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.
The Brookbanks Development Partner Podcast
Dan Whelan of Place interviews our Executive Chairman Paul Boileau and Associate Development Director Fran Taylor for our new Podcast on sharing our expertise in designing and delivering major development projects around the UK. What are the major challenges and how are they overcome?
In the first of our series on designing and delivering major projects, our Executive Chairman Paul Boileau, and Associate Development Director Fran Taylor, sat down with Place in July 2024.
In view of the pressing need to ensure the largest planned development projects across the UK come forward and deliver much needed new homes, our specialists share their views on how to bring these forward in the right way. Theirs and their teams expertise gained in driving the delivery of countless new settlements and urban extensions over the past three decades makes this well worth a listen!
At Brookbanks, we always strive to deliver The Brookbanks Difference; innovating throughout every project, maximising value, minimising costs and hitting key delivery timescales. We will always work hard so that you hit our clients financial, social and environmental targets. When we sat down with Place in July 2024, we explored how Brookbanks work with our clients on a daily basis to push development forward while maximising returns.
The Brookbanks Development Partner role offers an overarching outcome focused service, with a delegated responsibility to facilitate the delivery of a major development site. We can holistically control the planning, design and delivery of the physical and social infrastructure for these major projects. We do this time and time again around the UK, learning from each experience, retaining the benefit of all this knowledge for our next scheme.
Our outputs complement our clients’ and partners’ own expertise, be that securing planning consents, selling serviced land parcels or building/selling new homes. Together we make each other stronger and more successful.
Find out what Paul and Fran had to say below and see more about of Development Partner expertise here: Development Partner – Brookbanks
“They really care about what they do and they want to know they’re making money for their clients.”
Managing Director,
Strategic Land Promoter Client
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Development Director
Fran Walker
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Chairman
Paul Boileau
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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.
Our April 2026 Newsletter
April 27, 2026
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.