The Brookbanks Commercial Team work for our clients on a full breadth of development and infrastructure schemes across the UK. Working closely with our in house Technical and Production teams they drive value, find opportunities and ensure effective deliverability. We support our clients by providing a proactive and innovative approach to the management of cost and value at each stage of the development lifecycle.
Some of the services we deliver include:
Feasibility studies: We offer bespoke tools for early stage viability appraisals on any scheme to demonstrate returns on investments.
Cost planning: We establish realistic and measured budgets, using our wealth of experience and our in house Brookbamks benchmarking tools using live data from comparable projects around the country.
Procurement: Our ultimate aim is to protect our clients’ interests whilst providing the conditions for the appointed teams to deliver Value Engineered solutions. We drive tenders on your behalf to effectively open up sites for development and deliver serviced parcels for the strongest financial returns, including tender appraisals and normalisation, negotiation on terms, preparing documents for placing contracts and streamlining the coordination consultant appointments and novations.
Contract Administration: Once Contracts are let our experienced project delivery experts will manage the Contract to deliver your schemes on time and within budget.
Cost Management: We maintain strong reporting against planned progress, from a physical and financial perspective, to ensure that the client team remains fully informed and aware of the value enhancement options.
The Building Safety Levy (BSL) is fast approaching, coming into operation in England on 1 October 2026. Much of the industry discussion so far has understandably focused on the rate of the levy, and its potential impact and importance as part of development planning. However, for many developers, the timing of the payment may be as important, if not more, than the amount itself.
Residential As the UK continued to face pressure to deliver more homes, the housebuilding sector was operating in a complex and fast-moving environment. From policy reform and planning uncertainty to skills availability and new regulatory requirements, the conditions shaping residential development remained firmly in focus. The latest episode of the Brookbanks Podcast our Head of Cost & Commercial, Ben Wakeling sat down with Neil Jefferson, CEO of Home Builders Federation to discuss the current policy and initiatives HBF are in conversation with the Government about. Drawing on their experience across residential build planning, Ben and Neil share their perspectives on where the UK housebuilding industry currently stands, whether there is enough labour force to keep up with property building demands and the opinion of how the building safety levy will affect the industry.
Requests for drainage verification reports from local authorities as part of development approval have become increasingly frequent, as Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) have been introduced as guidance across England, following their mandatory introduction in Wales in 2019. Planning authorities are placing greater emphasis on demonstrating that the designed drainage system for a development has been built in accordance with the approved design, is performing as intended, and will operate effectively once the development is occupied. In our latest webinar, Toby Crayden, Civils Technical Director, explored what a good drainage verification report should look like, the common hurdles that need to be overcome, and how early engagement and good record-keeping can make the process more straightforward, reduce delays and costs.