Residential Development Lancashire
Turning land into opportunity.
Our client, a local Lancashire farmer, approached us with approximately three acres of land that had gradually become surrounded by new residential development. With major housebuilders already delivering schemes in the surrounding area, he recognised that his land had potential but needed the right team to establish exactly what could be achieved.
Initially, the expectation was that the site might accommodate around nineteen new homes. We took a much broader view, looking carefully at the land, its surroundings, and the commercial potential of the site before developing a scheme and coordinating the extensive pre-planning work required to support it.
Working alongside specialist consultants, we brought together the necessary technical information, including ecology and habitat assessments, protected species surveys, arboricultural and tree surveys, drainage and flood risk considerations, highways and access, site constraints, and biodiversity requirements. This allowed the design to evolve around the realities of the site rather than simply trying to fit a predetermined number of houses onto the land. Current planning rules also make biodiversity an important part of that process, with qualifying developments generally required to achieve at least 10% biodiversity net gain.
Through careful masterplanning and a detailed understanding of the planning process, the potential of the site grew considerably. What began as an expectation of around nineteen homes ultimately developed into a scheme of thirty-two new properties, a mix of prestigious family houses and affordable homes, substantially increasing the development potential and value of the land.
More importantly, our client was no longer simply the owner of a parcel of agricultural land. With a comprehensive planning package in place, he had created a development asset with options: retain the land and move forward into construction, enter into a development partnership, or offer the consented site to an investor or housebuilder.
For us, that's what good planning and development consultancy is about: seeing the opportunity others might miss, managing the complexity behind it, and unlocking the true potential of an asset.
