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Episode Synopsis
Today, Paul sits down with former Wandsworth councillor and Pocket Living land director and the Managing Director and founder of Urban Sketch Nick Cuff. Drawing on his rare mix of political and development experience, Nick explains what a genuinely pro‑development culture looks like, and why most UK councils are not pro-development.
They discuss the realities of making small urban sites work, the unintended damage caused by rigid space standards, and why current affordable housing expectations and late‑stage reviews are driving capital out of UK development.
If you’re a developer, architect or planning professional trying to get dense urban schemes to stack up in today’s market, this frank, practical conversation will give you plenty to think about.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Pro‑development councils are built, not found - leadership, culture and officer relationships matter as much as policy wording if you want schemes to move.
Small urban sites can deliver serious value, even 100% “affordable” products, when density, smart design and tenure innovation are combined well.
Rigid space standards and one‑size‑fits‑all unit mixes are killing viability and ignoring how real households live, especially sharers and young professionals.
Co‑living and compact rental models remain one of the few viable ways to do dense urban housing, but only in highly amenitiesed, well‑connected locations.
Paul and Nick discuss how and why the Pocket Development model worked.
Nick explains how Urban Sketch is leveraging the shared living trend to create more homes.
Developers and architects must get better at explaining viability and risk in simple terms. Without a clear story and end game, policy will keep loading costs ontoprojects and hardly anything will get built.
BEST MOMENTS
“If you've got good people, both members and officers, working together, planning's such a huge catalyst for economic growth, for renewal, for improvement to the micro and the macro, street and town environment.”
“We've loaded the current planning system with so many Snakes and Ladders that we've lost our ability to navigate it.”
“You can't get private money, someone else's money, to commit suicide on behalf of the state's lauded objectives (e.g. affordable housing).”
“We are witnessing the great decapitalization of the London and Southeast market. What capital is in the market is seeking, through impairment or exit, to get out, and very limited capital, fresh capital is willing to come back in.”
ABOUT THE GUEST
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-cuff-4757b220
http://propviews.co.uk
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/
They discuss the realities of making small urban sites work, the unintended damage caused by rigid space standards, and why current affordable housing expectations and late‑stage reviews are driving capital out of UK development.
If you’re a developer, architect or planning professional trying to get dense urban schemes to stack up in today’s market, this frank, practical conversation will give you plenty to think about.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Pro‑development councils are built, not found - leadership, culture and officer relationships matter as much as policy wording if you want schemes to move.
Small urban sites can deliver serious value, even 100% “affordable” products, when density, smart design and tenure innovation are combined well.
Rigid space standards and one‑size‑fits‑all unit mixes are killing viability and ignoring how real households live, especially sharers and young professionals.
Co‑living and compact rental models remain one of the few viable ways to do dense urban housing, but only in highly amenitiesed, well‑connected locations.
Paul and Nick discuss how and why the Pocket Development model worked.
Nick explains how Urban Sketch is leveraging the shared living trend to create more homes.
Developers and architects must get better at explaining viability and risk in simple terms. Without a clear story and end game, policy will keep loading costs ontoprojects and hardly anything will get built.
BEST MOMENTS
“If you've got good people, both members and officers, working together, planning's such a huge catalyst for economic growth, for renewal, for improvement to the micro and the macro, street and town environment.”
“We've loaded the current planning system with so many Snakes and Ladders that we've lost our ability to navigate it.”
“You can't get private money, someone else's money, to commit suicide on behalf of the state's lauded objectives (e.g. affordable housing).”
“We are witnessing the great decapitalization of the London and Southeast market. What capital is in the market is seeking, through impairment or exit, to get out, and very limited capital, fresh capital is willing to come back in.”
ABOUT THE GUEST
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-cuff-4757b220
http://propviews.co.uk
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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