With a well-documented housing crisis and a national planning policy framework that directs residential development to previously used land ahead of greenfield sites, local authorities are coming under increased pressure to deliver more homes. When combined with a need to re-position and reinvent our towns and city centres and create vibrant and sustainable communities, this means a significant increase in urban residential development. While national policy and guidance has responded to the increased delivery of Build to Rent developments, many Local Plans stay silent on this type of housing including the co-living model. Residential development in urban locations face very different planning considerations and challenges to the more traditional edge of centre, greenfield housing schemes. These need to be managed effectively to ensure deliverable permissions are secured.

David Smith, Head of Urban Living  

We have seen our towns and cities evolve over the years due to the increase in online retail activity, patterns of flexible working and the increased delivery of different types of housing such as Build to Rent, Co-Living and Purpose-Built Student Housing. There has been a marked shift away from traditional commercially dominated zones to far more of a mixed-use offer. In several towns and cities, there is an increasing requirement for high quality accommodation to attract postgraduates and young professionals in Build-to-Rent and Co-living schemes. There is also increasing demand for single family Build to Rent accommodation for young families and older people who may be down-sizing.  

National policy and guidance have responded to the increasingly specialised housing needs of different cohorts. For example, there is specific national guidance relating to Build to Rent developments However, many Local Plans stay silent on this type of housing including the Co-living model.  

Town and city centre developments, by their nature and urban location, tend to be higher density and often take the form of tall buildings where visual impact, scale, heritage and townscape considerations have increased significance. Challenges around ensuring residential amenity are more common in discussions with Local Planning Authorities and key stakeholders as well as balancing the provision of biodiversity net gain, car parking, servicing of sites and shared public realm with quality placemaking. Sustainability and discussions around demolition/re-use of existing buildings and emerging requirements to assess whole-life carbon emissions are becoming significant matters in the planning balance. Other key considerations can include the ability to introduce flexible space for ground floor local services (examples include residents’ office space and coffee shops, small local food stores), wider infrastructure requirements, contaminated land and existing use values. This regularly leads to in depth negotiations around viability, affordable housing provision and leveraging external funding to meet funding gaps. 

We collaborate with strong design teams in our work around urban living to deliver permissions for viable schemes where people want to live, in well-designed housing within a vibrant and usable public realm.