If you’ve decided to take the first venture of land development, it’s best to go in prepared with full knowledge of the process and what’s involved.
To help you with this, we’ve put together the following post detailing most of the things you can expect to come across when developing land and building your structures. Read on if you’d like to know more.
Table of Contents
Choosing A Plot Of Land
The first place you’ll need to start is choosing the land you are going to develop. The type of land that’s right for you will of course vary depending on what your plans are but, generally, there are a few key things to look out for.
For example, you want to try and find land that is in need of development, rather than green spaces. This will help to add value to the area and improve the look of unused land, whilst avoiding taking away land from green spaces. You will also want to find out more about the piece of land you’re interested in, such as whether it would be suitable for planning permission.
Applying For Planning Permission
Applying for planning permission can be a tedious process, but it’s necessary to ensure the plans you have for the land are appropriate for the land and the surrounding area. Make sure you have your plans completely drawn up and include all the information your council will need in order to be able to grant permission.
What To Include In Planning Permission Applications
So, what do you need to include in planning permission? This will depend on your individual choice of land and its setting so you’ll need to contact your council to find out more. However, these are some of the things that commonly need to be included:
- Layout- The layout of your building plans for the land you’re developing, both for individual building sites and housing developments.
- Materials – All the materials you intend to use for your building plans and surrounding landscaping.
- Drainage- The drainage and plumbing details for the entirety of the land.
- Parking- Parking locations, whether as a car park, individual houses offroad parking, and roadways through the land
- Surveys– any surveys that you are required to have had carried out on the land
Surveys
Surveys are sometimes required to be carried out in order to make sure that the land you’re intending to build on is suitable for the purpose. Ecological surveys assess whether there is a risk to things such as wildlife, protected species, trees, and plants from the building works. If you require ecological surveys, then contact this team of ecological consultants today.
You could also require more specific ecological surveys if you discover there are endangered species such as bats present on the land. If you’re developing an existing property, then you will need a detailed building survey, especially if the structure is of significant age.
Reasons An Application Can Be Rejected
You might be wondering what are some of the reasons planning permission could be rejected? There are many reasons your application can be rejected but common reasons include affecting the surrounding land and neighbourhood. For example, if it is felt that your building plans would encroach on your neighbours, or that the style of the building work wouldn’t be fitting for the existing character of surrounding buildings.
This is especially common in areas where there are a lot of period properties, and your building architecture would stand out from them. Other common issues include the effect your building work would have on wildlife and natural spaces. There are many protected species of animals, trees, and plants that can lead to a rejected application as nature conservation is an increasingly important issue. It could be due to listed structures that are present on the land and would be affected by the plans you have in place. It’s also to make sure that the planning would not affect the access to roads surrounding your lands.
Designing Building Work
You may have experience designing building works yourself, but if not, you will need the support of an experienced and knowledgeable architect. It will of course depend on the types of development you have in mind. Whether that’s renovating existing properties or building a new housing estate.
When developing existing structures, it’s important to make sure you’re sympathetic to the architecture of it, especially if it is a period property. If you’re building a new housing estate, then you will need to make sure the plans work well with the land you choose and follow guidelines for building standards. You will also need to consider access to natural gas, electricity, sewers, and telephone lines for the properties you’re building.
Researching Your Market
The structures you’re developing will likely appeal to a certain area of the market, so you need to consider aspects of the build that will help it to stand out to your target market. Consider the demographic of your target market and what they would tend to be looking for in a property.
For example, do you need to prioritise the number of bedrooms and bathrooms? Will garden space or access to offroad parking help it to appeal to your market? Many factors can affect what kind of market you will be appealing to, such as the location and land you’re building on.
Insuring Your Site
Whatever kind of building work you’re carrying out, when you’re hiring contractors or will have members of the public on-site, you will need to take out insurance. This will help to protect you from the costs of repairing damaged building work and stolen or damaged equipment.
It will also help to cover the legal costs involved if someone becomes injured whilst on your site and chooses to make a claim against you for compensation. The types of insurance you will need include employer’s liability insurance, legal insurance, building insurance, and insurance for if there are any public access routes on your land.