Public Property December 2017

Greener schools How more energy efficient school buildings could save £2.6bn a year

Yellowfield registers Calls for a ‘paradigm’ shift on green belt policy to better serve public interest

December 2017

Contents

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School estate More energy efficient school buildings could save the Department for Education £2.6bn a year, a new report has found p.7 Planning policy How the creation of ‘yellowfield registers’ by local authorities could achieve a paradigm shift on green belt policy p.8 Finding land for development How data platforms can improve the speed, quality and cost of planning p.10 Development models How a mixed-use development model could help protect essential services for local communities p.15 CASE STUDIES Public property examines the progress of the government’s Regional Hubs Programme p.16 A new building for the UK’s first free school to offer vocational training to students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities has been successfully delivered p.19 Northumberland’s fire stations are to be heated using the ground’s natural heat, reducing the council’s use of fossil fuels and generating income p.20

CPOs ‘vital’ for urban regeneration finds report The use of compulsory purchase orders (CPO) has decreased in recent years but they are still vital to facilitate urban regeneration, law firm says.

New figures released by law firm Womble Bond Dickinson LLP reveal that submissions of planning CPOs, which are often deployed to facilitate complex large scale development projects, decreased by 30% in 2016.

There were 40 applications last year compared to 57 in 2015 and 58 in 2014. However this is still higher than the 36 submitted in 2013 - the lowest level since 2003. Housing CPOs also saw a dip from 54 submitted in 2015 to 39 in 2016.

The use of Planning CPOs in 2016 falls short of pre-recession levels and a ‘new normal’ for a lower number of CPO submissions made each year appears to have been established — a sign of low economic confidence.

The law firm’s findings show that success rates for both kinds of CPO remain high. At least 87% of planning CPOs succeeded in 2015 and 82% in 2016. For Housing CPOs the equivalent figures are at least 93% in 2015 and 94% in 2016.

For the period between 2003-2016, the North West of England and London saw the most CPO submissions. This was followed by the West Midlands.

The report also found that while many authorities have used their compulsory purchase powers, they do so sparingly. A relatively small number of authorities account for a significant proportion of CPOs made.

The report notes that the programme of Housing CPOs made by Newham stands out, as do those of Burnley and Wigan Councils. The use of planning compulsory purchase powers by Liverpool and Manchester City Councils also contributed significantly to the final results.

In the West Midlands, Birmingham and Wolverhampton Councils have made substantial numbers of Housing CPOs, with the former also making 19 Planning CPOs. Womble Bond Dickinson LLP looked at why CPOs fail. They found the reasons Housing CPOs do not succeed are fact specific. However, for Planning CPOs some more general reasons can be identified.

December 2017

News

Multi-million pound plan for armed forces housing

The defence secretary has announced a multi-million pound investment to build new homes for service personnel and their families returning from Germany.

Gavin Williamson said the Government would plough £250m into three developments across Salisbury Plain, the British Army’s largest training area in the UK, as part of the Army Basing Programme (ABP).

The investment would see 1,000 new houses built

in Bulford, Larkhill and Ludgershall by the British construction company Lovell, including modern three and four bedroom houses.

There will also be a number of bungalows and adapted homes for families with specific needs.

The new accommodation would be used for service personnel and their families relocating from Germany in 2019 and also units moving within the UK. Pre-construction work on the project has already begun, including off-site highways to facilitate access to the new homes, and the estimated completion date is May 2020.

‘This considerable investment in nearly 1,000 new homes is a reflection of our commitment to supporting Armed Forces families,’ said Mr Williams.

‘Service families make an immense contribution to our country and I’m delighted to announce this £250m funding

for new homes to welcome our troops relocating from Germany.’

The Army and Wiltshire Council are working closely, the Government says, to ensure the soldiers and their families have access to services, such as education and health facilities.

The council is spending over £20m of the MOD’s contribution towards local community services in support of education provision across all age ranges.

Just over £1bn has already been pledged to the Salisbury Plain area for living and working accommodation, including 2,500 bed spaces for single soldiers and the construction, conversion or refurbishment of nearly 250 other buildings such as offices, garages, workshops and mess facilities.

The new investment also comes alongside a further £90m in road and utility improvements in support of the three developments.

Contract awarded for university campus Infrastructure group award multi-million pound contract to build university campus.

Balfour Beatty has been awarded a contract worth nearly £300m to build a new engineering campus for The University of Manchester.

The university last November announced

December 2017

that the developers had won the £287m contract to build the Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD).

The four-year project is an integral part of the university’s ten-year Campus Masterplan to create what they describe as ‘a world-class estate benefitting staff, students and visitors.’

