Cost and Viability in Planning and Development

Through planning policy requirements, developers are required to engage early on viability issues during the initial planning process. Sites must also demonstrate that they can be brought forward with a suitable level of contribution to the local community, whilst delivering an acceptable level of profit for the developer.

In today’s world of cost inflation and scarcity of suitable land it essential to benchmark and appraise sites as early as possible in the planning and development lifecycle.

Brookbanks is in a unique position of being able to advise landowners, land promoters, and developers at every stage of development on both costs and viability using our innovative tools and our cradle to grave approach. We utilise our in-house specialist teams comprised of experts who can deliver cost effective and reliable advice.

We pride ourselves on ensuring that decisions made during the planning process result in deliverable and cost-effective schemes for our clients. Without this, planning consents risk being gained without the true cost and buildability of a scheme being fully appraised.

Please contact us for more information on what we can do to assist your scheme.

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The Risk of Stalling Healthcare Projects

May 12, 2026

The Risks Stalling Healthcare Projects There's a version of every healthcare project that looks deliverable on paper. The site sits within the right catchment. It's in the strategic outline case. The ICS has signed off on the clinical model, the architects have done something genuinely thoughtful with the brief, and the project team is cautiously optimistic about hitting the OBC submission window. Then the ground investigation comes back… or the highways authority raises a junction capacity objection that nobody reviewed thoroughly during site selection. Or the drainage strategy is finalised two weeks before the planning committee, and the mitigation required has discreetly added seven figures to a capital budget that is already full of assumptions. This might be “just how things are”, but it’s important to remember that healthcare projects carry specific consequences that a delayed commercial scheme may not have.

Brookbanks project at pre-build stage with diggers preparing the ground.

Podcast Episode #16: Material Matters, Cut and Fill

May 5, 2026

Explore how early cut and fill strategy, sequencing and on‑site material management shape cost, programme and environmental outcomes on development projects.

Mitigating the Impact of Global Uncertainty

April 30, 2026

Rising geopolitical tension does not affect development viability in isolation, but through increasing pressure on energy prices, supply chains and the cost of energy‑intensive materials. Where schemes are progressed on assumptions made under more stable conditions, these pressures can quickly challenge margins, appraisals and deliverability, particularly in a flat housing market. Our article looks at how developers can respond to build cost volatility in a more informed and proportionate way. Drawing on our specialists' experience, it explores how early coordination, design‑led value engineering and integrated decision‑making can help manage cost risk, protect scheme viability and avoid short‑term measures that compromise long‑term quality and value.