She joined the merged Department of the Environment's Housing Development Directorate in 1970 before leaving the research sector to lead the Building Regulations Professional Division in 1972.
[2] She worked in the ministry's architects and building branch for vetting schools being built in Wales and was the first territorial appointment of her former Hertfordshire boss Stirrat Johnson-Marshall.
[3] She was instrumental in bringing about the introduction of an alternative smaller-scale prefabricated building systems after her group advised against the government putting families into tower blocks.
[1][2] Tindale's 1967 report Housebuilding in the USA inspired the imperative to move forward alternatives to sub-standard residential tower blocks following the 1968 Ronan Point gas explosion disaster that killed four people.
[4] Tindale oversaw the construction of Wokingham's Gorse Ride South estate in Finchampstead, a first of its kind inspired by research into 100% timber framed and clad properties, and Bethnal Green's Granby Street, which were published by her department.
[1] During her time in the post, Tindale steadied the decline in public housing construction and affected government policy on design after a controversial competition for the National Gallery.
[5] The RSA also founded the Patricia Tindale Legacy Award which "challenges students to design an element of the built environment that can be easily reconfigured to meet different functional requirements, helping to eliminate construction waste.