The MECD will provide a state-of-the-art facility, housing the University’s engineering schools, innovative teaching spaces and research institutes such as the Dalton Nuclear Institute and the BPInternational Centre for Advanced Materials (BPICAM).

‘The Manchester Engineering Campus Development will be a worldleading centre for learning and research,’ said Diana Hampson, director of estates.

‘We are providing state-ofthe-art facilities that will rival those of our international competitors and help attract world-class academic talent to the institution.’

Property to raise £3m for council Bracknell Forest Council has approved plans to invest an extra £30m in commercial property in order to generate up to £3m a year from 2019.

The council has been investing in commercial property since 2016 as a way of plugging a £25m funding gap.

Figures show that this strategy is already generating £2m a year for the council, and this extra investment will increase this return to up to £3m a year.

Cllr Peter Heydon, the council’s executive member for finance and transformation, said: ‘The additional income this will generate will be used to benefit local residents and the community via the services we are able to provide.’

Council’s first homes in 30 years The first new council houses to be built and designed by Gateshead City Council in three decades have been given the go-ahead.

The new building programme will also include commercial and affordable developments delivered through its own trading company.

The council is aiming to build 11,000 new homes by 2030.

The council’s cabinet member for housing, cllr Malcolm Brain, said: ‘To commit ourselves to delivering our first new council homes in almost 30 years is an exciting step, and an important one in helping to meet our area’s demand for housing.

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News

Council’s Land Deal boosts the local economy by £236m An investment scheme run by Telford & Wrekin Council has bolstered the local economy by £236m in 18 months and created nearly 1,000 new jobs.

The Telford Land Deal initiative has sold £23m worth of land which, in turn, has stimulated the construction of over 86,000 square meters of commercial floor space.

Telford & Wrekin manages and invests in sites on behalf of landowner, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), and works through its inward investment and business support service Enterprise Telford.

The council ensures businesses and property developers have a ‘soft landing’ by providing logistical assistance in improving site access, utility provisions and drainage. It also secures planning certainty prior to sale.

The Land Deal has enabled the council to secure Foreign Direct Investment, including a multimillion pound injection from Magna International, a supplier of aluminium castings to nearby Jaguar Land Rover.

It is also speeding up development of residential property, releasing six sites which are due to produce 597 new homes.

‘Our work with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has enabled us to prepare and sell sites direct to businesses, offering logistical assistance and advice that differentiates the borough from other potential destinations,’ said Shaun Davies, leader of Telford & Wrekin Council and ambassador for Enterprise Telford.

‘We’re building on our strengths in the automotive supply chain, polymers and manufacturing arenas, and seeing new specialisms emerging, particularly in areas such as digital and agri-tech.

‘The huge increase in investment we’ve experienced from both UK and overseas firms is a clear sign of the

strength of and growing confidence in Telford as a business destination.

‘For local people this means more jobs, more homes and building a better borough for the future.’

Karl Tupling, general manager for the Midlands for the HCA added: ‘The Telford Land Deal is giving Telford & Wrekin Council the opportunity to take responsibility for the marketing and disposal of remaining HCA land holdings.

‘It has been fantastic to see the series of investments made helping to secure jobs and the development of housing in Telford. By building such a strong track record, the town has positioned itself as leading location for future investment.’

Mayor Khan pledges to restrict building on Green Belt land Sadiq Khan has pledged to protect ‘the lungs of the capital’ as he sets out new plans to strengthen safeguards for the Green Belt.

The mayor of London has published his draft London Plan – the overarching

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strategic planning framework for the city – which aims to strengthen safeguards to prevent harmful development on green land both within and surrounding the capital.

Mr Khan says a planning application which involves building on the Green Belt will be refused if it does not meet ‘strict rules’ on what is appropriate, such as replacing existing buildings with new ones of a similar scale or the provision of new agricultural buildings.

London’s Green Belt makes up almost a quarter of the capital’s land area.

Under current Green Belt regulations, developers are only allowed to build on the land only in ‘very special circumstances.’

However, according to the London Green Belt Council (LGBC), the number of sites facing development on London’s green belt has more than doubled since last year from 203 to 443.

The mayor argues the Green Belt benefits London’s air quality, as well as helping reduce the risk and impact of flooding and providing habitats for the capital’s wildlife.

Council launches housing company The City of York Council is planning to launch a housing development company which it says will accelerate the building of new homes while generating income for other services. It says the average house price in York is now 9.6 times higher than the average salary and the combination of limited supply and high demand is forcing up prices, making it difficult for key workers, first time buyers and young families to buy a home.

