Qandor Magazine | Issue No. 4 | August 2020 by Qandor

Q. Magazine ISSUE No. 4 – Aug / Sep 2020

BEN RICHARDS Developer and rising star presents Whitehorse Stables

A £7M RESIDENTIAL CONVERSION What happens when planning doesn't go to plan? ®

Qandor.

TROPOLIS. TM

IN THIS ISSUE

THE FORMALITIES

FOREWORD A letter from our Founder, Matt Siddell

TROPOLIS The Tropolis Accelerator Program making waves in the industry

ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

10 INTERIOR DESIGN PRINCIPLES Landmass’s Alan Waxman shares his top tips to a successful design

14 SUSTAINABLE DESIGN Linda Rosen explains how developers can take advantage of this growing demand Cover image featuring

18 LOOKING FORWARD

Ben Richards, director of

Matteo Bianchi gives us a glimpse into the future

Development Director of

of interior design

EXP Property. Read his case study on p.42

ISSUE NO. 4

AURA Architecture and

22 INCREASED CONNECTIVITY Kyriacos Androu explains why an increase in home tech is becoming the norm

26 THE RISE OF THE HOME CINEMA Has Covid-19 killed the traditional movie cinema experience? Tas Kyriacou explains DEVELOPMENT & CONSTRUCTION

30 TRADING ON RETAIL

Formed Architects’s Tina Patel lists the advantages of developing former retail properties

34 CASE STUDY: RAGLAN Emma Morby shares the information on an historical restoration

38 CASE STUDY: WHIPPS CROSS ROAD Ash Gorecia explains the process of converting a Victorian property into apartments

42 CASE STUDY: WHITEHORSE STABLES

88 ENTERING THE GOLDEN AGE

Our cover story is presented by Ben Richards -

Are we about to see a building boom? Mike

an impressive development in north Croydon

Bristow investigates

54 Q&A We meet Philip Howard, Founder of HGS Group

92 OBSERVATIONS FROM THE INSURANCE MARKET By Tommy Hodgson

PRIME

60 LONDON AND COVID: THREE PHASES

96 WEATHER THE COVID STORM

Beauchamp Estates’s Gary Hersham outlines the

Claiming your R&D tax credits has never been

toll the pandemic has had on the market

easier - Shaun Marsen explains

PROPTECH

64 SERGEY KAZACHENKO An interview with CEO and Co-founder of

100 LET’S TALK PENSIONS What exactly happens once you’ve passed away? George Ttouli answers

Propetly PLANNING & LEGAL OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

68 WHEN HIGHWAYS SAY NO! Michelle Lowe gives an example of what to do when planning and transport don’t agree

72 CREATING A £7M RESIDENTIAL

102 ADJUDICATION A look at the effects of the pandemic being used as a legal defense

106 DISRUPTION IN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

CONVERSION

Have we been waiting for this? Stephen Eyton

DRK Planning’s David Kemp explains how

sees the pandemic bring forth opportunities

76 HOW COVID HAS SHONE A SPOTLIGHT ON RISK And how Dorian Payne delt with it

BRAND, PR & LEADERSHIP

110 BUSINESS AS USUAL Hanan Kandili explains the importance of a digital presence

FINANCE & TAX

80 TRACKSUITS & FLIP-FLOPS Paul Obershneider discusses life after lockdown

112 VIDEO IS KING Charlie Firebrace believes the best way to convey a storyline is through the moving picture

INTERNATIONAL

82 BUYING IN THE BALERICS

116 HAVING THE RIGHT TEAM

Worldwide Property Co.’s Dylan Mitchel explains

Craig Phillips explains why this is now more

the costs

important than ever

PEER TO PEER

120 QANDOR SUCCESS

86 UNDERSTANDING THE CAPITAL STACK Rob Wilkinson weighs up the risk and reward of investing

Our members have been busy - even during the lockdown!

ALL SYSTEMS GO! Qandor Founder Matthew Siddell Managing Director Kevin Taylor Managing Editor Gabrielle Winandy For editorial and advertising enquiries, please email: magazine@qandor.org Visit our website: www.qandor.org Contributors Alan Waxman Ash Gorecia Ben Richards Charlie Firebrace Craig Phillips David Kemp Dorian Payne Dylan Mitchell Emma Morby Gary Hersham George Ttouli Grazina Thompson Hanan Kandili Kyri Androu Linda Rosen Matteo Bianchi Michelle Lowe Mike Bristow Paul Oberschneider Philip Howard Philippa Somerset Rob Wilkinson Sergey Kazachenko Shaun Marsden Stephen Eyton Tas Kyriacou Tina Patel Tommy Hodgson QANDOR TEAM Membership Director Seeta Gharu seeta@qandor.org Membership Manager Rekha Patel rekha@qandor.org Videographer James Evans james@qandor.org

