We provide a full range of strategic advice and support services to help clients plan, create and manage districts, campuses, parks and buildings focussed on R&D and innovation.
We understand the key trends within the sectors you are trying to attract. We research business and financing trends. We understand how businesses are changing what they are doing, how they are adapting for the future, and importantly, how this impacts on needs for interaction and property. We apply this experience to help create places and activity that can deliver enhanced, relevant, opportunity.
Stakeholder buy-in is essential – not only in planning for a project but also in realising its potential. We understand that stakeholders play a key role in creating demand and promoting a project. We therefore spend time with them to understand their objectives, build aspiration and assist in raising the profile of projects within their organisations, as well as with those they want to reach out to.
Early understanding of the true potential value of your property enables more realistic and effective business planning. Our extensive experience enables us to accurately assess likely value for specialist spaces, particularly those incorporating laboratories, providing realistic projections on likely take up rates, rental outcomes and risk - identifying any potential funding gaps and advising on appropriate next steps.
Our expertise in building, master planning, design and leasing arrangements for specific sectors allows us to quickly understand the cost and value of a potential project as well as assess the demand and supply factors to determine viability. Our unrivalled knowledge of what tenants will pay for allows us to optimise developments to deliver the best possible value outcomes.
We understand the value of undertaking a thorough process of evaluation to determine how best to position a property project within the market in order to maximise demand. We explore the research strengths of the location, interview key stakeholders and conduct background research to understand how best to create and position your proposition in the most effective way for your target audience.
We can help you navigate the financing options for the delivery of property (stakeholder and grant funding, private sector investment), highlighting the pros and cons of each before recommending an appropriate course of action. We know how to bring together the public and private sectors in a way that delivers sustainable outcomes and meets their often competing objectives.
Successful master plans address demand, are deliverable within realistic timescales and ultimately support your objectives around collaboration. We know what occupiers are looking for and how to deliver a development’s objectives in the most commercial way. We are used to working as part of a broader team of master planners, architects, town planners and cost/service consultants, combining our experience to achieve the best possible outcomes.
Attracting businesses to innovative spaces isn’t just about buildings, roads and utilities. In addition to gyms and central hub facilities we have seen the value of developing programmes around networking and community activities to stimulate further engagement. Our expert working knowledge of what others are doing in this area and what works enables us to advise on the right mix of facilities and activities required to drive demand.
As part of our master planning and soft infrastructure development service we also provide guidance on what businesses are looking for in terms of amenities – meeting spaces, outside space, cafés, recreation space etc. Our advice centres on what needs to be developed to fulfil demand and the most effective way of delivering it to ensure value is created and sustained.
We advise on the nuances of building specification, including size, level of fit out and the finishes most appropriate to the needs of your potential occupiers. It is as much about knowing what you don’t have to deliver as what you do and at what stage, to ensure time, effort and money isn’t wasted on things that are not relevant to the audiences you want to attract.
We can help you traverse the planning process – promoting district projects or seeking building specific planning permission. We support planning specialists through research and appropriate project positioning, ensuring initial allocation and then consent for your property. Typically, this involves the preparation of all necessary reports, however, our unrivalled understanding of the UK innovation sector and the planning process means we are also comfortable navigating planning inquiries and plan reviews in person too.
Our continuing work on these successful projects gives us an unparalleled wealth of data, insights, models and knowledge to draw on and apply to future projects. Our extensive research and travel to learn from projects in every continent of the world gives unparalleled richness to our understanding. We attend leading conferences on our subject, in a speaking role at most.