The new company, wholly-owned by the council, will provide new homes for sale and rent at affordable and market rates, some aimed at first time buyers and others for older residents who want to downsize.

Councils join forces on homes Three councils are joining forces to tackle the housing crisis at their local level by aiming to deliver 20,000 new homes by 2033. North Dorset District Council, West Dorset District Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council have launched their Opening Doors – Building for the Future initiative which includes greater action and more intervention at a local level to boost development. Dorset’s population is set to rise by 14.5% to 884,000 by 2039. The average house price in the county is £295,202 while the average salary is £24,263. This means house prices are 12.2 times the average — well above the 7.6 national average.

December 2017

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Schools

Greening the school estate More energy efficient school buildings could save the Department for Education £2.6bn a year, a new report has found. Laura Sharman examines the findings in more detail.

Modern methods of construction have long been held up as a way of saving money when delivering new schools or other public buildings. Now, a new report has laid bare exactly how much could be saved if all schools were built using modern building technologies.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) has found that off-site, modular construction could save the Department for Education £2.6bn a year the equivalent of 5% of its annual budget.

It examined the cost savings of using Schoolhaus® buildings, which boast of being the UK’s most energy efficient buildings.

Created by Net Zero Buildings, the schools are constructed off-site using state-of-the art modular techniques.

The Cebr report certainly backs up this claim, finding that if 2,000 schools were built as Schoolhaus® buildings rather than more traditional buildings, the annual savings from energy, operation and maintenance costs alone would be £349m.

Sean Slack, an economist at Cebr, said: ‘Our report shows that the Schoolhaus® design can provide clear economic benefits through its energy efficiency, low operation and maintenance costs and capital costs.

The analysis indicates that, together, these benefits would bring value for money to the public sector.’

Speaking at the recent Education Estates event, Neil Smith, chief executive officer December 2017

at Net Zero Buildings, explained that the savings that can be achieved through modern methods of construction could not be underestimated. ‘The savings generated effectively pay for the capital costs of the building over a 25-30 year period,’ he said.

The report also studied the impact 20 year operating leases would have on the future of school buildings. It found that a shift from a purchase to a leasing model would save £1.45m over a 60 year period. This equates to a saving of 22% compared to traditional builds.

In fact, it goes even further and reveals that if the lower capital costs of the Schoolhaus® design are factored into the analysis, the saving would actually increase to £1.85m over 60 years.

Mr Smith adds: ‘With pupil numbers forecast to grow by around 10% between now

and 2026, it’s clear that innovative solutions are required to ease the pressing need for new school buildings. This report shows that the Government has an opportunity to meet this demand, save money and help to protect the environment.

‘60% of current school buildings were built before 1976, using outdated and inefficient technologies. They are already struggling to meet the growing demand for new pupil places and are sapping billions from the UK’s education budget. Schoolhaus® is a truly unique solution that shows how modern technology can address this issue while saving money from the public purse at the same time.’

He concludes: ‘If new construction techniques are available to us that can deliver better learning environments with lower running costs….why wouldn’t you?’

FACT FILE: FURTHER SAVINGS The Schoolhaus® design can generate energy savings of £35.30 per square metre per year compared to more traditional builds.

Modular design buildings tend to be constructed 25% quicker than traditional builds, rising to 50% in some cases.

Off-site construction can also achieve a 75% on-site time saving.

Modular designs can be up to £3m cheaper in terms of the build and construction costs of a One-Form Entry primary school.

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Planning

Why planning policy should be In Localis’s report this Autumn, Disrupting the Housing Market, the think tank argues for a paradigm shift on green belt policy. The report says green belt policy is mired by weak politics in local and central governments; and that green belts should serve the public interest. Jack Airey writes on how this can be achieved through the creation of ‘yellowfield registers’ by local authorities.

The regulation of land should be considered a part of the welfare state. By nationalising development control in the years following the Second World War, governments, rather than land owners, have been able to set the principles by which land can be used and development occur. This means development has to be appropriate, sustainable and in the public interest while not causing demonstrable harm to others.

A fundamental part of this post-war settlement on land regulation was the introduction of green belts around many of England’s cities (following London’s pre-war lead). The policy has protected large swathes of land from being built upon, thereby preventing town and city growth outwards and maintaining rural ‘openness’.

Protection was brought forward in the same period as the New Towns programme, ensuring an adequate supply of new homes (in the public interest) and the preservation of public open spaces that could be used for recreation (in the public interest).