If there is one thing 2020 has taught me so far, it’s that being fully systemised not only reduces time spent on admin, but it also massively reduces stress that usually puts you in a fluster and clouds your judgement. The team and I have always been systemised but this year we’ve adopted more tools and processes that make tasks lighter and errors less frequent. This has enabled all of us to focus on the important aspects of what we do and finetune the businesses so things are always running smoothly. As a result, Tropolis (p.06), my property education program, has doubled in membership over the past month and our plans for future growth are bold – to say the least – but very achievable! Qandor has continued to provide for its members, even during these tougher months, bringing them a series of online meetings and networking opportunities, embracing new technology. That being said, I’m definitely looking forward to a few live events once the summer holidays are over, where we can responsibly bring members back together and enjoy each other’s company face-to-face, rather than screen-to-screen. Issue 4 of Qandor Magazine is packed full of fantastic content from our members. Ben Richards has been a busy guy - and it’s been great to witness first-hand what a good year he’s had. Ben shares a detailed case study on Whitehorse Stables (p.42), our cover story for this issue and one of three case studies this issue. Check out Emma Morby’s piece on restoring a property with historical importance (p.34) and Ash Gorecia’s conversion of a beautiful Victorian house into eight apartments (p.38). As summer rolls on and most of us stay put in the UK, Dylan Mitchell has given us something to look forward to buying property in the Balerics (p.82). And Qandor Advisor, Gary Hersham of Beauchamp Estates, has penned a really telling piece about Prime Central London passing through three phases as a result of the impact of the pandemic (p.60). Enjoy the summer weather. I’m expecting busyness and opportunities to only increase from now until Christmas, and I trust you also have your systems in place in order to fully exploit them! Matthew Siddell Qandor & Tropolis Founder

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PROPERTY EDUCATION

THE TROPOLIS ACCELERATOR PROGRAM.

The Tropolis Accelerator Program is for anyone and everyone who intends to develop property, whether you intend to build a portfolio or to take advantage of the principal residence reliefs and make tax-free gains adding value to your home.

The program gives clients a deep understanding of many aspects of property investing including sourcing deals, legals, funding, refurbishment, property and tenant management, and how to find and work successfully with the right people.

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What is covered? Our clients are sophisticated, intelligent people and the Tropolis Accelerator Program is deliberately comprehensive and dense, in order to meet their needs. The program is comprised of many valuable components including the network,

coaching calls and the private support forum. The online modules, prepared and published by our professional and experienced team, are packed with highly valuable content and advice with lifetime access.

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The Experts Our panel of experts has over 550 combined years of business experience, built over 5,000 homes and developed over £1.5bn in property value. Each Expert will deliver an exclusive masterclass, sharing their experience, expertise and property insight.

Alan Waxman Property Developer Landmass London

Ben Keenan Property Developer Broadwing Homes

David Kemp Planning Consultant DRK Planning

Dicky Lewis Architect White Red Architects

Doug Johnson Engineer Mesh Energy

Evan Maindonald Property Developer Melt Property

MORE INFORMATION

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Jamil Qureshi Peak Performance Psychologist

Jonathan Erdman Consultant Solicitor Keystone Law

Lee Langley Mortgage Consultant OnPoint Mortgages

Mike Bristow Investor, Fintech CEO CrowdProperty

Mike Frisby Property Developer Brankin Developments

Naman Pathak Property Developer Mountbatten Homes

Neil Scroxton Architect Scroxton & Partners

Oliver Lowrie Architect Ackroyd Lowrie

Paul Oberschneider Financier Hilltop Credit Partners

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INTERIOR DESIGN

THE NINE PRINCIPLES OF INTERIOR DESIGN. ALAN WAXMAN Founder and CEO Landmass www.landmass.co.uk

Learn these key principles of interior design and decorating to make your space a pleasure to live in. Whether you’re a professional or an aspiring newcomer, these techniques will help anyone willing to learn.

beauty and balance are often in the eye of the beholder and should be treated as such. But there are several universal factors to interior design that are important to take into consideration, no matter how far afield your tastes may lie. Here are seven key interior design principles for your consideration.

Furnishing and decorating the interior of a dwelling is an art that has been debated and developed since time immemorial. Much has been said and written on the subtleties and techniques used to modify the look and feel of an indoor space. The reality is that much of this talk comes down to taste - truths pertaining to

Balance This is the most fundamental and arguably the most important component of your interior design journey. There are three different categories of balance to draw from: symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial. Symmetrical balance refers to a mirroring effect - keeping an identical feature set on

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Emphasis Emphasis is in many ways the antithesis to rhythm but, when executed well, they can complement each other beautifully. This principle is what draws your eye to specific features in the space - a flash of colour, a unique art piece or a central piece of furniture; any interior decorating elements that will showcase the individual parts of the room that you are most proud of. either side of the space. Asymmetrical balance refers to differing features on either side of the subject, but which hold equal weight. Radial balance is slightly different as it finds its equilibrium radiating from the center of a spherical or circular form - for example, a classic chandelier would be a good example of radial balance. Contrast This principle is an important and often controversial element among interior designers. There is a fine line between the striking and the obnoxious, but when applied tastefully, contrast can bring out the best in any space. Colour swatching is your friend here - an effective colour scheme can serve to highlight all the right features of a room. Rhythm Just as a musical rhythm will have a sonic beat, the principle of rhythm in interior design is the art of creating visual beats within a space. This can be achieved through repetition of elements such as colour or patterns throughout the space, leading the eye to bounce around the room just like tapping your foot to a beat. 012 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

Scale Scale refers to the visual size of elements in the space. Be it art, furnishings, or even architectural features such as a divider or staircase. The scale of any given element can drastically change the look and feel of a space and is an important factor to consider. This is closely linked with proportion, which we will discuss next. Proportion This principle is the consideration of the scale of any given object or feature in the space in comparison to those around it. Taking into account the visual weight and dominance of, for example a dining table, the principle of proportion should be tastefully applied when selecting other furnishings and decor in the room.

