I can't say whether it's 'official' or not, but the technicque taught to me on my PPL at a certain large UK school, and the technique that I have been taught to teach on an FIC course at the same school is as follows:
Turn crosswind as soon above 500ft AAL as is safe, subject to traffic.
Turn downwind when your tailplane crosses the extended centreline (centreline for deadside joins).
On the downwind leg you should be no further away from the runway than the wingtip, when seen from the cockpit.
Turn base when the runway is 45 degrees behind the wing (this angle is different if you are allowing for drift).
This will give you a base to final turn at 600ft AAL, which means you are established on final at 500ft AAL/~1.5nm.
Obviously this is all notwithstanding local procedures, and other traffic.
As CPilotUK infers, I expect Messrs. Pratt and Thom have had a lot to do with this style of circuit.
cheers!
foggy.