It is in this context which green belt regulation should be considered today. It is a part of the welfare state so should serve the broader public interests as those interests change. As Nicholas Timmins wrote in The Five Giants: A Biography of the Welfare State, the welfare state should not be considered static but ‘a collection of services and policies and ideas and taxes…whose boundaries expand and contract over time’.

In some places, to varying extents, green belt boundaries are expanding and contracting in response to the needs of local populations. In one sense, this is what local plans are for. To manage growth sustainably, local planning authorities are able to change green belt boundaries.

For instance, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, whose local plan is currently in consultation, eighty-three percent of land is designated green belt.

The supply of suitable brownfield sites for housing is limited so to accommodate growth

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– assessed to be 712 new dwellings per year – parcels of green belt on the outskirts of existing settlements will be released for new homes. Strategic plans across city regions also provide a platform for the redrawing of green belt boundaries according to public need.

It is, however, no coincidence that those places slowest in adopting local plans tend to be local authorities whose boundaries are predominantly within the green belt.

The Housing White Paper states that local authorities can amend green belt boundaries ‘only in exceptional circumstances when [they] can demonstrate that they have fully examined all other reasonable options for meeting their identified housing requirements’.

For places with high assessed need this forces difficult decisions around green belt release. Indeed, at the time of writing, of the twelve local planning authorities whose area is over 80% green belt, just two have adopted and up-to-date local plans.

‘It’s time for other options to be considered to ensure brownfield land allocated for development gets delivered.’

The truth is that today green belt policy is a blunt and ineffective method by which to manage and plan for population growth at the same time as maintaining public access to green space and protecting land of value to public welfare.

Firstly a great deal of brownfield land, which in some cases may be appropriate and viable for sustainable development, is protected by green belt status. This puts

pressure on local authorities to bring forward land for development that may in fact be of much greater value to public welfare, for instance the loss of playing fields over the decades.

Secondly, although green belt protection prevents the construction of new buildings (save for a limited number of exceptions), it does not provide protection against other uses such as horse fields, golf courses and mono-culture, often low grade, farming.

This means that in areas where land could be entirely suitable for new homes, more priority is given to a limited number of people’s hobbies rather than something so fundamental to a person’s living standards as their home. And this is despite those uses being often exclusionary to the wider public and poor in environmental terms.

These are perverse outcomes for a policy that is meant to prioritise public welfare. In a large number of areas of high demand, where people want to live, green belt policy actively works against what would be in the public December 2017

Planning

d be a part of the welfare state

good: the planning consultancy Quod has identified 20,000 hectares of accessible land within London’s green belt which is less than 800m distance of a rail or tube station and with no other protection.

In too many cases the rigid nature of green belt policy is serving the interests of owners of property within green belt land rather than society as a whole, as the welfare state should.

While local authorities are able to review and redraw their green belt boundaries in a pragmatic method in the public interests, only direction from government will make this happen with the impact required. In short, government cannot expect local authorities, where demand is highest, to deliver enough land at the scale government (rightly) demands for new housing without a more relaxed approach to green belt disposal.

There is a viable way forward (also applicable to Metropolitan Open Land for London boroughs). In a similar vein to brownfield registers, local authorities should December 2017

be compelled to prepare, maintain and publish registers of land that is designated green belt but demonstrably should not be.

The NPPF outlines the five purposes that green belt land serves: if a local planning authority can demonstrate land does not serve these purposes, it should be included on their ‘yellowfield register’, and no longer designated green belt.

For local authorities this would allow the sustainable release of land for new homes

in areas where green belt protection is unwarranted.

Reforming green belt policy is contentious. To some, it forms a part of the British psyche – there is even a music festival named after it. Yet this should not preclude its reform in the public interest. If anything, it should be its driver.

Jack Aire is author of the report and head of research at Localis

FIVE PURPOSES OF THE GREEN BELT: • to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; • to prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another; • to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment; • to preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and • to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.

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Planning

Finding land for development

Stefan Webb explains how data platforms can improve the speed, quality and cost of planning.

The world of data analytics, big data and machine learning seems to have passed by much of the planning system. Yet, of all public city services, it is the planning system that spends the most money on generating and retrieving data.

This data, required to provide the evidential grounding for planning applications, masterplans and city plans, is held across a number of overlapping document management systems which have little or no interoperability and are inaccessible for machine or human.

This lack of accessibility has consequences.

The most obvious being the significant cost of repeated retrieval, generation and analysis of the same data. This data is extracted either by local authority officers, or developers or consultants employed by them, who are paid the same price for what is often a cut and paste of a previous piece of analysis.

Having open and accessible planning data available should allow others - be they different services in local authorities, or those in the market wishing to develop new data-driven products and services - to reuse the same data without the costs of having to generate or retrieve it again.