Detail This principle is self-explanatory. Details are the elements of a space that are only noticed upon second or third inspection - the finer points of an artwork or inlay, which items reside on what surfaces and the patterns in the rug or wallpaper. These are the components Unity that give a finishing finesse to the interior Lastly, the final step on your interior design area. journey. All the other principles covered here mean nothing if there is no unity between Harmony them. Unity refers to a universal cohesion in Harmony is the elusive art of creating the space, whatever that looks like for you restfulness and poise to the observer, letting whether you’ve got a set colour swatch and them feel at home and comfortable in the strict guidelines or you’re breaking all the space. This principle goes hand in hand with rules, a sense of unity will always help bring unity, the ninth and final point to be discussed out the best in your space. Q. here.

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INTERIOR DESIGN

SUSTAINABILITY IS HAVING A MOMENT. HOW CAN PROPERTY DEVELOPERS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS GROWING DEMAND? LINDA ROSEN Founder EDGE Design Studio www.edge-designstudio.com

Sustainable habits flourish in times of stability. But when the economy crashes, our attention on everything eco-friendly tends to drift.

us all the pause we needed to remember the importance of our health and that of our planet. Now, across every sector and industry, brands are rushing to seek sustainable alternatives, keen to shout about their ecovalues and planet-friendly products.

Since COVID-19 shook the world, sustainability advocates feared their cause would face another tumble. But, in fact, the opposite seems to be true. Our time shut away from the world in quarantine has given

So what does this mean for UK property developers? When we’re open to changing what we eat, where we work, even how we travel, we’re

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more likely to seek change in other areas. More than ever since COVID-19, people are looking for new ways to make life a little bit more sustainable. That’s why now is the perfect time to reflect on what your business stands for, seek to raise the bar and challenge current standards. Why switch to sustainable? Choosing to become sustainable will put your business at the cutting-edge of the market. This year, RIBA announced the 2030 Climate Challenge encouraging architects to meet net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. But why not start now, get ahead of the curve and

know that your developments are future-proof? As Henry Ford said, ‘A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.’ Better to make a change in the industry and create a lasting legacy than maintain the status quo. Plus, sustainability is good for business. It’s a sure-fire way to find your unique selling point and stand out in a crowded market. It’s a chance to find your voice and work with clients who align with your values. As sustainable property development is still in the early stages, you have the chance to stand tall and build a reputation as an industry leader. ➳

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“Together, we can create better standards in the industry that guarantee a brighter future for us all.” But ultimately, we need to switch to sustainable development for the sake of our future. Our planet can’t take much more. We need to make the right choices now so that our grandchildren have a place to call home. So, what do sustainable properties look like? The word sustainable is often used casually to highlight token gestures towards environmental preservation. But most don’t think beyond energy efficiency. So, what does it actually mean to create an eco-building? Whilst solar panels and proper insulation are a good start, they’re just the tip of the iceberg. When working with my clients on sustainable properties, we think about everything from low waste systems to the health of the occupants, air quality, acoustics and water-saving measures. Everything to make the building as wasteneutral, low energy, healthy, and future-proof as possible. The other major consideration is the decor and furnishings that finish the space.

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Most standard household furnishings, paints and materials are made with the use of harmful chemicals. In our society’s rush to make convenient things quickly and cheaply, we’ve sacrificed our health with barely a second thought. At EDGE, we know the damage this can do to our planet and health, so we’re committed to using non-toxic and crueltyfree products in the properties we design. Steer clear of greenwashing In a recent Nielsen survey, 73 per cent of respondents said they would change their buying habits to reduce their environmental impact. As a result, brands and businesses have rushed to make a quick dollar, shouting about green credentials that are at best inadequate, at worst fabricated. When a company advertises their product as sustainable, do your research to verify their claims. We’re working hard to develop a list of trusted suppliers so that we can guarantee the ethical and green credentials of every single product we use. The sustainable movement is gathering pace. If you’re looking to maximise the future potential of your property developments, you need to be thinking green. Together, we can create better standards in the industry that guarantee a brighter future for us all. Q.

PHOTOGRAPHY & FILM SPECIALISTS FOR THE PROPERTY INDUSTRY.

