Inside Property Development

By Paul HiggsBusiness Entrepreneurship Education Investing Courses

Inside Property Development episodes

September 02, 2025The Housing Crisis in Britain: Why It’s Getting Worse
Britain has been facing a housing shortage for decades, and the promises of 300,000 new homes a year remain unfulfilled. In this episode, Paul & Lewis Herbert explore why affordable housing is disappearing, how policy changes and planning hurdles have hurt small developers, and what it means for families struggling to buy or rent.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Housing Shortage Crisis: Britain has long failed to meet housing demands, with government targets of 300,000 homes per year largely unmet. This shortage drives up prices and rents, disproportionately affecting lower-income households.

Decline of Smaller Developers: Since the late 1980s, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) builders have dwindled due to complex planning regulations and market pressures. Their decline has reduced bespoke, community-focused housing development.

Impact of Policy Changes: Shifts in policy, particularly since the 1970s, have reduced the construction of social and affordable housing. The move away from council housing has increased reliance on an increasingly unaffordable private rental market.

Affordability Issues: The gap between income and housing costs has widened, making homeownership harder for younger generations. Families now face much higher multiples of income to afford a home compared to previous decades.

Need for a Comprehensive Strategy: Solving the crisis requires a cohesive approach that addresses housing needs at all income levels. Building more homes and ensuring affordable options are available is critical to preventing homelessness and supporting vulnerable populations.
BEST MOMENTS:
“We haven't been building enough homes for years and years, particularly since the mid-'70s.”

“The people who suffer the most... are on the bottom rung of the ladder.”

“I can't support claiming we're going to build 300,000 unless I can see where the numbers come from.”

“The ability to put up buildings… with modern methods… is not the only solution.”

“Housing is a bit of a tragedy and it is now swallowing a far higher percentage of a lot of people's incomes.”
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/⁠
1 hr 29 min
August 26, 2025Avoid This Property Development Mistake and Build a Future That Lasts
In this episode Paul talks through the significant barriers faced by house building developers, emphasising the critical issues of land availability, planning complexities, and the current skills shortage in the construction industry, Paul shares insights on the importance of understanding the development process and not overly relying on consultants.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Land and Planning Challenges: The primary barriers to growth for house building developers are the cost and availability of viable land, along with the complexities and delays in the planning system. These issues have been persistent and are worsening, leading to a significant housing shortage.

Skills Shortage in Construction: There is a critical skills shortage in the construction industry due to a lack of training and apprenticeships over the years. This has made the actual building process more challenging, compounding the difficulties faced by developers.

Over-Reliance on Consultants: Many developers make the mistake of being overly reliant on their consultants, particularly architects and planning consultants. It is crucial for developers to have a comprehensive understanding of the entire development process to effectively manage and instruct their consultants.

Importance of Knowledge and Experience: For smaller developers, possessing a certain level of knowledge and experience is essential to navigate the complexities of property development. This knowledge helps in managing the various consultants and ensuring that the development process runs smoothly.

The Insider System: A structured approach, referred to as the Insider System, is essential for successful property development. This system emphasises the importance of instructing consultants rather than merely asking for their input, highlighting the developer's role in coordinating the entire process to achieve optimal outcomes.

BEST MOMENTS
"The cost and availability of viable land and the planning system are the biggest barriers to growth for house building developers."
"Building in a sustainable way, and in particular, protecting and looking after nature is a massively important thing."
"When developers become overly reliant on their consultants, particularly architects and planning consultants, that is usually where things can go very, very wrong."

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/
24 min
August 22, 2025The Future of Housing: Challenges & Solutions for Small Developers
In this episode, Paul sits down with property developers Phill Williams and James Emmons to discuss the issues that are preventing SMEs from building new homes in the UK. Including some of the things that can be done to mitigate the risks that are making this problem worse.
Paul also shares the details of a new piece of software he is creating to help developers very quickly identify whether a site is financially viable or not.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
The chance to develop on the grey belt is a once in a lifetime opportunity for developers.

Planning in the UK is so slow and complicated that most SMEs can no longer build. They don´t have the skills to get through planning or the necessary cashflow.

Dodgy lenders are actively feeding off of the complexity of the UK´s building system.

Some lenders deliberately withhold funds at crucial drawdown points, knowing that the developer will no longer be able to fund the deal. The lender then takes it off of them and makes the money themselves.

Often, inexperienced developers make the deal, only to realize later they missed something, and the numbers don’t stack up.

Affordability is the big elephant in the room – when sales are too slow the risk for the developer becomes too high.

Per sq. ft build costs has reached the point where in some parts of the country, especially where property prices are low, there is no way to make a profit.

BEST MOMENTS
“Someone has got to de-risk and create the opportunities for other smaller developers to build.”
“Stacking the schemes correctly is absolutely crucial.”
“Modular, in my opinion, isn’t going to be the main thing that solves the housing crisis.”
“Modular manufacturers don’t really understand the land and planning market well enough.”
“Partial funding to mitigate or share risk, I think is a way forward.”
“Coming up with the scheme that's going to maximize land values is really the art of property
development.”
“It's really important to pay good tradespeople on time and pay them fair rates.”