Now, consider this idea in the context of the government’s Housing White Paper which to little dissent, suggested that ‘the housing market is broken’. It is clear that the asymmetry of information and analytical capability between major developers and their consultants, public planners, smaller developers and citizens, is one of the underlying causes of the ill-functioning housing and land market. And it is this that leads to the unfair accusation by nontechnical users of the planning system, that the system is being played by developers.

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At Future Cities Catapult we’ve been looking at ways to level the playing field through the better provision and re-use of data. We’ve worked with DCLG, our Future of Planning Sounding Board and various users of the planning system throughout England to identify priorities for digitally driven innovation in plan making. The result of this work was the design of a user experience/conceptual prototype for a Land Information Platform that we demonstrated for the first time at MIPIM UK.

‘We also believe that the platform could spurn new digital planning products and services.’

The platform would contain a number of core functions allowing local planning authorities to identify, prioritise and allocate sites for new development; improving how they allocate land for new development and the speed at which this is done. It would use a variety of data-sets from Ordnance Survey and Land Registry as well as historic planning data and open government information such as energy performance certificates, to automatically screen and identify potential development opportunities.

Not only would the tool identify potential land, it would also, with reference to policy, context and some key urban design rules of thumb, be able to estimate how many homes could be accommodated on a site much more precisely than the current methods that we use.

A series of open APIs within the platform would allow the market to build digital simulation tools to plug into a local authority’s shortlist of allocated sites – in essence, acting as an App Store for planning. One example simulation illustrated in the user experience prototype was inspired by one of our Future of Planning Open Call winning tools called SidM, supported by the London Borough of Hackney. SidM uses development data from planning applications, the current SHLAA and changes to existing populations to model the impact of housing and population growth on the capacity of primary schools and GPs over time.

With the government’s manifesto, commitment to create ‘the largest repository of open land data in the world” the Land Information Platform, likened to a Bloomberg Terminal for land, planning and housing, is a good example of what government can do to help foster ‘innovative tools to help people and developers build’. We also believe that the platform could spurn new digital planning products and services that build better understanding and knowledge of the planning system. Imagine an app on your phone that allowed you to ‘see’ what a planning application looks like, to tweak its design and assess the impact on planning contributions.

The use of platforms to efficiently provide the same information to many users is not a new concept. It has significantly reduced costs and lowered the barriers to entry in financial services, and we think it will do the same in the land, planning and housing market.

Stefan Webb is head of projects at Future Cities Catapult December 2017

Housing

Homes for Rent – the o Residential property management is coming to the fore. Residential developments considered on a rental model basis have to include operational considerations at the heart of the design process. Dominic Martin explains why this is so important and provides context for this new way of considering the design of a building.

In the October addition of Public Property, we provided insight to the newly emerging ‘build to rent’ sector in the context of the relatively ignored requirement of homes for families who rent. Between 2001 and 2011, whilst the number of households renting in the 25-34 age group grew by 75%, the 35 to 64 age group grew by 95%.

As this census data reveals, the number of families living in rental accommodation in the UK is clearly rocketing, providing the growing ‘build to rent’ sector with an opportunity – an obligation, in fact – to put operational management factors at the heart of the accommodation offering. Operational considerations aren’t something to be tagged on to a development during the final fit out; they should be a core component of the development’s blueprint from the outset.

The chancellor was keen to tout his new construction target of 300,000 homes per year as part of the Autumn Budget. The focus on the UK’s housing needs provides

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an opportunity to think beyond our current provision. Individual houses and steel and glass high rise towers are great housing options, but there’s plenty more that we could do. In the US, for example, ‘low rise apartment housing’ is the favoured rental option for many families. This suburban housing offers efficiency in design and space consumption and can come with shared amenities, from gyms and business suites to playgrounds, pet exercise areas and BBQ facilities.

Regardless of the type of rental accommodation in question, the ‘operational spirit’ that needs to be considered in the design process for rental homes remains the same. It needs to be a core focus that looks ahead to both the living experience of the customer (those renting the homes) as well as considering the practicalities of delivering an effective on-site management team.

Considerations include items such as high-speed broadband, utilities and smart metering, the refuse strategy, security and

access (building, units and amenities), staffing areas, communal areas, storage areas and parcel delivery strategies – hence the need to incorporate thinking around operational management from day one. Each of these items can have a notable impact on the operational efficiency of a building and, as such, on the quality of the living experience for those renting homes there.