Creating inspiring content that works. www.wonderhatch.co.uk

Charlie Firebrace Sales Director E Charlie@wonderhatch.co.uk M +44(0) 7595 375132

INTERIOR DESIGN

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR INTERIOR DESIGN? MATTEO BIANCHI Director Matteo Bianchi Studio www.matteobianchi.co.uk

Cosy, organised, and secure are the words we now use to describe how we want to feel. These three words have become more popular than ever as the world goes through the biggest shift for generations. Designers have embraced technology using online platforms such as Zoom, for meetings in virtual cafés and coffee shops. By visiting exhibitions whilst we still could, attending to various webinars over the lockdown months and researching the direction of our industry, the studio has

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gained insight to the design trends as they unfold. There has been a seismic shift in what we consider what is most important within the home – together with that, we have discovered tangible styles to keep us feeling ‘cosy, organised, and secure.’ Images from: Bert Frank at Maison Objet 2020, The ‘Clara’ dinner set by Habitat and ‘Petanque’ by Elena Pelosi for Baboon lifestyle wallcoverings.

Simplicity Out of the unexpected upheaval and disruption, we have found time to declutter and review. This is reflected in the desire for simplicity. Our expectations have shifted, so we now want our environments to relate to the lives we actually want and to have real meaning. The Float Mirror is by Drugeot Manufacture. These sitting balls by Maurizio Casini have an abundance of personality mixed with function. The kitchen is by Annie Sloan.

Comfort Comforting shapes and muted colours which hark back to the 1930’s heyday of a glamorous, carefree existence, are popular in products and finishes as we all spend much more time at home. The need for comfort has never been more prevalent in our daily lives, like this dark grey ‘Radical Sofa’ by Henge or the ‘Hana’

armchair by Simone Bonnani for Moooi. The resurgence of wool, marble, silk, timber and polished metals has come about as these are strong, classic materials which are familiar and long lasting. ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 019

Playful Fantasy There is a strong desire for a return to childhood simplicity through bright colours and playful shapes in furniture and lighting as shown here in Paris. Sideboards, big armchairs, curved lights, and drinks trolleys are familiar and established. This acts as our playful escape, especially with the wealth of friendly rounded shapes. Images: Baboon Lifestyle ‘Acorn’ wallcoverings, the Accipicchio by Karman Lighting, and the ‘Inez’ Chandelier by Rosie Li.

Elegant Heritage With a strong sense of community, nurturing and heritage, many manufacturers have taken this on board by looking at familiar pieces and using advanced technology for manufacturing. Many designs hark back to the 1930’s heyday of a glamorous feel and grandeur. Images: Galloti and Radice from IMM Cologne 2020, the Suffolk kitchen by Neptune and the ‘Baby Alpaga’ side table by Ibride. They remind us of a glamorous existence and can be seen in products and finishes.

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Biophilia The need to connect to nature is stronger than ever. We now have more empathy with nature and its limitations and are beginning to respect it. We want to understand and celebrate this by bringing it into all aspects of our lives more than ever before. We desire the positive feelings this brings into our lives. Plants and nature will take pride of place as part of the living and working environment. Images: Karman lights, Home and Design Magazine via Pinterest and DPages blog via Pinterest. Think hanging plants and terrariums in the Kitchen, Living Room, Home Office, Bedroom, and Bathroom and wherever you live and work.

Low maintenance of course, but beautiful, alive, and calming will become part of our daily development. In summary we are emerging, better informed and more aware, but with an improved sense of responsibility, purpose, and direction. Q.

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TECHNOLOGY

WHY HOMES NEED INCREASED CONNECTIVITY IN THE NEW NORMAL. KYRIACOS ANDROU Director Electricus Audio Visual www.electricusgroup.co.uk

Over the past few months, many of us have had to adapt to a new normal of working, schooling and living. Essentially, many of us have been spending the majority of our time at home, forcing us to rely on our current services that have been fitted by our internet service providers (ISPs). This has caused increased pressure on WIFI and in turn on the network, along with, in most cases, it not reaching the areas where it is needed the most. In response, homeowners turned to quick fixes such as plug-in network adaptors that work on home electrical points to try and broaden the reach of the home network, but this has limitations in terms of speed and reliability.

So, what’s the solution? We want to support you in setting your developments apart from others by adding value amongst the new world that we live in. How can we do this? Connectivity! Now that we are living in an increasingly digital world, it is important that our home networks are up to the job. Most people will know that our ISP Routers don’t always fit the bill; they can accommodate mobile and tablet devices, but TVs, laptops, and PCs require more for speed and reliability. Typically, developments have a lack of infrastructure, but when working with a Smart Home Professional, you can create multiple data points throughout the home so that all fixed devices can have a hard-wired ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 023

connection and will not need to rely on the ISP WIFI. The more devices you have on a hardwired connection, the less strain there will be on the Network and devices that are connected on WIFI, making the overall experience more stable, less connected. What will you need in your developments to make this happen? • Router - not from your ISP, but residential grade Routers that are designed for

