Expert insights
Placemaking: getting large-scale developments started
Delivering 1.5 million new homes over the next five years is the ambitious target set by the Government, but when coupled with its additional objective to adhere to the principles of sustainability and enhancing the environment, it can create a tension for developers. This is where the principles of placemaking can offer answers. Placemaking is about delivering sustainable, high quality, mixed-use developments (residential and commercial) which are community-led and which have safeguards in place post-development to ensure the developments thrive in the long term.
Legacy Developments: the UK’s future but only with the right collaboration
As readers may know, “legacy” community development projects aim to deliver high-quality sustainable design and construction to standards that will make places fit to serve future generations. 'Stewardship' is their key concept, so successful “legacy” projects often rely upon an effective working relationship between landowner as steward and developer as contractor. Whilst the landowner’s design brief will set the standard, market factors may still present challenges, which risk diluting the principles of the high-quality masterplan.
Home sweet boom: how will the Labour Government’s plan for new towns affect the placemaking sector?
The King's Speech delivered soundbites on the new Government's priorities for the coming months. What do Labour’s proposals offer for the placemaking and legacy development sector?
The country is grey and brown and green in trees: Labour’s Grey Belt planning reforms
The Labour Government announced in 2024 that the National Policy Planning Framework (NPPF) would be amended to deliver the Government’s commitments to achieve economic growth and build 1.5 million new homes.
A new legacy: how legacy developments could be the future of property
The last 18 months have had an unprecedented impact on the way we go about our day to day lives. The biggest shock now, however, is perhaps that the fortune tellers predicting the “death of the city” were pretty far from the mark. It seems that central London is seeing a return to at least some of its pre-Covid habits – with tubes getting back to 70 per cent of their pre-pandemic ridership and residential rental prices in prime London locations seeing healthy growth in the last quarter.
A new legacy for London
For months now, we have seen research about the future of our cities bandied back and forth across the media. From panicked predictions of a mass exodus, to cautious celebrations at the amount of office space retained against these forecasts, the changes in our living and working practices of the last eighteen months have resulted in a paradigm shift for the interests of the urban property industry.
Collaborative reports
Placemaking: A stewardship approach to creating communities
Early in 2020, ADAM Architecture and Farrer & Co launched a housing market report: "Placemaking: a patient approach to creating communities". Authored by Future Places Studio, the report explored modern, successful community developments and the lessons they can teach us as we seek to create more vibrant and resilient communities.
Placemaking: A patient approach to creating communities
Placemaking (creating places and homes rather than phases and units) on a large scale used to be the preserve of the Landed Estates and Government, but as we’ve increasingly seen in the last 15 to 20 years from pioneer places like Poundbury and Derwenthorpe, the lessons have been learned, and a model is there to be adapted to smaller sites.
Best Value in Land: a decision-making framework
Farrer & Co are proud to have been involved in and contributed to the production of the Best Value report, the latest report from the Projects Team at The Kings Foundation. The report presents detailed case studies and a structured decision-making framework to assist landowners and trustees in navigating the complexities of development and designed to aid landowners in evaluating short-term financial gains against the long-term advantages of meticulously planned development.
As seen in press
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