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Brookbanks September 2025 Newsletter

The Brookbanks Difference / News / Brookbanks September 2025 Newsletter
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As September draws to a close, we’ve been reflecting on a productive month of insights, innovation, and collaboration across the development and infrastructure sectors. In this newsletter, we share the latest industry and Brookbanks updates, to help you stay ahead of changes.

BREEAM New Construction v7: Getting Ahead with Sustainable Compliance

This month, we released our guide on BREEAM New Construction v7, due Summer 2025.

It’s more than an update; it represents a shift in how sustainability, carbon, and resilience are evaluated in building projects.

Key updates include:

  • Embodied carbon is now more heavily weighted, and predictive energy modelling will be required as part of the design stage.
  • The “Simple Buildings” assessment route has been removed. All projects will be assessed via the full pathway.
  • Water usage will be considered not just as a resource issue but linked to whole-life carbon.

Why this matters: Projects initiated without accounting for these changes may find themselves facing downgrades or unexpected costs. Early involvement of sustainability specialists (e.g. BREEAM assessors) and integrating these requirements into the early design and procurement stages will help protect both budget and rating outcomes.

Reach out to Shawn Galliers, Director of Sustainability, for more information.

View Shawn Galliers bio

Structural Engineering: Integrated, Efficient, and Built to Last

In our recent team video, and article “Structural Engineering: Integrated, Efficient, and Built to Last”, we introduced our Structural Engineering team and explored how we are pushing for structural design that works in harmony with architecture, M&E, and commercial strategy.

Key takeaways included:

  • Rather than treating structure almost as an afterthought, early collaboration reduces material waste, speeds up tendering, and reduces rework.
  • Efficiency of structure (in terms of both cost and embodied carbon) increasingly depends on early-stage modelling and choosing construction methods/materials that balance upfront cost with long-term performance.
  • Practical design constraints are not just about load or span, but access, maintenance, thermal performance, and how components will interface over the life of the building.

How clients can benefit: By involving our structural team early, you gain more predictable cost outcomes, fewer surprises in contractor bids, and buildings that perform better (in cost, safety, sustainability) over their lifetime.

Chat to Chris Vivian, Group Director for Structural Engineering, to see how we could support you.

Watch our Structural Engineering team video

Building Safety Act 2022: Bigger Impacts, Practical Steps

We published our full overview of the Building Safety Act 2022 and our M&E team hosted a dedicated webinar on this topic, led by Jack Kenny. The BSA continues to reshape how building safety is regulated in England.

Key lessons included:

  • For higher-risk buildings (HRBs), there is now a gateway approval process at key project stages.
  • The “Golden Thread” of safety information must be maintained throughout design, construction, and operation, with digital documentation and ongoing accountability at front and centre.
  • Liability periods have been extended significantly; clients, designers, and contractors will need to factor in this long-tail risk.

What this means for you: Decisions that used to be made later in a project (materials, contractor appointments, detailed design) now need earlier attention. Ensuring that all duty holders are clear on their responsibilities and that safety documentation is robust from day one, can reduce delays, cost surprises, and regulatory friction.

Thank you to everyone who joined our BSA webinar, and contributed to the discussion. If you missed it, don’t worry, you can catch up via the link below.

Catch up on our webinar
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Upcoming Webinar

Looking ahead, Jack Lynch (Planning Manager) and Fran Walker (Senior Associate Director) from our DM group will be hosting the next webinar at:

12:30pm on Wednesday 15th October

Focusing on

Elevating Value: Planning & Project Management in Action

They’ll delve into their insights, discussing real word examples about how we tackle barriers to smooth project delivery, ensure stakeholder collaboration and programme complex timelines.

This promises to be a highly practical and valuable session for anyone involved in planning, development management, or large-scale residential schemes.

Sign up here to secure your place

We look forward to seeing you there!

Looking Ahead

Thank you for reading! If you would like to stay in up to date on our news and projects please sign up to our monthly newsletter via the button below.

Our goal is to make sure you’re not just compliant, but resilient and well positioned for the future. If you’d like to discuss any of these topics in more depth, or assess your projects with fresh eyes, contact Rachel Appleby, Group Business Director, at rachel.appleby@brookbanks.com.

Alternatively, follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or YouTube for real-time news and content. For example, this month we shared on LinkedIn and Instagram that we were shortlisted as “Residential Consultancy Team of the Year” at the 2025 Midlands Property Awards and we published our second podcast episode on YouTube, diving into post-contract administration.

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Meet some of our senior team

Group Managing Director

Andrew Thorley

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Anthony Brown, Group Director for Cost and Commercial at Brookbanks
Group Director of Cost and Commercial

Anthony Brown

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Lee Witts, Group Director at Brookbanks
Group Director for Land, Development and Communities

Lee Witts

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Paul Boileau, Chairman at Brookbanks
Chairman

Paul Boileau

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Paul Rushmer, National Director for Building Engineering at Brookbanks
National Director for Building Engineering / Head of London Office

Paul Rushmer

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Rachel Appleby, Group Business Director at Brookbanks
Group Business Director

Rachel Appleby

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Richard Moorcroft, Group Technical Director at Brookbanks
Group Technical Director

Richard Moorcroft

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Tori Hall, Group Director at Brookbanks
Group Director for Development Management / Head of Yorkshire and North East Office

Tori Hall

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Our March 2026 Newsletter

March 31, 2026

Welcome to our March 2026 newsletter. In this issue, we’ll tell you more about how we help SMEs prioritise what matters, avoid the common financial traps, and get projects moving, backed by our experienced team who have real housebuilding experience. We’re looking back on our March webinar, where Jack Kenny and Paul Rushmer gave an overview of how to optimise mechanical and electrical designs specifically for high-risk buildings. Plus, we’ll highlight this month’s podcasts! The first explored where structural engineering and building services design overlap, and why good coordination is so important to project delivery. In episode two, Hannah Simpson, Fran Walker, and Isabelle Latuszka spoke about their early-career experiences and how diverse backgrounds add real value to projects. Below, you’ll also get to hear about some exciting awards news and an event we’re co-hosting with the LPDF in Manchester.

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