Inside Property Development

The Stark Realities of Building Homes In The UK With Philip Barnes

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Today, Paul sits down with Philip Barnes, former UK group land and planning director at Barrett who now works part time for Savills. Together they explore the challenges and opportunities facing today’s property developers. Including discussing the stark differences between SMEs and major housebuilders, the impacts of planning reforms, environmental regulations, and financial hurdles.

They share what is really shaping the future of the UK housebuilding industry. Whether you’re an industry insider or curious about how policy and economics influence the building of new homes, this candid and sometimes alarming episode is for you.


KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • The economies of scale gulf between large scale and SME housebuilders is growing, making it even harder for SMEs to survive.
  • Developers are not enjoying large margins. That is a misconception. When margins are tight it doesn´t take much for a company to go bankrupt.
  • The barriers to entry are growing bigger making it really difficult for new
  • housebuilding firms to get established and make a profit.
  • Build costs are increasing faster than house prices.
  • Increasingly banks are pulling the plug on small developers. Some are actively lending on questionable projects knowing that the likelihood of it failing is high.
  • The UK housebuilding industry does not operate in a collaborative or cartel-like environment. It is highly cutthroat and driven by intense growth pressures, so expecting and basing scheme delivery on close collaboration is unrealistic.
  • If you're working on a set margin, and something like nitrate neutrality is an issue, that can delay you for a couple of years, long enough to make many firms go bankrupt.


    • BEST MOMENTS

    "If you're a little guy, you can't afford to be spending fortunes on potential deals that don't go anywhere."

    "Lots of abortive costs is a real operational issue in the planning system."

    “Developers big and small are not building.”

    "You can only get kicked in the nuts for so long before you start not liking it anymore."

    "The Nature Restoration Levy and Environmental Development Plans, if done well, will massively help... My worry is that might not happen for two or three years."


    ABOUT THE GUEST

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-barnes-70a44119


    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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    Inside Property DevelopmentBy Paul Higgs