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Future proof tech; • WIFI Boosters - typically in apartments you will require 2 approx., and in a large home 4-6 approx; • Data Points - for all your hardwired devices, including study and working areas. Taking your development to the next level Now that the network is taken care of, how

can we work with you to provide even more value to your buyers through smart home technology? We know that this can often be very expensive, so here is what we have found to be the fundamentals of a smart home. • Smart Heating - Enjoy personalised comfort settings that can be activated on a schedule, with just a few taps on your phone or touch screen, or by voice. Integrate your existing HVAC, radiant flooring, forced air, dual fuel, and geothermal systems with a Smart Thermostat. Adjust climate settings at the thermostat or through the user-interface from a touch screen or smartphone. Allow temperature and humidity to adjust according to the season. Even light the fireplace without ever leaving the couch. • Smart Security - Residents can check in on things at home from wherever they are. Receive alerts when someone enters the hours, the garage door is left ajar, or if there is a leak detected in the basement. Intelligent security puts peace of mind at their fingertips so they can rest assured that all is safe and sound at home, whether they are home or away. home, whether you are home or away. • Smart Lighting - Smart lighting adds elegance, ambience, convenience and energy efficiency the home. Residents

can make the house appear occupied while they are away, raise of dim any light in the room or entire house with a single touch, and automate lighting to respond to their schedule without any touch at all. These are just a few examples that we have found work well in differentiating a property from others. Contact a Smart Home Professional for bespoke advice. Q. Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 025

TECHNOLOGY

HAS COVID-19 DRAWN THE FINAL CURTAIN ON TRADITIONAL CINEMA? TAS KYRIACOU Director Intelligent Digital Solutions www.idsgroup.uk.com

The COVID-19 pandemic has rocked the global film industry. The Guardian states that the UK cinema industry is likely to lose £400m in ticket sales as 52 million cinemagoers stay at home, based on figures from 2019. However, the industry is predicting a bounce back, as they hope audiences will return to see delayed blockbusters such as the latest James Bond movie and the remake of the children’s classic Mulan. Yet even when the lockdown is lifted, consumer confidence might be low, and it could take some time before we are all comfortable sitting side by side with strangers. Some production companies have been 026 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

quick to react, releasing movies directly on streaming services such as Netflix. Other films, which were in cinemas just before the lockdown, have been quickly made available for download. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the industry, self-isolation has boosted demand for services like OTT streaming and video games, along with internet access and data connectivity. Could this be the moment the home cinema shines? Pre-COVID, we were already witnessing an increase in demand for home cinema experiences; be the all singing, all dancing bespoke home cinema or small media room, consumers were looking for the next level of

entertainment at home. Post-COVID, there has been an increase in enquiries from existing clients and new prospects who are looking to create a whole new entertainment space or enhance their existing setup. As people are spending more time at home, they want to create little subsections in the place they live such as cinema rooms, which give them a ‘feel-good’ factor in such unusual times. They are also using these spaces to create more family time, with movie and games nights. Intelligent Digital Solutions have worked with many designers to build and construct media suites and cinema rooms. Along the way, we have developed a list of considerations to ensure the project runs smoothly:

Room Size It is essential to consider the space. Some clients are determined to install a projector and screen but have not even thought about whether they have enough space. So, your first question should be: what volume of space does the client have? Acoustics and Sound Proofing Have they considered the vibration or sound that will resonate throughout the home? Soundproofing is a great way to prevent sound waves from escaping and becoming a nuisance both to others in the house and even neighbours. What about acoustic panelling? Acoustic panelling will help to absorb the sound and distribute it evenly throughout the room. ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 027

Choosing the Right Surround Sound System Sound is one of the most crucial elements of a successful cinema or media room. Dolby Atmos is the most popular surround sound format. There are, of course, several others, such as DTS. Then there is the level of the system: 5.1, 7.1, 11.1, and so on. The correct sound system must be installed based on the size of the room and, of course, budget. Video Projection From a projector and screen to an 85inch Samsung TV, science plays a role in decision making and the variables to provide the right solution depends on the following: • Size of the room • The lighting • Position of seats • Quality of viewing: HD, UHD, 4K Aesthetics We work with interior designers to ensure

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we get this right. We have enormous respect for what they are creating, so the aim is to seamlessly integrate our technology into the aesthetics, as much as we possibly can. Thankfully, we have worked with wonderful and talented designers who understand what it takes to achieve this. We have access to technology that allows us to do so, from embedding speakers into the wall or the ceiling, to a projector lift hidden away within the cavity of the ceiling, to electronic projector screens mounted within the ceiling to keep everything discreet. Please don’t feel that by creating a media room, you’ll lose the true use of a space or it’s aesthetic feel. Budget and costing We couldn’t complete our consideration list without including cost. Like most things, cost is a factor; a home cinema could cost anything from around £10k at entry-level, all the way up to £200K (yes, 200K!). If you are looking to embark on a home cinema or media room project, then contact Intelligent Digital Solutions for more information. Q.