Historic focus has rightly been to consider the impact of such items on the all-important construction budget, where the working assumption is to simply maximise ‘sales space’ and limit common areas and ‘back of house’ spaces. For many in the development arena, understanding the greater value and critical importance of incorporating such items remains a challenge, yet one which needs to be faced head-on.

Conversely, poorly conceived operational management can soon lead to higher running costs. A poor broadband service can mean a higher turnover of residents and increased December 2017

Housing

e operational spirit

void periods. An inefficient refuse strategy for example can mean extra staff are needed to move bins to the road each week for collection. All of these costs can further erode into the income received, when in turn reduces ‘investment value’ or ‘gross development value.’

Parcel delivery management is a great example of this, especially at this time of year. Online shopping continues to grow in popularity and the festive season is the busiest season for many retailers. In large developments, this can create havoc in the run up to Christmas. The arrival of enormous

quantities of parcels, which all need to be signed for, sorted and safely stored, and which arrive via numerous couriers at different times of day can have a surprisingly significant impact on a management team’s ability to complete normal day-to-day tasks.

Parcel lockers and unit mail boxes with larger apertures (to accommodate DVD and book deliveries) are a far more efficient solution than a parcel storage room, but again this needs to be addressed during the design phase of the project.

With the staff team in mind, operational management also needs to consider the size

and design of staffing areas, ensuring that they are enjoyable spaces to work in with as much natural light as possible. Dedicated managerial and leasing office space also needs to be factored in.

From a customer (tenant) perspective, specifying smart meters at the tender contract stage can reap benefits further down the line.

Seamless move-in and move-out processes, as well as easily assured accuracy of utility consumption, mean a more satisfactory tenant experience. They also make life easier for the management team.

Layout is key too. It’s fantastic to include a gym or a flexible residents’ lounge space, but if these are located in an obscure part of the building that isn’t convenient to access, they can quickly fall out of favour (and use).

The result is residents who feel they’re not quite getting what they’re paying for, which is never a good situation. There can also be cleaning and maintenance implications, in terms of both time and cost.

There are plenty more examples. Each one contributes not just to the overall living experience for the resident, but also to the ability of the on-site team to operate efficiently and, ultimately, to the development’s value.

Dominic Martin is operations director at Atlas Residential

December 2017

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Comment

Diverse mix of services Martin Meech explains how a mixed-use development model could help protect essential services for local communities

The irrevocable loss of essential services is a worrying trend. Landlords wanting to capitalise on housing and retail development opportunities are pushing out services such as builders’ merchants, timber yards and petrol stations. In the capital this happening in an unsustainable way that is impacting jobs and local economies that rely on these services.

According to SERGO, industrial land in London has decreased by 16% since 2001 and this trend will likely increase as the capital’s population hits 10 million in 2030. As the need for housing intensifies, local authorities must take stock of the type of communities they are building. Communities require far more than just housing, whether this is a health facility serving local residents, a builders’ merchant providing parts to tradespeople, or a music venue where people gather. This diverse mix is what makes our communities thrive.

Too often development proposals (particularly in inner-London) are being driven through without much consideration for this diverse mix of services needed by communities. In some areas councils are going against the will of its people.

Westminster City Council’s recent decision to allow the redevelopment of a 175-year-old historic timber yard on the Pimlico Road demonstrates this. Travis Perkins still runs the yard, providing an immensely valuable resource to local tradespeople, businesses and residents. It is for this reason that the developer’s plans were so widely rejected by local people; the planning application received record numbers of objections and the campaign secured thousands of resident signatures.

Such examples will frustrate residents more and more as they become powerless to shape the communities they live in.

The thinking behind this needs to change.

Housing development doesn’t happen in isolation – essential services, such as builders merchants are vital to this process. These services are also vital to the process of local authority housing stock regeneration – something councils are committed to doing.

Essential services are fundamentally complimentary to the process of building December 2017

The new site at St Pancras was designed to meet the council’s exact housing needs.

more homes. Using London as an example, the region’s construction output has risen steadily for the last three years – expanding by 8% in 2016 alone. Similarly public housing output increased by 19% over the same period. Maintaining this momentum requires convenient access to a reliable supply of materials.

Travis Perkins are due to make a number of recommendations in the coming month ahead of next May’s local elections – one will be to see greater protections in planning laws for builders’ merchants.

We are not just calling for protection though - we have gone further by creating and piloting a unique mixed-use development model. It delivers new housing while retaining the necessary services builders’ merchants bring to the capital. To

allay any fears, better design, construction and materials mean living above a builders’ merchant is no different to that of any other local shop.

