Projects

The North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration team, a multi-authority body, commissioned PRD and project partners AR Urbanism to review options for two key high street sites on behalf of Bromsgrove District Council. The sites are at either end of the town centre, which Bromsgrove DC aims to revitalise with new workplaces, retail, and leisure.

To complement the council’s own ambitions, PRD and ARU consulted various stakeholders throughout the town centre. With this feedback, the project team developed options for the sites and PRD assessed the deliverability and viability for each, resulting in scheme options that would be attractive to the developer market, fundable, and play a wider role in regenerating the town centre.

The proposals included a mix of housing and ground floor community uses for one site and a mix of workspace and meanwhile use leisure on the other, which will enhance the existing town centre by bringing in new residents and modern, bespoke spaces for different uses.

PRD worked with three Southwark- & Lambeth-based Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) – Better Bankside, Team London Bridge, and WeAreWaterloo – to identify opportunities for them to help their levy-paying member businesses meet their employment needs. The BIDs jointly established EmploySE1 in 2011 as a localised recruitment service for their members, but following a hiatus since 2021, wanted to redevelop it in a format that offers a more updated service provision.

We undertook a programme of desk-based research and engagement to develop a set of recommendations for the BIDs to take forward. The service has always had a local focus, and so we analysed secondary data to provide a snapshot of the local socio-economic context. This was followed by a series of engagement activities such as a survey and focus groups to understand member businesses’ current challenges and needs around recruitment, training and development, and retention, as well as one-to-one conversations with external stakeholders to learn from their experience and explore potential for partnerships in the area. This insight informed the development of recommendations for what the new EmploySE1 service might look like, and the identification of opportunities for the BIDs to pursue. After testing these ideas with the BIDs, we presented our findings and recommendations in a report.

The outcomes of this work will inform future business planning and budget allocation within the BIDs, with the aim of remaining agile and continuously evolving to meet business needs.

After launching its Small Sites, Small Builders programme in 2018, the GLA commissioned PRD to review the impact of the programme’s pilot schemes and determine how the programme can be improved ahead of a wider rollout.

PRD evaluated which types of organisations received effective support, the form of support (e.g. grants, guidance to sourcing or unlocking suitable land, upskilling staff), the impact of support, and overall value for money. We also consulted landowners, GLA partners, and small builders to gather feedback on the types of support and changes necessary to strengthen the programme.

We developed a forward plan for the GLA mapping a set of interventions to improve the programme and make it as impactful as possible while working within a limited budget. As an extension to our commission, we developed public-facing guidance for unlocking small sites.

The London Borough of Lambeth sought to establish a council-owned housing company to reach ambitious targets for building new social rented housing. PRD initially advised on organisational structuring, delivery strategy and programme management options; undertook extensive engagement and education with councillors, officers, and other stakeholders; liaised with tax, accounting, and legal advisors to test the robustness of the proposed structure against Homes for Lambeth’s (HfL) development goals; helped establish a company Board; and supported the Board to consider messaging and opportunities to meet wider council objectives.

Since Cabinet approved PRD’s recommendation to establish HfL as a wholly-owned company with a group structure and the detailed governance proposals, we have continued to support HfL at the Board, executive and wider stakeholder levels. With partners , PRD has carried out business and resource planning, co-ordinated legal advice on loans and financing, prepared documents for the Regulator of Social Housing, and developed agreements between the council and HfL.

Liverpool City Region, comprising six Liverpool-area local authorities, commissioned PRD to establish a portfolio of sites that would benefit from Homes England funding for infill and small-scale residential development.

The Liverpool region has some of the most challenging viability constraints in the country, making development at this scale difficult. PRD identified additional obstacles, such as remediation and demolition costs, fragmented ownership, conflicting landowner ambitions, and costs of utilities/services. We consulted individual local authorities, small developers, landowners, and registered providers to understand their own barriers to delivery, the most effective ways for funding to unlock development, and ideal site types.

From this, we developed scoring criteria to help whittle down a longlist of 650 sites into a shortlist of 50 best sites that can be delivered in the shortest amount of time and with minimal intervention. We also built a ‘roadmap’ of next steps for LCR and Homes England to begin rolling out a programme of procurement and funding for the first wave of sites.

The OPDC development area spans the boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Brent and Ealing and is responsible for regenerating 950 hectares around Old Oak Common and the industrial Park Royal site. The project will bring 24,000 homes, 55,000 jobs, and a new HS2 station. Within Park Royal is a substantial element of the site. Covering around 500 hectares, it is London’s largest areas of designated Strategic Industrial Land (SIL). Its economy comprises over 35,000 jobs spread across around 2,000 businesses and contributes circa £2 billion economic output (GVA) per annum.