EPISODE RESOURCES
Land Economics episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/land-economics- 101/id1750859336?i=1000711086989

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/
1 hr 6 min
August 22, 2025Conquering Modern Design, Planning, and Urban Challenges with Esther Kurland part 1
For this episode, Paul is joined by 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 provides an in-depth look at the challenges property developers currently face, how we got here and, importantly, how these issues can be overcome.
Including, multi-time cities, planning for objectives rather than by numbers and communal spaces e.g. Play areas being shared by small groups of neighbours, which could change the density matrix.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Esther's personal experience of living in a poorly designed housing estate sparked her interest in urban planning.

Planning policy is still too complex.

Developers must now achieve multiple objectives including growth, public good, and financial viability.

Some planners think they exist to facilitate growth, others think they exist to facilitate community good and each type of planner tends to only focus on that one thing.

You need a certain density of people to get neighbourhood facilities to work.

If you only build suburbs, you end up needing expensive transport infrastructure.

If you plan for quality, you automatically produce a development that is the correct density for the site. Esther explains how that happens.

Planning policies that say what they are trying to achieve e.g. Good ventilation encourages designers to innovate.

Local authorities are critically under-resourced so developers must be prepared to engage more collaboratively.
BEST MOMENTS
“We literally took the policies out of those 20 different documents and put them in one little concertina booklet that you could put in a pocket.”
"We seem to have been going through planning reform forever. It will settle down now, but we're still not there."
“The planning system has become more and more housing target driven.”
"I think we're building a lot of slums, basically in some of the schemes we see in the highest densities."

EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.urbandesignlearning.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/esther-kurland-33017115

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/
58 min
August 22, 2025SME Developers & the Grey Belt: Two Game-Changers for Solving the Housing Crisis
In this episode Paul takes a deep dive into the government’s emerging “Grey Belt” concept — and whether it could be the planning breakthrough needed to ease the UK housing crisis.
Drawing on over 40 years in the housebuilding industry, Paul explains what Grey Belt land is likely to mean in practice, how it differs from traditional Green Belt, and why the viability of sites will be the make-or-break factor. You’ll hear real-world examples, policy insights, and practical tips on how developers — especially SMEs — can identify and approach these sites.
If you’re serious about development opportunities in a changing planning landscape, this is an episode you can’t afford to miss.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
The “Grey Belt” will likely refer to poor-quality or previously developed Green Belt land, often with existing buildings or dereliction.

Public perception of the Green Belt is often romanticised — not all of it is pristine countryside.

Proximity to existing settlements and sustainable transport links will be critical for planning approval.

Viability is the key issue — high affordable housing requirements could stall many potential sites.

Tools like LandTech’s Land Insight can help identify likely Grey Belt opportunities.

The policy could open up new sites for development — but it won’t solve the housing crisis alone.
BEST MOMENTS
“There shouldn’t be any sides in this — we should all be working together to create good housing and places.”
“Not all Green Belt is beautiful fields and forests — some of it is derelict and crying out for redevelopment.”
“The million-dollar question is: how messy does a Green Belt site need to be before it’s classed as Grey Belt?”
“If viability isn’t handled sensibly, very few of these sites will ever be developed.”

HOST BIO
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
22 min
August 22, 2025The Power of £1 Option Agreements & My 100% Planning Success Strategy
Paul dives into one of the most powerful tools in a developer’s toolkit – the £1 option agreement. Despite sounding too good to be true, option agreements are a tried-and-tested way of controlling land without needing huge amounts of upfront cash.
Paul explains what they are, how they work, why landowners agree to them, and how they can be used to unlock serious planning gain.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Option agreements give you control, not obligation – you can secure land while buying time to add value, without committing if the market changes.
Landowners benefit because developers take on the cost and risk of increasing the site’s value.
The real profit comes from planning uplift – using knowledge and expertise to turn a £1m site into a £2m+ opportunity.
Negotiating the right price is critical – get it wrong and the deal isn’t viable.
Option agreements can also be sold or assigned on, meaning you can profit without ever completing on the land.
Success depends on deep planning knowledge – anticipating objections, reverse-engineering the process, and effectively “doing the planners’ job for them.”
Paul’s approach has helped him maintain a 100% planning approval track record over four decades.

BEST MOMENTS

“Why would I spend millions buying land if I can control it with a pound and a piece of paper?”

“Option agreements buy you time – and in property development, time is everything.”

“The name of the game is making the pie as big as possible, and then negotiating how it gets divided.”

“I’ve never had a landowner pull out of an option agreement in 30+ years – when done right, they’re rock solid.”

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.

He worked his way up from small refurb projects to becoming Head of Land at Barratt Developments before founding his own award-winning development company, Millbank Group, in 2002.

