Once a use for a site has been identified, we apply value engineering principles through our in-house development team in remediating land and creating development platforms that match the proposed use. The effective preparation of land for future uses is an essential part of delivering new development across our portfolio.
Tackling former industrial sites that have operated for up to a Century often brings a range of technical challenges to consider during the transformation. This includes making land safe for development by removing hazardous materials from site and the re-filling of mine shafts and opencast quarries to create stable platforms. This work may also include the retention or the demolition of former industrial structures as part of delivering the identified vision for the development.
During the early stages of regeneration on former industrial sites, our experienced Operations team can often drive income to the business through the removal and subsequent sale of materials on-site, such as coal fines, to national and regional energy suppliers. Scrap materials, often created through demolition, can also be sold to create a source of income.
The knowledge and expertise gained by the company in treating such sites over the past twenty years has led to our team delivering effective and economic remediation to prepare land for development. This level of expertise has also given us the reputation we have today for regeneration.
Our team are also experts in infrastructure development – we have the in-house capability and finance to take responsibility for large-scale infrastructure such as access roads, service sections, power and water upgrades, often managing work across multiple developers and contractors. This ensures that developments are ‘oven-ready’ for eventual use, with the team also dealing with site gateways, landscaping and other presentational issues as required.
Key Achievements in 2018
At the end of 2018, we were actively delivering a total of 15 major developments, with the wider portfolio having consent for 11,077 residential plots and around 10.7m sq ft of commercial space.