Land executive, keen to learn more about building

[derobe]

Hi all,

 

I work as a land executive for several property developers. Whilst my job role currently entails the acquisition of land and subsequently gaining planning permission for the developers, I would like to get more involved in the process of building the properties themselves.

 

Looking forward to learning and contributing where I can.

[Patrick]

Hi ,

 

welcome , this is a bit different  than ususal .

Lot s of information on here.

Quite a critical view on the volume house builders by a lot of members(including me), but always happy to help, discuss and learn.

Land acquisition surely is an interesting topic for a few members as this is what a lot of people are struggling with, and what consequently keeps the custom homes limited.

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Patrick

[Oz07]

Let us pick your brain. Whats an average price per acre big developers are paying for land

[jfb]

what sort of land oz? - i think you might need to be more specific

[Ferdinand]

Welcome to the site, @derobe.

 

Discussing land prices. where’s my emoji?

 

Aha: .

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Ferdinand
Emoticon added

[Oz07]

Not grazing land lol

[SteamyTea]

Welcome

Quite a few people here have had planning problems, how deeply do you get involved in that side of it, and what creative solutions are there.

Re the actual building of houses, most on here are aiming for low energy usage, but take different construction techniques to get there.

[SteamyTea]

33 minutes ago, Sensus said:

volume housebuilders play to completely different rules with both the planning system

Are you saying that they get treated differently by LAs, or that they have much larger resources so can explore more 'creative' solutions?

34 minutes ago, Sensus said:

relatively little point in comparison

I think there may well be a valid point, it may stop self builders wasting time and cash if they know they are going to be treated differently from the start.

[Jeremy Harris]

Here, pretty much every major green field development in the last decade or so has been argued and won on the basis of housing numbers.  On two occasions that I witnessed first hand, volume developers effectively manipulated the delivery rate to enable the case to be argued for PP to be granted on more land in order to meet the target numbers (which are based on "deliverable", not "planned" house numbers).  We ended up with a housing surfeit for a time, where the volume developers stopped all work for a couple of years, to allow sales to catch up with build numbers, yet during this time those same developers sought, and won, PP for more houses, in effect on the basis that, because they had stopped building houses on land they had already started to develop the target numbers of new houses wouldn't be met.

[derobe]

I don't act for any volume house builders, all of our developers are building 1 - 20 units (anything larger than that and I'll refer it to someone else). Private gated 'collections/developments' of new exclusive homes.

 

I generally look for plots that are within the ownership of a residential property already. In many cases this is garden land to the rear or side of a property, as sensus says, infill or windfall sites.

 

It is almost always worth choosing a good architect who can take care of not just drawings but the whole planning process. Many will have existing relationships with the right people within the LPA and outside consultants to help acheive the desired PP.

 

[derobe]

11 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Welcome

Quite a few people here have had planning problems, how deeply do you get involved in that side of it, and what creative solutions are there.

Re the actual building of houses, most on here are aiming for low energy usage, but take different construction techniques to get there.

 

Agreeing terms for the sale of the land between the landowner and developer is my primary involvement, although I am quite involved with the planning process as well.

As mentioned above, I believe choosing the right planning consultant to write a well put together supporting statement is key. Another helpful tip would be to address any issue the LPA may have before submitting the planning application, if there are trees in the vicinity of where a build is going to take place, have a tree survey done to identify how valuable they may be. It is usually a good idea to remove trees (and have the stumps ground down) that could risk having a TPO put on them before submitting.

 

If you are having trouble achieving the desired approval/have had a refusal, a creative solution is to search for different applications within the locality that are similar to your own but have been approved (whether at delegated powers stage or at appeal. Use them to argue your case and some planning officers will back down.

 

Neighbours can also be a challenge, many don't like change even if a new development will improve the street scene and area. Tread with caution depending on what you are planning, trying to get them on side too early can backfire. For example if they are against what's being proposed and you do have mature trees on site, they may call in the council and have TPO's slapped on before you get a chance to do anything and your plans are scuppered once that happens.