Projects

PRD supported Guy’s & St Thomas’ (GSTT) on their 15-year, £4bn regeneration of its Westminster Bridge and London Bridge campuses. Pre-Covid, PRD worked alongside GSTT in their offices to provide on-demand advice on all property-related matters.

Recent work has included developing proposals for partnerships with key stakeholders and landowners; providing evidence and information to generate support from the governance teams; and identifying and working up proposals for assets that will allow assist with decanting in the short term and further capitalise on regeneration uplift in the long term.

PRD has developed a range of viability models to guide the work programme. We have also helped soft-market test ideas with developers, investors and occupiers, particularly in the MedTech and life sciences sectors, and have managed external consultants on behalf of GSTT to ensure that they receive the best advice possible.

Imperial College London’s White City estate is a world-class research campus located near a major London hub for media, leisure, retail, and nightlife. Imperial commissioned PRD to assess the amenities and public realm at the White City campus and make the case for new placemaking initiatives befitting of one of the most innovative universities in the world.

PRD reviewed the existing ‘landscape’ and asset base at White City, covering aspects such as public realm and connectivity, amenities such as eating places and public events, business/networking opportunities, and the university’s ties to surrounding communities. We engaged the Imperial board, development team, and on-site students, researchers, and incubator enterprises to gather wide-ranging views on what works well about the campus and what could be improved—from business support and networking opportunities to the campus food and beverage offer.

Our final report and presentation to Imperial included examples of inspirational, replicable placemaking interventions from leading research hubs in other cities; the cost of inaction; and a call to establish Imperial White City as an Innovation District with next steps to achieve this.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) secured £1m of the Mayor’s Good Growth Fund to promote employment and economic growth in and around the Kensal Canalside Opportunity Area (KCOA). This has been match funded by £1m from RBKC’s Capital Fund.

Alongside regular collaborators We Made That and Redo, PRD developed a spatial framework to expand Kensal’s creative economy. Our consortium undertook a mapping exercise which revealed the importance of affordable creative workspace and civic and charitable sector clusters not just for the local area but to the wider borough. We developed interventions, including a new workspace for the area, that will ensure development in KCOA reflects and boosts the existing creative economy and brings opportunities for jobs and enterprise for North Kensington.

We also supported RBKC to draft a Supplementary Planning Document to further support the area and we are currently exploring a wider asset development strategy for the borough, in which RBKC takes a direct role to safeguard affordable spaces for the long term and embed inclusive economic growth.

PRD has an ongoing relationship with LB Newham across several workstreams. For example, we developed a comprehensive evidence base for the council’s inclusive economy strategy, which is formed around community wealth building principles. Community wealth building is an economic development approach that redirects wealth and the gains of economic growth back to local neighbourhoods and people.

In response to Covid-19, throughout which Newham’s residents were among the hardest-hit in the country, the council commissioned PRD to expand the strategy to a wider recovery and reorientation plan, which has formed the basis of the borough’s new Corporate Plan.

We have also undertaken research on the impacts of Covid-19 throughout Newham, supported development of a new affordable workspace programme, delivered data training for officers, established a measurement framework for the Corporate Plan and other strategies, and provided socioeconomic data to support masterplanning in areas including Stratford, Canning Town, and Custom House.

Our ongoing partnership with Redo is a platform to help local authorities create asset value strategies by using redundant buildings for social good, particularly to support co-working, start-up and scale-up businesses, and local enterprise.

Redo is the consulting arm of 3space, an affordable/flexible workspace provider. Their model for every space let at an affordable rate, another is given at peppercorn rent, while PRD brings expertise on innovative asset strategies and monitoring success once a space is under operation.

Together, we have delivered and monitored ongoing impact of projects in Brixton, Lancaster, Kensal, and Old Oak & Park Royal.

Development in Runcorn faces several delivery challenges and constraints, including multiple land ownership, safeguarded land and challenging local property market economics.

PRD provided market insight for Runcorn’s Station Quarter as part of a multidisciplinary team. Our input included an in-depth contextual market baseline of local and regional property market economics, developed through data analysis and consultations with agents, key public-sector stakeholders, landowners and key leaseholders. PRD also appraised the development options for the emerging masterplan, which includes consideration of how the council can use its assets to deliver the masterplan and stimulate wider investment in the area.

The masterplan will catalyse wider regeneration in Runcorn, including the town centre, and harness the regeneration potential of HS2.