design and has been cited as one of the city's safest places to live, now has parks and open spaces, a leisure centre and a library.

I always used to get flu regularly, but I've had nothing like that since I moved in Bill Sharkey

John Sorell, chair of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) said, although there were examples like this of good practice, many designers and planners were not always taking the opportunity to use their work to improve health.

He said that, although the government recognised the importance of creating a healthy environment for residents, in the past this had not always been acted upon.

"The recent health White Paper builds care around people, into communities and closer to home.

"But to date, this approach has not always been reflected in the buildings and spaces through which the services are delivered.

"We all need to focus our attention on the quality of our healthcare buildings and look at their contribution to their neighbourhood, and the design of that neighbourhood as a whole."

Environment

Anna Coote, head of engaging patients and the public at the Healthcare Commission agreed.

She said architects and planners needed to look at all aspects of a developments, and not only the buildings.

"The evidence tells us that social isolation, poor education, fear of crime, disrupted family life and unhappiness are bad for health - happy people live on average seven years longer than unhappy people.

"Likewise, poverty, joblessness, powerlessness and economic insecurity are bad for human health.

The Glasgow development has plenty of green space

"Evidence also tells us that the environmental damage is bad for health - air pollution, contaminated water, poor food supplies, heavy road traffic, dislocated neighbourhoods and poorly-designed buildings.

"Climate change brings extremes of heat and cold, flooding, storms, drought and threatens the very essentials of human life.

"What's more, health risks tend to pile up in the lives of the poor and dispossessed in ways that are vividly reflected in health statistics.

"Poor people get ill more often and die much younger than people who are well off."

'Cold and damp'

And Bill Sharkey, who has had a quadruple heart by-pass, says his health has definitely shown an improvement since he moved into his new flat.

Bill says one of the biggest changes is the lack of damp, which means less colds and infections.

"I always used to get flu regularly, but I've had nothing like that since I moved in here.

"The 1960s flats were build out of concrete and had no central heating or double glazing. Nobody could afford to heat the houses so they were always cold and damp.

"Now they have been demolished we are reaping the benefits.

"I moved into a new two-bedroomed flat designed especially for people aged over 50.

"And with its double glazing and central heating and I have not shivered since I moved in. It is wonderful.

"I am near the shops, and even though I cannot go far, I can get out myself."

A spokesman for the New Gorbals Housing Association, which runs the development, said "Crown Street has had slum tenements, it has had damp-infested 60s flats.

"Now it has parks and avenues and a housing environment that improves the quality of peoples lives," he said.