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DEVELOPMENT

TRADING ON RETAIL. TINA PATEL Co-founder Formed Architects www.formedarchitects.com

So as we see it, there appears to be two camps as we emerge out of lockdown; COVID will bring opportunities in the real estate market or things will soon get back to normal and those inflated asking prices and expectations on land value will continue to hinder honest appraisals when true build costs and other associated costs are considered. Our view is that there will inevitably be some opportunities; how these are considered and appraised will either lead to money in the bank or a nail-biting finish with developers trying desperately to cover investors funds and trying to come out unscathed. Retail seems to be the easy target at this stage; if one thing is clear is that we know the High Street has long been suffering and, 030 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

post pandemic, we expect many casualties. Councils will not want empty retail frontages, with the inevitable reduction in footfall that will lead to further suffering for traders. So how can these sites be considered from a development and architectural perspective, so that there is an opportunity to make cash even after the cash tills have vacated? Accept that not every retail site will be suitable for development Access, depth; getting natural light into all areas and the built-up nature of the site with potential overlooking, etc. will all have a bearing on whether a site is suitable for development or not. Just because two thirds of retail freehold units come onto the market, it does not mean that they will necessarily be suitable for development. Discuss the opportunity with your architect before you start to crunch your numbers.

Understand how you will deal with the frontage Will a small retail frontage still be expected in planning terms? And what will the use of that be relative to current climate need? How will servicing that impact any further development? Can another use be demonstrably supported on the site that still allows for footfall, whether that be some form of educational/community use or wellness centre?

Consider access Particularly if you are considering turning the site into residential use, how this is separated from the main ground floor retail will need to be considered. Is access from the rear possible and, if so, how can this be made safe and approachable? Will this be suitable from an emergency vehicle perspective? Will the access route also serve other existing retained retail units? ➳

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In terms of access, in some high street locations, this will impact access during construction significantly – you’ll want to factor this into the appraisals at the outset with a good QS budget cost plan. Amenity As the pandemic has highlighted, external space and the value of having this has been important. Can roof terraces and larger balconies along with soft landscaping be integrated with courtyards? Number of units Explore initial massing with your architect to understand what is viable. Where possible staggering heights and stepping back may allow for additional height and where it may not be visible from the street side and it does not have any bearing on the rear. Can air space be unlocked? Utilising this can be fruitful in the right context. Understand the structural limitations of this – likely that you’ll need to explore existing foundations to do this, with trial holes and other investigations. Some of this may impact existing retailers, particularly if you want the income of a trading unit through the works. Neighbouring uses Will these be considered harmful to any use that you are proposing? You may need to factor in some site testing and modelling to demonstrate if there is likely to be a negative impact on a space. Consider if it is viable to demolish the existing unit This may allow a blank canvas to factor in

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structure to suit the development but can bring its own challenges with elements of façade retention or dealing with party wall matters. Heritage considerations Many high street locations can be conservation areas, although this does not prohibit development in itself. You will want to be sensitive to this and the assets around it that may be considered from a heritage perspective. This mini list is by no means conclusive, as more of these opportunities start to come to market. Before jumping on them, hopefully it illustrates that there is a lot to consider, and the need to take the time to review the opportunity with your design team. Time and money invested and spent at the outset on this is likely to mean that in the end the cash tills may well ring for you. Q.

"As a practising doctor, I know that the best relationships are built on mutual trust. With each person inspiring, supporting, challenging, teaching and uplifting the other, we are both better off for having worked together. How can I support you? What can we learn from each other? Let’s connect and find out." John Friis, MD of watermarkhomes.co.uk

CASE STUDY

RAGLAN: RESTORING AN HISTORICAL GEM. EMMA MORBY Property Developer Heritage England www.heritageengland.co.uk

At just under half an acre and boasting a very rare Grade II Listed former Gatehouse building, Emma Morby and the team at Raglan Gatehouse Development Limited have grand ambitions for this semiderelict but feature-rich property. Once complete, the development will consist of eight units, the Gatehouse will comprise of one 2-bed, two 3-bed and one 4-bed flats. Within the half an acre site we have also secured planning for four 2-bed mews houses, a communal garden and parking for eight units. At present, the gate house building comprises of an arched entrance gateway and 2 former guards houses (1 each side of the 034 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

arch). There is a central vaulted 25ft archway for carriages flanked by lower vaulted pedestrian passages. The front and rear elevations are identical, each with a rounded central archway fronted by a pedimented tetra style Tuscan portico on pedestals (incorporating a Royal Coat of Arms to the pediment). Raglan Gatehouse Developments Limited are looking to restore this rare historical building into 4 large flats, but to undertake the restoration work we needed to have an enabling development of 4 new 2 bed mews house on the same site. The external structure was sound but at the time of purchase we couldn’t get access to the internal building which meant buying it blind which is always a risk when dealing with Heritage buildings.

What were some of the issues and challenges with this site? One of the biggest challenges we face when restoring the building is keeping to a tight budget and working with English Heritage and the conservation officers to ensure we preserve the remaining features of the building, like the solid granite cantilever staircases and the original clock tower. Once we gained entry to the building it became clear a number of internal walls and some edging stones had been badly undermined with Buddleia. We felt these walls needed to be removed, leaving just the outer shell but the conservation team and English Heritage disagreed and requested ➳ we repair rather than remove. This would have Above: The delapidated bell tower Below: Exterior facade before restoration

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 035

This page: The Grade II listed building reimagined for the 21st century

035 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

Above: Much of the building’s original stonework is preserved Left: The Gatehouse has been fashioned into four flats

been very costly and time consuming for the project. We agreed to place a timber frame into the building and remove some of the worst effect internal walls. The timber frame could tie in the remaining (Buddleia free) walls and allow us to sympathetically build the internal framework, showing some of the original internal walls as a feature. What lessons did you learn from this project? The build budget increased by around 10% as a result of the planning authority and English Heritage requesting a certain type of roof modelled on the Tate Modern in London, for us this meant a lot more bespoke timber and glass which we hadn’t accounted for. We have a number of heritage projects in our pipeline and have now decided to increase our contingency budget from 15% to 25% which should allow for the unforeseen. Q. Heritage England is not and never has been the owner of Raglan Gate House, Raglan Gatehouse Development Limited is an SPV for the project, of which Emma Morby is a director of.