We have helped pioneer this model in London, but I hope the concept will be expanded across the country. Our flagship site at St Pancras was delivered through cooperation with developer UNITE and Camden Council and was designed to meet their exact housing needs.

It wasn’t rocket science – we built a new, customer-centred builders’ merchant with accommodation for 563 students above it.

It helped alleviate the council’s urgent need for more student housing, and retain the benefits for nearby businesses who continue to have easy access to a much needed local supply chain.

We have met with over twenty councils to discuss the opportunities for mixed-use developments in their patch; whilst the majority hadn’t considered it an option before, most left the meeting with a sense of excitement about what could be achieved. I use each meeting to set out a clear message: local authorities do not face a binary choice between protecting essential services and meeting housing targets. They can have both.

Martin Meech is group property director at Travis Perkins

15

Case study

Hubs : their progress to date Public property examines the progress of the government’s Regional Hubs Programme.

The government’s Regional Hubs Programme certainly doesn’t lack ambition with plans to save £640m over the next ten years.

Although the National Audit Office warned earlier this year that the costs and wider benefits are yet to be fully evaluated, it is still being hailed as a ‘once in a generation opportunity’ to revolutionise the civil service, The scheme aims to consolidate government offices into multi-departmental hubs across the UK,.

As well as saving millions of pounds over the next 10 years, the programme will also act as a catalyst for regional growth and economic development.

Work has already begun on several new buildings, and here we report on the progress of four of the new hubs.

NEW WAVERLEY, EDINBURGH The new hub in Edinburgh will be home to 2,900 civil servants and aims to strengthen the government’s commitment to building a strong civil service outside of London Minister for government resilience and efficiency, Caroline Nokes, said: ‘This new flagship building is part of our radical upgrade of the civil service and will support our diverse and creative workforce as they make a real difference to the lives of people in Scotland. This landmark development will deliver significant benefits to Edinburgh and the communities within it.

‘Alongside significant savings for the taxpayer, the roll out of government hubs will provide modern working environment across the whole of the UK that will enable us to provide the best public services we can.’

3 ARENA CENTRAL, BIRMINGHAM In the West Midlands, 3 Arena Central will house around 3,6000 civil servants from different government departments.

Ms Nokes, said: ‘The new government hub in the city centre will not just be a catalyst for regeneration, but it will also mean that the civil servants working within it are equipped to deliver the best quality service to the taxpayer.’

CARDIFF In Wales, a 25 year lease has been agreed at the Central Square development in Cardiff.

The 265,000 sq ft development will house more than 4,000 public servants.

Welsh secretary Alun Cairns, said: ‘The UK Government already has a significant footprint in Wales and I believe that basing several departments in a single office in the centre of Cardiff demonstrates the impact we can make through greater collaboration.

‘This will not only lead to better integration between departments and create an obvious cost-saving for the taxpayer, but will also send a clear message that the UK Government is visible, accessible and helping to improve people’s lives in Wales.’

16

WELLINGTON PLACE, LEEDS The official ground-breaking ceremony took place last month to celebrate the start of the new Yorkshire hub: Wellington Place in Leeds.

HMRC and the Cabinet Office have signed a 25 year lease on the site, which will see 6,000 civil servants relocate to the premises.

‘This is another step in HMRC’s transformation into a modern digitally advanced tax authority,’ said HMRC chief executive Jon Thompson.

‘It’s the beginning of a process that will see around 3,800 colleagues come together in state-of-the art facilities, enabling closer working relationships and increasing our effectiveness in collecting taxes. It will also make HMRC an important contributor to the economy and to communities in and around Leeds.’

Wellington Place will be developed by MEPC and funded through a joint venture between Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Hermes Investment Management.

NHS Digital will also relocate to the new hub to enable smarter and more flexible working.

Chief executive of NHS Digital, Sarah Wilkinson, said: ‘We are delighted to co-announce our involvement with the new Leeds Government hub, this is a significant investment in the city and reinforces their longterm commitment to Leeds. As one of Leeds major employers, it is an opportunity for greater consolidation of our Leeds estate when completed and will enable us at NHS Digital to build on our existing strong relationships with the wider NHS and government departments.’

December 2017

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Case study

From garage to modern college A new building for the UK’s first free school to offer vocational training to students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities has been successfully delivered.

William Eichler finds out more.

Staff and pupils from Wolverhampton Vocational Training Centre (WVTC), the first free school in the UK to offer vocational training to students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), have been able to move into their new £3m home.

Once an old industrial garage, the onestorey, 150,000 sq ft building is now a modern, functioning school with 12 classrooms and capacity for 50 pupils.