In 2013, Paul launched the Millbank Land Academy – the UK’s first training company dedicated to teaching developers the strategies the big housebuilders would rather keep to themselves. He is also a founding investor in PropTech leader LandTech and has lectured on Advanced Development Valuations at London South Bank University.

CONTACT METHOD

LinkedIn: Paul Higgs

Millbank Land Academy: millbanklandacademy.co.uk

Instagram: @paulhiggsofficial

YouTube: Inside Property Development
32 min
August 05, 2025The Hidden Homelessness Epidemic & Modern Methods Of Construction: Dave Hughes
Paul discusses with David Hughes, design director of Hughes Architects, focusing on the pressing issue of temporary housing in the UK. They delve into the staggering costs incurred by councils on temporary accommodation, particularly in London, where the financial burden has reached £114 million per month.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Temporary Housing Crisis: There are currently 117,000 households in temporary accommodation in the UK, with London accounting for about half of that number. The financial burden on councils is significant, with London councils spending £114 million per month on temporary housing.
Need for Immediate Solutions: The discussion emphasizes the urgency of addressing the temporary housing crisis, suggesting that while building permanent social housing is essential, it typically takes four to five years. In the meantime, there is a need for quicker, temporary solutions to provide better living conditions for families currently in substandard accommodations.
Modular Housing Proposal: A proposed solution involves using modular housing units on unused or stalled sites, which can be set up quickly and leased to councils for temporary use. This approach aims to provide better living conditions than hotels or B&Bs while being more cost-effective than current temporary housing options.
Planning Challenges: The planning process is identified as a significant barrier to delivering housing quickly. The complexity and length of the planning requirements often delay projects, and there is a call for a more flexible approach to temporary housing that recognizes the urgent need for crisis responses.
Collaboration with Local Authorities: Engaging with local authorities and private landowners is crucial for the success of the modular housing initiative. The goal is to identify suitable sites and run feasibility studies to determine the viability of temporary housing solutions, ultimately aiming to alleviate the financial and social pressures of the current housing crisis.

BEST MOMENTS
Dave: "The ridiculous amount that councils are spending on temporary housing is a massive financial issue and a quality of life issue for people."

Paul: "The problem is, planners at the moment act like they're the police, when actually it is an emergency they should be acting like the fire service."

Dave: "We can get temporary planning permission for five years for temporary housing on unused sites, and the modular providers then lease those homes to the council."

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/
1 hr 39 min
July 29, 2025Q&A Designing the Future
In this episode Paul answers your questions about current trends in property design, the balance between creativity and functionality, and the impact of technology on future developments. Paul discusses the influence of modern methods of construction and sustainability on design aesthetics, highlighting the importance of collaboration between developers and local authorities in the planning process.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Design Trends in Property Development: Current design trends are influenced by modern methods of construction (MMC) and sustainability, leading to a mix of innovative and sometimes box-like aesthetics. Smaller developers often excel in creating well-designed properties due to their focus on niche sites.
Balancing Creativity and Functionality: Successful property development starts with functionality, ensuring that buildings meet market needs and provide pleasant living conditions. While creativity is important, it must be balanced with practicality to avoid costly mistakes during construction.
Collaboration with Planning Authorities: Developers should work collaboratively with local planning authorities to navigate the complexities of planning applications. Understanding the pressures faced by planners can help foster a more cooperative relationship, ultimately leading to smoother approvals.
De-risking Projects: To mitigate risks in property development, it is crucial to add value before starting a project, such as securing off-market opportunities and conducting thorough research on site constraints. This proactive approach can create a buffer against unforeseen challenges.
Sustainability Challenges: Building sustainably often comes with higher costs, which can be a significant barrier. As regulations evolve and sustainable practices become more mainstream, the industry may find more cost-effective methods to achieve high sustainability standards.

BEST MOMENTS
"One of the things I personally actually don't like about a lot of modular and MMC stuff is you can tell that that's what it is... when it's not done well does look very box-like."

"The best developers, in my opinion, they are super knowledgeable, they want to do good stuff, and they are really, really into architecture and design."

"Persimmon, not good. Everything that's bad about property development and house building, in my opinion."

"We need to make things as easy as humanly possible for local authority planners and for planning departments."

"The more knowledge, skill and expertise and the better professional team you've got, the better decisions you will be able to make."

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: ⁠  / paul-higgs⁠
Millbank Land Academy: ⁠https://www.millbanklandacademy.co.uk⁠
Instagram - ⁠  / paulhiggsofficial⁠
YouTube - ⁠   / @insidepropertydevelopment
This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. ⁠https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/⁠
57 min
July 22, 2025How Today´s Planning System Puts All of the Cost Burdens on Developers
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/
44 min
July 15, 2025Conquering Modern Design, Planning, and Urban Challenges with Esther Kurland Part 2
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/
56 min

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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.

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