DEVELOPMENT & PLACE

Appropriate residential development should be a key consideration of any mixed use urban regeneration strategy HOME DELIVERY H ands up if it wasn’t that long ago that you found yourself in a town centre where the dominant type of residential accommodation was either social housing or poorly-managed, mediocre-quality privately-owned terraces. Assuming that most hands are up, it should come as no surprise to find that these kinds of town centres are struggling to pull in new residents to their cores. And yet the benefits of broadening a location’s residential base, as many private investors and local authorities are now recognising, extend far beyond improving the quality of an individual’s living space. More residents bring new vitality, passive security, greater footfall and increased dwell times which in turn extend trading hours and enhance takings for retail and leisure occupiers. Well-conceived residential schemes can reinvigorate obsolete or underutilised space, with benefits for immediate neighbours and the town centre as a whole. While the upsides are clearly visible, how they are achieved in practice can be more complex. In our experience, careful consideration at the conceptual stage pays dividends. The golden rule is that residential buildings should always be appropriate for the particular characteristics of the locality in which they are situated. In Manchester, Cushman & Wakefield are advising on the first wave of PRS housing and here, in a densely populated centre, the proposed signature glass and steel towers work successfully. In smaller town centres however, it may be more appropriate to consider alternatives such as lower rise apartments or townhouses. PRESTON CITY LIVING STRATEGY Cushman & Wakefield was appointed in 2016 to analyse Preston’s city centre residential market and determine its potential for growth. This was a positive response to the adoption, in the same year, of Preston’s City Centre Area Action Plan, which aims to maintain the city’s position as the centre of commercial and administrative activity in Lancashire. Our analysis identified that there is a strong case for new residential development in the city, both new build and refurbished. These could be for sale or for rent (private and social) and could accommodate a range of potential occupants. Recommendations were provided on how a number of potential sites could be brought forward by the public and private sector. A prospectus (launched in April 2017) was created to succinctly and comprehensively showcase the city’s positive attributes, including the development of 17,000 homes over 10 years driven by Preston’s City Deal. This received excellent media coverage and has resulted in a step change in interest from the market. We’ve been retained to provide ongoing development advice, including proposals that are now emerging as a direct result of our work to reposition the city. PRESTON CITY LIVING PROSPECTUS Right Top: Anglia Square, Norwich Bottom: Ambitious new plans for the regeneration of Barking town centre (London), have been described as a 'mini Manhattan' NEW GENERATION OF RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPERS Perhaps the definitive poster child of residential-led regeneration, Urban Splash instantly made a name for itself when it first emerged in the North West in the 1990s. Since then it has gone on to take on projects in the rest of the country and is now one of the UK’s most successful and well-known developers. Celebrating its quarter century in 2018 the Urban Splash team shows no sign of stopping, but many are wondering who will follow in its (admittedly large) footsteps. One of the biggest challenges facing would-be developers in the 2020s is viability. Funding models have changed massively since the heady Urban Splash heydays, when significant public sector contributions were available. Current financing conditions mean that those keen to take on unloved buildings in areas where values are currently low will need to be much more patient than their build 'n' sell predecessors, though the rewards of holding for a longer term will be no less impressive. The good news is that a brave new generation is already pioneering new ways of meeting the post-millennial demand for urban liveability. Urban Splash is pioneering different delivery models and firms like Manchester-based Capital & Centric are presenting a fresh take on providing modern, efficient homes, inspired by, but not necessarily fully adopting, modular building techniques. Urban Splash, Park Hill, Sheffield 22 23 CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD DEVELOPMENT & PLACE