Morgan Sindall, who are in a consortium arrangement called Community Solutions with sister company Lovell, were brought in by the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) - via the Constructing West Midlands Framework - to accelerate the project.

Working alongside the schools governing trust, The Central Learning Partnership Trust (TCLPT), Morgan Sindall’s site and design teams were able to realise efficiencies in the existing plans, enabling the new facility to be delivered within budget.

Ged McClinton, project director at the ESFA, says: ‘It has created an environment that will enhance the practical learning experience for the students of WVTC, improve their life chances and increase the likelihood of students securing fulltime employment when they leave. Its collaborative approach involving the staff and students at every stage in the process has paid off.’

Speaking to Public Property, Dave Kelly, Morgan Sindall’s framework manager December 2017

responsible for the project explains what design issues had to be taken into consideration to ensure the building was suitable for SEND students.

‘We worked closely with the college staff and the ESFA from day one, ensuring that the building adhered to Department for Education guidelines for SEND teaching environments,’ says Mr Kelly.

‘The size of teaching areas, and ease of navigation between them, are both important design elements. Larger spaces allow students to move around more freely, with a comfortable distance between themselves and others. They also provide greater accessibility for students using wheelchairs or walking aids.’

‘The lighting and walls have been designed to avoid sensory overload, which may otherwise cause anxiety or distress to some students,’ he continues.

‘We also created sheltered outdoor areas.

These provide a quiet and calm environment for students who need to step out of the main building for whatever reason.’

The new building has been designed with specific trades in mind, including construction, carpentry, catering, painting and decorating, dog grooming, hair styling and horticulture. There is also a separate MOT bay, which allows vehicle maintenance to be taught, along with an external brick laying area covered by canopies.

Public Property asked Mr Kelly about the

main challenges in converting an industrial garage into a modern college: ‘The college needed to be on one level to make it suitable for SEND teaching. This necessitated extensive excavation and the creation of several retaining structures to the north of the site,’ he explains.

‘The existing building needed comprehensive internal and external remodelling. In addition to installing a new roof and windows, the site team made several structural improvements. The external rendering gives the building a modern look and feel, complementing the new build extension which houses the motor vehicle maintenance bay.’

The building has also been designed to be flexible to allow for the accommodation of new trades in the future, explains Mr Kelly.

‘The design of the classrooms and workshop provides the college with the flexibility to deliver core subjects, like English and Maths, in addition to a comprehensive range of vocational courses.

‘The electrical services have been surface mounted to facilitate reconfiguration of the teaching spaces. The size of the classrooms futureproofs the building, as they can easily accommodate a variety of industrial machinery and tools.

‘We have also built additional capacity into the site’s infrastructure to allow the college to build outwards, should they wish to expand in the future.’

19

Case study

Heat is on for fire stations Northumberland’s fire stations are to be heated using the ground’s natural heat, reducing the council’s use of fossil fuels and generating income.

Public property finds out more.

Northumberland County Council has given the go-ahead for more fire stations to be fitted with ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) in a bid to improve the energy efficiency of its estate and generate new sources of income.

The plans will see the council invest around £400,000 in the three schemes at Bellingham, Allendale and Rothbury retained fire stations. The GSHPs will use the natural warmth from under the earth’s surface to heat the buildings. As well as improving the energy efficiency of the fire stations, the new heating will also reduce the council’s reliance on fossil fuels.

The council also expects the project to recoup the original investment and generate a further £130,000 profit over the next 20 years as it qualifies for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

GSHPs have already been installed at three other fire stations in the country, and work is underway at other key council assets.

Cllr Nick Oliver, the council’s cabinet member for corporate services, said: ‘As a council we are determined to do all we can to

20

reduce our carbon footprint while looking at new ways of generating income.

‘By using this innovative technology we can tap into the earth’s natural resources to heat some of our buildings and it’s a system we are looking to expand in the future.’

The renewable heating system will be delivered by Kensa Heat Pumps, and will reduce energy bills by as much as a third, and half the carbon emissions.

Simon Lomax, managing director of Kensa Heat Pumps, explains: ‘Northumberland County Council’s pioneering programme will reduce running costs, decrease ongoing maintenance costs and lower the carbon footprint of a wide variety of buildings.

‘The council’s costs are being fully recovered via the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive so there is a robust financial justification to underpin the initiative. We hope other local authorities will follow this example as there are compelling reasons to support an upgrade to ground source heat pumps.’

Further Kensa ground source heating upgrades with Northumberland County Council will feature an adolescent services office and a large council depot including offices and workshops.

Feasibility reports are currently underway for several other council buildings including more fire service properties.

December 2017

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