Practical thinking on development and delivery.
Guides, project lessons and commentary on assessing opportunities, improving schemes and managing the decisions that affect cost, programme and return.
Analysis · Development & investment
Why development sites fail, and how gateways keep them viable
Most schemes do not fail on one decision. They drift. Due diligence before you buy, and a gateway at each stage after, is how to stop it.
Philip Baily · 29 October 2026
Budget 2026: what it means for development
The margins have moved; the decisions have not.
Can AI help Britain build faster?
Philip Baily joined Mark Farmer and fellow built-environment practitioners on the University of the Built Environment's BE Sustainable podcast to discuss AI, professional judgement and housing delivery.
Appointing a development manager: scope, fees and the agreement
What to agree before work starts, so both sides know what the role covers and how it is paid.
Developing your own land: how a development manager helps a landowner
The routes open to an owner who wants more from their land than a straight sale, and how a development manager runs the process for them.
Office and industrial use classes explained: B1, B2, B8 and Class E
What happened to B1, what B2 and B8 cover, and which changes of use need planning permission.
What does a development manager do, and do you need one?
The role explained stage by stage, how it differs from a project manager, and when it is worth appointing one.
What a development feasibility study covers, and what it costs to skip one
What goes into a feasibility study, who contributes to it, and the mistakes it is there to prevent.
Sell with planning permission or build it out?
Once consent is granted, the next decision decides most of the value. How to compare selling, building and the routes in between.
Converting an industrial unit to offices: planning, cost and what to check
Whether you need planning permission, what the building work involves, and how to tell if it is worth doing.
Refurbish, convert or sell? Deciding what to do with a commercial building
The options are usually wider than the first one put to you. How to compare them on the same basis before you commit.
Converting a commercial building to homes: what permitted development allows
Many offices and shops can become homes without a full planning application. What Class MA allows, what it does not, and what to check first.
EPC rules for letting commercial property: what changed in 2026
The minimum energy rating for letting a commercial building, the exemptions, and what the June 2026 announcement means for owners.
One assumption, the whole case: tracing a utility diversion to IRR
How a single late diversion moves start on site, prelims, sales and peak equity.
Reading an appraisal: five questions before investment committee
What to ask of the revenue, cost, programme and finance lines before capital is committed.
Build to rent or for sale: comparing options on one basis
Why tenure options need to be compared on peak equity and return, not headline value.
Keeping the approved case alive through delivery
How schemes drift from the case that was approved, one decision at a time, and how to see it early.