Whole developments, and the case for them.
Large blocks and full schemes, across London and the wider UK. At this scale the binding constraints are consent and covenant: whether the authority accepts that the units answer a demonstrated need, and whether the operator standing behind the income is one it can underwrite.
We address both, and take the completed asset.
Prepared to tender standard.
A substantial part of our year is spent submitting to public bodies that evaluate formally, against published criteria, in competition. The resulting documents are short, sourced and scoped to the question asked. Scheme business cases are prepared to the same standard.
Authority placement pressure
Placement volumes, the accommodation types in use, and the proportion secured beyond the authority boundary. Each is a published or obtainable figure and together they establish the need.
The deficit by unit size
Shortage is rarely uniform across unit sizes. An authority may be adequately supplied at one bed while unable to place a family of five for months. A scheme addressing the specific deficit is assessed differently from one adding general supply.
Supply the scheme delivers
Unit by unit against that deficit. A mix determined by a GDV model frequently diverges here; a mix determined against placement requirement reads as a direct response to need the authority has already documented.
Counterparty and covenant
The authority is being asked to support unbuilt housing. A named operator committed to a long term agreement, already supplying that authority or its neighbours, converts a projection into a contracted arrangement.
Demand and land are separate questions.
Securing consent in an area without visible housing pressure of its own is a different proposition from securing it in a high demand authority. It turns on the strength of the demand evidence and on the standing of the operator committed to the completed scheme.
- Why it arises
- Authorities under acute placement pressure routinely secure accommodation beyond their own boundaries, having exhausted supply within them. The authority carrying the duty and the site delivering the units are separate questions.
- What the receiving authority assesses
- Whether the units, at those sizes, answer a documented pressure, and whether the operator behind them is committed for the term. Both are evidential questions with evidential answers.
- Our role in the process
- We present the demand analysis to officers and members in the format procurement teams work in, since it is the format we submit in. The material is sourced and referenced throughout.
- Scope of the engagement
- We support the housing need case within an application; we do not act as planning consultant and we do not run the submission. We commit to the completed asset.
Operator standing and track record.
We have been running this business since 2005 and in its current form since 2014, working with more than 130 councils and government departments, and we are an approved supplier on multi-borough temporary accommodation frameworks. Tens of thousands of tenants have been placed through us.
Where an authority asks who will operate the completed building, the answer is a named organisation it can verify, already supplying that authority or its neighbours, and committed for the full term. Applications naming a committed operator are assessed on a different basis from those with an operator to be appointed.
Schemes at any stage of consent.
Whether the scheme requires demand evidence, an operator commitment ahead of funding, or support in an authority engagement already underway.