Housing Strategy – Pipeline of Development Opportunities
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council wished to scope and plan its next phase of housing supply by identifying a pipeline of development opportunity sites for regeneration, employment and housing development that would support the Council’s housing targets and would closely correlate with the objectives of Southend 2050 and the Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy.
The Council appointed us to work in partnership with them to develop a robust approach to appraising development opportunity sites that would assess the development potential, ensure alignment with strategic objectives and develop an implementation plan to identify the most appropriate delivery vehicle, the finance/investment plan and the delivery resources required.
The Role
We were brought in to support the Council in reviewing opportunity sites throughout the borough that could form a development pipeline over the short, medium and longer term. The Council wanted to scope and plan the next phase of housing supply and regeneration, looking to maximise the opportunities to deliver new homes. They sought a robust approach to analysing individual sites that would capture the ambition for key sites, whilst also considering how they might fit into a comprehensive development pipeline, what delivery solution should be used for them, and how financial returns could potentially be recycled to improve viability and the programme as a whole.
As part of this role we have:
- Developed a site appraisal spreadsheet tool – a live spreadsheet that can be used by the Council for all future site appraisals.
- Reviewed and appraised sites across the borough to capture their development potential.
- Helped generate and develop understanding of the potential different delivery approaches available to the Council and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
- Supported the Council in considering the potential for a revolving Strategic Investment Fund and the process to establish this.
- Prepared an implementation plan and draft delivery programme.
- Prepared a brief for the high-level design and feasibility work to be completed as development capacity studies.
- Developed a bespoke interactive financial model to assess the high-level viability of sites, bundles of sites and the pipeline as a whole.
- Supported officers in engaging with members, to understand the approach to developing the pipeline.
Key Outcomes
Our work has supported the Council in scoping and planning the next phase(s) of housing supply. Our site appraisal tool has enabled the Council to identify a pipeline of development opportunity sites and develop an implementation plan that considers the most appropriate delivery vehicle, the finance/investment plan and the delivery resources required. This is a live tool that can be used by the Council for all future site appraisals.
The pipeline of development opportunity sites can now be progressed to the next stage and be taken through feasibility and design work to assess viability.
31ten has provided valuable support to us in the development of a robust approach and a practical tool to support the appraisal of our potential development sites. Their work has enabled us to more clearly understand the development potential of our sites and their capacity to meet housing need. Their knowledge and understanding of different delivery approaches has been absolutely invaluable in supporting us to develop a comprehensive development pipeline and a robust implementation plan that strategically bundles our sites to maximise the opportunities and minimises disruption to the borough and our residents.
Alan Richards
Director of Property & Commercial