PRD has been involved in several studies and strategies for this area:

• We produced the What Works: Park Royal study to develop clear plans for industrial regeneration in Park Royal. The study advises how the economy can grow and evolve in response to Covid-19 and nearby non-industrial regeneration, with an explicit focus on providing new affordable workspace.
• We built a bespoke Industrial Funding Strategy to support the OPDC’s ambitions for industrial growth in Park Royal and Old Oak North, along with partners Newbridge Advisors and Gerald Eve. The IFS identifies spaces requiring investment and intensification, investment gaps, funding sources to meet needs/fill the gaps, and how OPDC and its partners can access the funding sources. Our team consulted with cross-sector stakeholders (including the core investor, developer and occupier market) to inform the strategy, which will directly drive how OPDC delivers regeneration.
• We developed a Socioeconomic Funding Strategy with Regeneris Consulting to identify sources such as the Apprenticeships Levy, domestic and European funding, business rate retention, and private investment that can be used for local social and economic initiatives.
• PRD team members have also worked on the OPDC’s Future Sectors Study, Food Sector Study, Regeneration Funding Study, and the Park Royal Intensification Study.

Working alongside and Atkins, Oxford City Council, Oxford County Council, Network Rail, and the Oxfordshire LEP, PRD is providing strategic property development, value capture, viability and delivery advice to inform and guide the updated masterplan for this globally important city gateway.

Drawing on our experience of harnessing infrastructure investment to drive wider benefits, our economic work in Oxford and our strong background in formulating delivery options and viability assessments, we are establishing a business case for adjacent station redevelopment and bringing delivery certainty to the project.

Supported by acclaimed architects Astudio, PRD was commissioned to develop an Action Plan to secure the long-term viability of Sutton town centre. LB Sutton commissioned this innovative project to re-energise the existing strategy for the town centre, which had lost momentum as the economic downturn made the major spatial strategy for the area undeliverable.

We did a thorough analysis of the town centre’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and a review of policy, baseline data and best practices. Together with LB Sutton and local stakeholders, we developed a portfolio of short, medium and long-term interventions of varying levels of complexity, cost and risk.

The revised strategy promotes an innovative, community-driven focus, with public realm, meanwhile uses and public art being conduits to reposition the town centre at the heat of civic life. It also proposes a proactive approach that empowers the council to take control of regeneration and development in the town centre.

LB Sutton has since embarked on a range of initiatives which build on the proposals in the action plan; make the most of the town centre’s long pedestrian thoroughfare; and present a vibrant mix of uses at a human scale. These initiatives include Sutton Works (delivering innovative workspace in a former BHS department store with GLA Good Growth Funding), the Market House Hub, the Future High Streets Fund project and the Town Centre Masterplan.

Be First commissioned PRD to develop a delivery strategy for Thames Road, an area of former Strategic Industrial Land that has been de-designated and allocated for mixed-use regeneration. The area is projected to deliver 3,000 to 4,000 homes in the future, alongside a large amount of industrial space, presenting delivery challenges.

We helped Be First think about how it can use its land holdings to leverage value and influence the delivery of adjacent parcels in order to realise the regeneration vision at Thames Road. We undertook a thorough review of the Council’s property portfolio at Thames Road, alongside high-level capacity modelling and a review of industrial co-location and intensification precedents.

PRD produced a high-level delivery strategy and follow-on commercial advice around the viability of industrial intensification to shape Be First’s thinking. The client recommissioned us to do a follow-on piece of work engaging with businesses and communities at Thames Road to understand their needs and future aspirations to inform thinking around decant and retention/relocation.

Worcester Shrub Hill Station is a Grade-II listed building nearing dereliction through lack of investment. The station surroundings are similarly disinvested and poorly signposted to the nearby city centre. Early business cases and cost-benefit ratios for redeveloping the station did not support investment.

PRD is working on a long-term project with Worcestershire County Council to develop a feasible strategy for station investment and development. Following extensive viability testing, socioeconomic profiling, visioning workshops, and reviewing funding and land value capture models, we advised WCC that unlocking wider regeneration around the station and land value capture would make investment viable.

This has enabled WCC to buy 4.5 hectares of land around the station with a view to catalysing 1000 homes, 7000 jobs, and 102,000 m² of new commercial space for Shrub Hill over the next 30 years, with flexibility built in so development can respond to market changes. WCC themselves will act as an anchor tenant, moving from an out-of-town office park back to the heart of the city and repurposing an underused asset.

We are now supporting WCC and Worcester City Council to form a development plan for the 4.5 ha plus surrounding sites under other ownership. This involves identifying reusable assets, deliverable parcels throughout the site, phasing options, and potential partners.

PRD supported London and Continental Railways and Worthing Borough Council in designing, structuring and launching an innovative public-public partnership focused on development and regeneration.

The partnership will initially focus on promoting and realising development on several publicly owned but previously stalled town centre sites. Development of the sites will help realise the council’s vision for the town centre.

We subsequently provided further development management and commercial support to mobilise the partnership.