I am going to be controversial. Anyone else feel high density housing on brownfield sites have been sidelined? Perhaps it’s unintentional but the big brains seem geared towards green belt and New Towns. Maybe it’s a simpler win to focus on long term house policy rather than the immediate headaches and opportunity that urban brownfield land presents.
Let’s talk about the headaches that may deter policymakers. Top of the list is the new Building Safety Regulator. The number of applications lodged appears to have led to process overload. It’s reasonable to infer the majority of these applications for high risk buildings emanate from brownfield land supply.
A recent FOI from the Fire Industry Association (FIA) ( FOI reveals number of Gateway 2 applications approved by BSR | Fire Protection Association –) revealed only 9 applications have been approved.
Time is not your only killer. Above 18 metres you now are required to have two stairwells, at least two evacuation lifts and one fire fighting lift. This brings new costs to density development but no opportunity to recover value elsewhere.
Alongside these additional fire safety requirements, insurance costs have crept up. Take the rights to light market. It has moved towards higher premiums and more cost risk sitting with developers.
A few years ago, insuring against this would protect a developer not just against injunction but also any individual injury settlement. Now the developer has to settle its own injuries leading to ballooning budgets.
Construction costs have risen significantly in the past three years. Debt is far more expensive than pre-pandemic. Thresholds on planning are now set so high that developers are forced into a viability system fractured from reality and penal to those who cannot meet the policy targets. The list goes on.
Brownfield land is economically challenged in multiple ways. Yet, it still offers the best hope of housing delivery in the short and medium term. A reset is required. We need to look in the round at the challenges and develops policy and approach which can help bring forward the large reservoirs of redundant or underused brownfield which sits within many of the UK’s cities. There is plenty of it out there – but it costs to unlock.
Twenty plus years ago, Kate Barker chaired a landmark review of housing supply. The world has moved on. The challenges have changed and continue to evolve but the exam question remains unanswered.
We need a big budget sequel which takes brownfield land and asks how best it can come forward for new homes of all tenures. Ideally one which can educate Whitehall and Westminster so that we get the right policy response nationally. Sticking plasters and short-term policy initiatives are helpful, but the complexity the sector faces impedes meaningful supply. Brownfield land is still the answer, but getting to this answer is proving elusive.
