Brookbanks Latest News

As the long-term sustainability and operational efficiency of developments come under greater scrutiny, the balance between initial capital outlay and long-term expenditure is playing an increasingly important role in successful project delivery. In our latest podcast, “Life Cycle & Upfront Costs,” Ben Wakeling is joined by Gerrad Mukuyu to explore how these two critical aspects of project budgeting interact in practice. The discussion focuses on why evaluating a project's financial footprint over its entire lifespan rather than just its construction phase can improve scheme viability, reduce risk, and ultimately create more sustainable, cost-effective assets.

In this webinar we explore how grid constraints are increasingly affecting development and how smart local energy systems could help unlock capacity and accelerate delivery. Hosted by Matthew Capper, with guest Ed Hurford from the Local Energy Markets Alliance (LEMA), the session takes a conversational look at the challenges facing the electricity network and introduces an emerging, market‑based solution designed to address them. The discussion is particularly relevant to those working across planning, utilities and development who are dealing with delays, costs and uncertainty associated with grid connections on new and existing schemes.

Brookbanks is pleased to announce that it has entered into a new partnership with CBPE Capital, marking an exciting new phase in the continued evolution of the business.

In a planning and development environment shaped by shifting policy, infrastructure pressures, viability challenges and evolving stakeholder expectations, a land strategy cannot remain static. What may have been commercially robust or technically deliverable six months ago can quickly become constrained by new planning guidance, utility limitations, changing market conditions or updated environmental requirements. For landowners, promoters and developers, this means that regular land strategy reviews are no longer simply good practice, they are becoming essential risk management tools.

As development sites become more constrained and expectations around multi-use building designs continue to rise, structural engineering choices are playing an increasingly important role in successful delivery. In our latest podcast, “Design of Transfer slabs and efficient structures,” Ben is joined by Chris Vivian and Devi Varatharajan to explore current industry trends in concrete design. The discussion focuses on how transfer slabs impact construction efficiency, carbon footprints, and why early-stage engagement is critical to optimizing building design.

Education facilities play a vital role in shaping successful residential communities. Alongside providing essential school places for growing populations, they help create well-connected neighbourhoods, support long-term community wellbeing and contribute positively to placemaking outcomes. For developers bringing forward significant housing schemes, deciding how education infrastructure obligations should be delivered is rarely straightforward. In most cases, this involves either directly delivering a new education facility as part of the development, or making a financial contribution through a Section 106 Agreement to support provision elsewhere. Each approach carries implications for cost, programme, planning strategy and the long-term success of the development.

As development sites become more constrained and expectations around placemaking continue to rise, the interaction between transport planning and acoustics is playing an increasingly important role in successful design. In our latest podcast, “Moving Places, Managing Noise,” Ben Wakling is joined by Melanie A’Lee and Tom Quaife-Jones to explore how these two disciplines come together in practice. The discussion focuses on how early coordination between transport and noise specialists can improve scheme viability, reduce planning risk and ultimately create better places to live.

Expanding our specialist services to include integrated acoustic consultancy strengthens how we support clients across the full development lifecycle. By bringing together building acoustics and environmental noise and vibration, we are able to provide a more coordinated and consistent approach to sound, from early feasibility through to detailed design. This article introduces our acoustics capability at Brookbanks, outlining the expertise within the team and the role acoustics plays in delivering compliant, well‑designed and high‑performing environments across a range of sectors.

May has been a busy month across the industry, with our team attending a number of key events, including UKREiiF, to share insights around the current challenges facing planning, infrastructure and development delivery. Alongside this, we hosted our Northern Spring Drinks & CPD Event in partnership with the Land, Planning and Development Federation (LPDF) as well as our online webinar. Katie Glaze and Grant Vasey explored why sustainability must move beyond traditional RIBA stages and why real building performance depends on evolving use, ownership, and occupant insights. In our May podcasts, we discussed cut and fill strategies and their impact on development delivery, as well as insights into shaping successful, liveable developments through highways and acoustic design. Also in this month’s newsletter, we look back at our latest article, which explored the growing pressures on the development sector and how to reduce delivery risk during geopolitical uncertainty.

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 design team 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.

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

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.