Finding more value in existing places

One of the persistent challenges facing UK development is where the next generation of homes, workplaces and infrastructure should go. This week's stories suggest an increasingly clear answer: before expanding outwards, there is considerable value still to be unlocked from the land, infrastructure and buildings we already have.

That principle is particularly visible at Stratford Cross, where plans have been submitted for around 2,000 homes in the final phase of the east London development.

Stratford is hardly an undiscovered regeneration opportunity. Billions have already been invested in transport, commercial development, education, culture and public realm around the former Olympic site. The latest proposals effectively add another layer to that investment, bringing affordable and market housing, student accommodation and co-living into an established employment and cultural destination.

Cambridge North follows similar logic.  Planning approval has been secured for 425 build to rent homes on under-used railway land next to Cambridge North station, with Grainger forward funding the scheme and operating the homes on completion.

The timing is striking. Only last week, the Government introduced a revised National Planning Policy Framework establishing stronger support for residential development within walking distance of well-connected stations. Cambridge North could almost have been designed as a demonstration of the policy: brownfield land, substantial public transport infrastructure and professionally managed rental housing brought together within an existing mixed-use masterplan.

Government is simultaneously attempting to change who can intervene when strategically important developments become caught within the planning system. Under proposals announced this week, mayors across England will gain powers to call in major applications, including schemes of more than 150 homes, 15,000 sq m of commercial space or buildings above 30 metres.

Mayors will also gain greater influence over housing investment and potentially the ability to levy development to finance infrastructure.

Taken together with the revised NPPF, this is becoming a substantial redistribution of planning influence. National government is setting clearer development-positive policies while strategic mayors are being given greater power to intervene in decisions previously concentrated at individual local authority level.

Elsewhere this week, extracting more value from existing locations took a more commercial form. Railpen has started construction at South Mimms X, its 122,820 sq ft industrial and logistics development at the intersection of the A1(M) and M25.

The fundamentals are familiar -  access to London, motorway connectivity and constrained supply -  but the specification demonstrates how expectations of industrial property continue to rise. The development is targeting BREEAM Outstanding, EPC A+ and net-zero carbon, alongside EV charging infrastructure, landscaping and 30% biodiversity net gain.

The days when logistics property could simply offer a large shed beside a motorway are disappearing. Location remains fundamental, but sustainability, energy, employee amenities and future fleet requirements are increasingly becoming part of the investment proposition.

Perhaps the simplest example of extracting greater value from existing property came at New Spitalfields Market.  The City of London Corporation has completed a £1 million, 1.4MWp rooftop solar installation comprising 2,730 panels. It is expected to generate around 1.27GWh of electricity annually at a site where refrigeration, lighting and around-the-clock operation create substantial power demand.

There is an appealing efficiency to the proposition: an enormous roof already exists, the building beneath it needs considerable amounts of electricity, and generating some of that power on site reduces both operating carbon and dependence on the grid.

It also points towards a potentially much bigger opportunity across industrial property. Warehouses and logistics facilities collectively provide vast areas of roofspace at precisely the moment when electricity demand and grid constraints are becoming major economic issues.

Across this week's stories, then, there is a common emphasis on using existing assets more intelligently.  Railway land becomes housing. Established regeneration districts accommodate new residential communities. Motorway junctions support increasingly sophisticated logistics facilities. Industrial roofs become power-generating assets.

Even planning powers are being reconsidered to extract more from established urban areas and existing infrastructure.

The development industry will always need new land and new infrastructure. But some of the most important opportunities ahead may come from looking again at what is already there and asking whether it could work considerably harder.

One to Watch: The rise of station-led development

Cambridge North and Stratford Cross are worth watching in the context of the Government's new planning framework.

Both demonstrate the investment case for concentrating substantial residential development around established transport infrastructure, but the revised NPPF could make that model much more widespread.

For developers and investors, land within walking distance of well-connected stations may consequently take on greater strategic importance. The opportunity extends beyond conventional housing into Build to Rent, student accommodation and co-living, particularly where transport hubs already sit within established employment and amenity clusters.

The question now is how quickly the new policy translates into applications, land values and ultimately construction.

Risk Radar: Planning power shifts outwards

Giving mayors greater powers over strategically important development could accelerate projects that become stalled at local level, particularly where individual applications form part of wider housing, transport or economic strategies.

But another decision-making layer brings its own uncertainties.  Developers will need to understand when mayors are likely to intervene, how local and mayoral priorities interact and whether projects risk becoming caught between different levels of government. Much will depend on the detailed rules still to be published.

The direction is nevertheless significant. Combined with the revised NPPF, England's planning system appears to be shifting towards more strategic decision-making and stronger intervention where local development outcomes conflict with wider growth ambitions.