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Inside Property Development

Inside Property Development

By: Paul Higgs
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Inside Property Development is a no-nonsense show that rolls up its sleeves and digs into how the world of land, planning and property development really works in practice, providing rare access industry insiders and valuable insights into real-world development deals, as well as keeping you up to date with the latest industry news. Colourful and at times controversial, the show focuses on how to do development the right way and aims to inspire and empower developers of all levels, as well as other professionals in the both the private and public sectors, to work together to build more and better homes that we can all be proud of. Connect with us on our socials for more educational content to help you achieve success in development. Millbank Land Academy Website: www.millbanklandacademy.co.uk Millbank Group Website: www.millbankgroup.co.uk Connect on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/paul-higgs Connect on Facebook: www.facebook.com/paul.higgs.50 Join our community on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MillbankLandAcademy See all episodes on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@millbanklandacademy1266 Economics Education Leadership Management & Leadership Personal Finance
Episodes
  • How Today´s Planning System Puts All of the Cost Burdens on Developers
    Jul 22 2025
    Today, Paul is once again joined by the Director of Town Centre Regeneration Ltd, David Van Der Lande. He is a land development consultant who specialises in assessing viability and land assembly. David is also a compulsory purchase expert. This time he and Paul discuss land valuation, the impact of affordable housing requirements, access to finance, town centre regeneration and more. KEY TAKEAWAYS Paul and David share real-world examples to demonstrate how challenging ticking the viability box has become. It is possible to overcome local authorities who use policy to slow development. But, doing so, is time-consuming. Housing associations do not want to have to manage groups of 2 or 3 affordable homes scattered throughout an area. Raising the trigger level for affordable housing to say 25 houses will result in more homes being built, overall. Most councils will not accept the need for there to be a bigger profit margin when the market is falling. Large developers have access to cheaper finance than smaller developers. This fact is not taken into account by planners. Currently, developers are shouldering all of the costs of addressing society´s problems e.g. affordable housing. BEST MOMENTS “Most policies, allow the flex in the affordable housing elements.” “The actual costs to the council increase substantially for every appeal that they lose.” “There are ways to cut through the complications.” Want to improve your ability to quickly assess the viability of a development site? go to https://bitly.com/MLASCORE. There you will find Paul´s free MLA Scorecard – a short quiz that tests your current land viability abilities and helps you to instantly improve them. Over the past 40 years, Paul hasachieved 100% planning application success. So, you are sure to learn a ton. ABOUT THE GUEST https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-van-der-lande-2b947413 Previous episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/the-role-compulsory-purchase- orders-will-play-in-uk/id1750859336?i=1000716397419 ABOUT THE HOST Paul Higgs is a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor with 40+ years 39; experience in land, planning and development and a 100% success track record in winning planning consents. Paul undertook his first refurb project when he was just 17 and then worked his way up from labouring on building sites to becoming Head of Land for renowned plc housebuilder, Barratt Developments. He managed to escape the corporate world in 2002 to set up what is now a multimillion-pound award-winning property development company, Millbank Group. In 2013 Paul founded the Millbank Land Academy, the UK’s first training company dedicated to property development; to teach established and aspiring developers the insider secrets the big housebuilders don’t want you to know! Paul is also a founding investor and former board director of the industry-leading PropTech Co, LandTech, and has lectured on Advanced Development Valuations on the MSc Property Development at London South Bank University. CONTACT METHOD LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-higgs Millbank Land Academy: https://www.millbanklandacademy.co.uk Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/paulhiggsofficial YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@InsidePropertyDevelopment This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    42 mins
  • Conquering Modern Design, Planning, and Urban Challenges with Esther Kurland Part 2
    Jul 15 2025