The Numbers Project type

Conversion of Grade II listed gatehouse into residential apartments

Project duration

18 months

Location

Plymouth

Purchase Price

£120,000

Development Costs

£1,100,000

All Other Costs £26,000+ (pre-finance) Total Costs

£1,246,000

Valuation

£1,950,000 (projected)

Paper Profit

£704,000

Profit on Cost (pre-finance)

56.5%

Profit on GDV (pre-finance)

36.1% Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 037

CASE STUDY

WHIPPSCROSS ROAD: A CLASSIC VICTORIAN CONVERSION. ASH GORECIA Director Makana Group www.makana-group.com

What were some of the issues and challenges with this site? The biggest challenge was the site access was down a residential road which was not ideal for heavy good vehicles. To overcome this, we have to ensure we planned deliveries so they were out of rush hour traffic and school run times. Deliveries had to be held offsite and call on to site with the use of traffic marshals. We also faced challenges regarding existing drainage which was at a depth of 3.5m below ground and required extensive propping when running new drains.

038 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

What lessons did you learn from this project? The main lessons learnt was that the project and work sequence have to be adaptable. The way we first envisaged the project build to pan out was not what actually happened. Also, the importance of engaging with the local community to ensure that people are kept informed of progress and potential disruptions to local neighbours.

This d

The d It is

It i

WC/Shower

Details

Room 4

Room 3

FLAT 3

Room 7

FLAT 2

Room 2

Bathroom

Flat 5

Room 6A

Room 6

FLAT 1 Flat 4 Room 1

Room 5 Bathroom

Flat 7

Revisions

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A Rev

Flat 6 Room 8

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Projec

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Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 039

PLANNING

Room 9

Drawin

Scale:

(when

Preli

NOTES

This drawing is copyright and shall not be reproduced nor used for any other purpose without written permission of the authors. Do not copy from this drawing, use figured dimensions only.

Below: Proposed - ground floor and basement

The drawing must be read in conjunction with all other related drawings and documentation. It is the contractor's responsibility to ensure compliance with the Building Regulations. It is the contractor's responsibility to check all dimensions on site, any discrepancy to be reported immediately. Details and sizes shown are indicative only and are subject to confirmation by the relevant Specialist Sub-contractor.

Extension under permitted development

Door to be changed to window

En-Suite

Bedroom 1 Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 2 Basement Existing stairwell to be re-opened and provide escape route

Bathroom Block Plan @ 1:500

Chair

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Site Plan @ 1:1250 ir

Cha Dining Table

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Dashed outline indicates proposed extension to basement within existing boundary

FLAT 1

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Wardrobe

1 2

Bedroom 1

Revisions

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Description

Lounge

Issue

PRELIMINARY

NOTES

Client:

A G Investments

Project:

85 & 85A Whipps Cross Road Leytonstone

Drawing Title:

Proposed Basement & Ground Floor Layouts Scale: 1:50 (when printed @ A1) Preliminary Job:

Do not copy from this drawing, use figured dimensions only. The drawing must be read in conjunction with all other related drawings and documentation. It is the contractor's responsibility to ensure compliance with the Building Regulations. It is the contractor's responsibility to check all dimensions on site, any discrepancy to be reported immediately. Details and sizes shown are indicative only and are subject to confirmation by the relevant Specialist Sub-contractor.

Bedroom 2

Block Plan @ 1:500 ir ha C

ir Dining Table

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Cha

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En-suite Bedroom 1

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FLAT 6

FLAT 5 Bathroom

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Bathroom Chair

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Site Plan @ 1:1250 Chair

Storage Chair

Chair

Lounge

Wardrobe

Chair

Storage Room

Bedroom 1 Bedroom 1 Bedroom 2

Bedroom 2

Revisions

Bedroom 1

A Rev Date

Description

040 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

A G Investments

Project:

85 & 85A Whipps Cross Road Leytonstone

PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com

Issue

Above: Proposed - first floor

PRELIMINARY

Terrace

Client:

Below: Proposed - second floor

Drawing Title:

Proposed First Floor Layouts Scale: 1:50 (when printed @ A1) Preliminary Job:

Drawn By: Checked By: Planning

DB Tender Dwg No:

Date: Date:

28 / 2 / 11 --/--/10

Construction Rev:

00002 003 A

DB Tender Dwg No:

Date: Date:

28 / 02 / 11 --/--/10

Construction Rev:

00002 002 A

This drawing is copyright and shall not be reproduced nor used for any other purpose without written permission of the authors.

