Housing
Promoting the use of land for housing has been HLM's largest area of work and we have obtained planning permissions for residential development on both brownfield and greenfield land in all our operating areas.
Developments have to be promoted within the framework of the English, Scottish and Welsh planning systems, and our in-house team of town planners and surveyors keep abreast with all the changes and influences of these when promoting sites.
The greatest changes in planning have been the increasing demands of central and local government for investigation of the environmental impact of development, coupled with requirements for social housing and other community benefits. Such matters lead to highly technical appraisals and detailed negotiations on sites and these, together with a priority for creating sustainable communities, make it increasingly difficult to bring land forward for development.
Understanding and being able to negotiate these difficult hurdles is one of our main strengths and has led to many successful planning permissions being granted.