Welcome to our April 2026 newsletter. In this month's Brookbanks newsletter, learn more about how high-rise developments can be made more deliverable, with guidance on how you can reduce risk and protect viability. We're also looking back on our April webinar, where Annabel Le Lohe and Katherine Peers gave a rundown of Environmental Impact Assessments and how coordination can make a real impact on project delivery. Plus, there's a recap of this month's podcasts featuring two special guests. Paul Smith, Managing Director at The Strategic Land Group, and Tom Park, Associate Development Director at Caddick Developments. Also, find out which members of our team will be at UKREiiF as well as more about the CPD event we're co-hosting with the LPDF in May.
This month, our lunchtime webinar was hosted by Annabel Le Lohe and Katherine Peers, who gave a rundown of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).
With extra insight from both a planning and specialist coordinator perspective, they talked through:
If you missed it, watch back now via our YouTube channel to learn more about Environmental Impact Assessments more generally or to boost assessment coordination for your projects.
High‑rise developments rarely fail through lack of ambition, but through risks that are identified too late. When planning, infrastructure, fire strategy, servicing and buildability are treated as separate exercises, schemes often look strong in concept but weaken rapidly at delivery, leading to redesign, delays and value erosion.
In our latest article, we explore why early, joined‑up thinking is essential for tall buildings, and how front‑end due diligence and integrated strategy can reduce risk, protect viability and create schemes that are genuinely deliverable.
This month, we had not one but two special guests join us on our podcast.
Paul Smith, Managing Director at The Strategic Land Group, joined Ben Wakeling to explore why we should be building homes at scale, how political and economic shifts have changed the country’s housing trajectory, and why today’s challenges are rooted in both historical decisions and modern pressures.
In episode two, Mat Capper, Director of Utilities and Jack Kenny, Associate Director of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Brookbanks, were joined by Tom Park, Associate Development Director at Caddick Developments. Their episode took a look at how energy pressures are impacting developments in the industry and logistics sector, and explored how these specific challenges can be tackled, outlining how projects can have the best chance of success.
Watch all our previous episodes on our YouTube channel to learn more about the latest industry updates and hear insights into planning, engineering, design, and infrastructure delivery.
There’s less than a month to go until we will be at UKREiiF.
If you’d like to book a catch-up with any of our team members who will be attending, please reach out to them on LinkedIn or email us, and we’ll put you in touch.
We’re really pleased to be partnering with the Land, Planning and Development Federation (LPDF) to host a CPD and Spring Drinks event in Manchester in May.
The event will be a great chance to learn more about best practices and techniques that enhance the value of strategic developments and to network over drinks.
Limited places are available, so email the LPDF now to book your place.
Email: info@lpdf.co.uk
Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter.
We work across the UK and are always happy to connect, either in person or online, to chat about industry challenges, policy updates, or how we can help with a project.
Drop Owen Smith, our Client Relationship Manager, an email and he will happily introduce you to any of our team.
Email: owen.smith@brookbanks.com
In this webinar, we explore the Government's newly announced Your First Home scheme and what it could mean for first-time buyers, housebuilders, developers and the wider residential market. Using market evidence, industry data and lessons from the previous Help to Buy programme, Richard Moorcroft and Tori Hall explain how the scheme could influence housing delivery and where the key challenges remain.
Identifying a building safety concern is only the first step. The more important question is whether the proposed response is proportionate to the risk. The Building Safety Act (BSA) was introduced in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, creating a new regime for managing risk in higher-risk residential buildings. Responsibility for compliance sits with the Principal Accountable Person and Accountable Persons, who must demonstrate that building safety risks are being identified, assessed and managed effectively.
In this webinar we explore where the two disciplines of acoustics and sustainability intersect in the healthcare sector. Using practical examples, Tom Quaife-Jones and Katie Glaze explain how early co ordination can improve improve performance, protect patient wellbeing and keep projects moving.