    In this episode, Paul once again sits down to talk with veteran planner Esther Kurland, the director of UDL, who has extensive experience including roles at London Transport, the GLA, and several other local authorities. Esther and Paul once again look at the challenges property developers are currently facing and how these issues can be overcome. They discuss the use of the grey belt and why, at some stage, the green belt restrictions will need to change, how design codes work in reality and more. Esther also provides an overview of how Design Review Panels now work. KEY TAKEAWAYS It is very easy for a council that is pro-development to evolve into one that is hard to work with. The grey belt change may be trickier to take advantage of than many developers realise. It is not easy to determine what land is grey belt and what is not. There is a lot of wooliness in planning requirements which is holding development back. Design codes can be a good tool for addressing the most pressing design requirements. These are things that have been consistently asked for. Codes should be there to stop the worst from happening. Creating developments that have the ability to change ensures that they last well. You don´t have to add many requirements to get away from the Tetris-type homes – e.g., changing the way parking is handled. BEST MOMENTS “I personally think it's right that we review the way the Green Belt works and that we're using the land better,” “Having guidance is definitely useful, but having really overly fixed codes or local authorities that try to impose them too strictly, I think is potentially really dangerous .” “Design review helps identify any problems early on that could lead to delay or disappointment later on.” “Don't pay for design review if it's not meeting this code of conduct.” “Planners do tend to copy what has been done before.” EPISODE RESOURCES https://www.linkedin.com/in/esther-kurland-33017115 https://www.urbandesignlearning.com Previous episode with Esther Kurland - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/inside- property-development-5761561/episodes/conquering-modern-design-plann-258095104 ABOUT THE HOST Paul Higgs is a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor with 40+ years experience in land, planning and development and a 100% success track record in winning planning consents. Paul undertook his first refurb project when he was just 17 and then worked his way up from labouring on building sites to becoming Head of Land for renowned plc housebuilder, Barratt Developments. He managed to escape the corporate world in 2002 to set up what is now a multimillion-pound award-winning property development company, Millbank Group. In 2013 Paul founded the Millbank Land Academy, the UK’s first training company dedicated to property development; to teach established and aspiring developers the insider secrets the big housebuilders don’t want you to know! Paul is also a founding investor and former board director of the industry-leading PropTech Co, LandTech, and has lectured on Advanced Development Valuations on the MSc Property Development at London South Bank University. CONTACT METHOD LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-higgs Millbank Land Academy: https://www.millbanklandacademy.co.uk Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/paulhiggsofficial YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@InsidePropertyDevelopment This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    54 mins
  • The Role Compulsory Purchase Orders Will Play in UK Housing Delivery with David Van Der Lande
    Jul 8 2025
    Today, Paul is joined by the Director of Town Centre Regeneration Ltd, David Van Der Lande, a development consultant, viability, land assembly and compulsory purchase expert with many decades of experience. He and Paul discuss how CPOs have been used historically and how they are likely to be used in the future to enable local authorities to deliver on the government´s new housing targets. KEY TAKEAWAYS All local councils can use compulsory purchase powers (CPOs) to deliver a public benefit. CPOs are still mainly used for road building and occasionally for regeneration or key infrastructure projects. More councils are starting to once again take advantage of Compulsory Purchase Orders. We can expect to see CPOs being used more in the near future as the government pushes local authorities to meet new housing targets. In the past, CPOs have been used to deliver large projects, e.g. town centre regeneration, a road or a power station. Potentially, developers could ask local authorities to use CPOs at a much more granular level. David explains how this might be done and the likelihood of success. You have to demonstrate that the development can actually be delivered before a council will seriously back the use of CPOs. There are rules coming down the road which might impact on capital values for certain types of land. BEST MOMENTS “Government has been caught out a few times by the cost of buying land using CPO powers. So there is motivation, shall we say, to try and curtail the amount of money that has been paid to landowners.” ABOUT THE GUEST https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-van-der-lande-2b947413 ABOUT THE HOST Paul Higgs is a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor with 40+ years experience in land, planning and development and a 100% success track record in winning planning consents. Paul undertook his first refurb project when he was just 17 and then worked his way up from labouring on building sites to becoming Head of Land for renowned plc housebuilder, Barratt Developments. He managed to escape the corporate world in 2002 to set up what is now a multimillion-pound award-winning property development company, Millbank Group. In 2013 Paul founded the Millbank Land Academy, the UK’s first training company dedicated to property development; to teach established and aspiring developers the insider secrets the big housebuilders don’t want you to know! Paul is also a founding investor and former board director of the industry-leading PropTech Co, LandTech, and has lectured on Advanced Development Valuations on the MSc Property Development at London South Bank University. CONTACT METHOD LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-higgs Millbank Land Academy: https://www.millbanklandacademy.co.uk Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/paulhiggsofficial YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@InsidePropertyDevelopment This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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    41 mins
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