Lounge

Drawn By: Checked By: Planning

PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com

The Numbers Project type

Conversion of Victorian property into 8 flats

Project duration

9 months

Location

Leytonstone

No. bedrooms

No. bathrooms

Size

600sqm

Purchase Price

£1,100,000

Development Costs

£850,000

All Other Costs

£110,000

Total Costs

£2,060,000

Valuation

£3,300,000

Paper Profit

£1,240,000

Profit on Cost

60.19%

Profit on GDV

37.57%

Annual gross rent

£112,000

Annual operating costs

£6,000

Annual mortgage

£68,000

Rental profit / cash flow £38,000 Debt & arrangement fee

£33,000

All in

£56,000

Cash left in

£0

Annual ROI

30%

Suppliers used

www.jewsons.co.uk, www.howdens.com Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 041

COVER STORY

CASE STUDY: WHITEHORSE STABLES. BEN RICHARDS MEng Architectural Engineer Director of AURA Architecture Development Director of EXP Property

FRANCESCO PIFFARI RIBA / ARB - Senior Architect www.aurahomes.co.uk www.exppropertyinvestments.com

How does 40%+ margin on GDV sound? How about AFTER finance costs? Sounds great, doesn’t it?! This project has a lot of intricacies and constraints, which makes it a fantastic scheme to review as a case study. We’ll discuss how this project evolved to generate this huge anticipated profit margin. Just over a week ago, we celebrated getting the second phase of this project through Planning Committee, 9/10 in favour of approval. Great Success! ➳

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 043

With projects such as this, it’s important to understand that persistence, having a good vendor relationship, the right team, and the right strategy is key. It’s a good job my developer clients had all of these boxes ticked on what is a very complicated site! The Site This site lies North of Croydon in a back-land area which formerly operated as a mechanics garage. The most important point to note is that the use-class of this site is B1(c) – Light Industrial. The reason why this is so important is because of a certain Permitted Development Right available for this type of property. Under Class PA of the General Permitted Development Order, there are Prior Approval rights to convert up to 500m2 of B1(c) space into C3 – Residential.

044 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

Now, before you put this article down and start trawling Rightmove looking for Light Industrial land, you must know that this PD Right will cease to exist after 1st October 2020 (unless Boris decides to extend this). The Purchase Due to the nature of the site and use-class, there was likely to be contamination on the site in the form of oil deposits and other nasties, so it was important to understand the extent of this as early as possible. Fortunately, the developers had the foresight and experience to instruct specialists to investigate. They instructed the ground investigations prior to signing the 1-year option agreement and then agreed within the option that the total cost of remediation would be removed, including two-third of the costs of testing. An option agreement is a great way to get security over a site whilst you are incurring costs. Even at this point, the developers were getting a great ROCE. Property is a ‘people’ game, and as a

developer/investor, you need to understand the motives and needs of a buyer so that you can create a ‘win-win’ scenario for everyone. The more of the vendors problems you can solve, the better the deal you will create. In this case, the vendor had a specific financial issue they needed to resolve, so the developers agreed to pay an upfront amount if the vendor signed the option, with a further larger amount due on successfully obtaining prior approval planning on the conversion (more on this later). This was hugely favourable to the vendor and also massively de-risked the developers’ position. Win-win! The developers built a fantastic relationship with the vendors and, because of this, were able to weather a few storms during the purchasing process and also meet the level of offer the vendor expected on a Subject to Planning basis. Had they not had this relationship, they may not have been given the lenience they were given when one of their lenders pulled out at the last minute. When times get tough, it’s a good idea to have a plan B, or even a plan C when it comes to funding lines. Luckily, and as I said before, property is a people game. The developers were able to regroup quickly and tap into their network in order to find the funding they needed last minute – persistence again! My development company EXP Property has various funding routes including private investors that can move quickly. We were able to make an introduction to help the developers plug a £270,000 gap they needed to complete the transaction together with another senior debt lender that they had waiting in the wings. ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 045

Phase 1 After exchanging on the site, the next stage was to submit for planning. But it wasn’t quite that simple. At this point, instructing a Planning Consultant was key. The site had lots of scope and could have played out in various ways. The developers’ exit is renting the entire site, so they were keen to avoid affordable housing contributions. They sought counsel opinion from a barrister who concluded that Prior Approval could not be charged or used in a calculation that led to an affordable housing contribution, as long as the Class PA scheme could be implemented as stand-alone; i.e. you could implement it without crossing over into the new-build element. This is an important factor and changed the design and the direction we were heading. Initial schemes included a basement level car park under the newbuild element with additional single storey buildings in the long narrow section North of the site which would have been an efficient use of space. But, because this parking would have been used by the occupants of the Class PA conversion and could have triggered a potential Affordable Housing contribution on the full site, we had to redesign the scheme to provide parking in the Northernmost part of the site. Risk mitigation and reduction should be at the forefront of any property developers mind, and this was a great example of the developers’ due diligence process to de-risk themselves.

046 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

Class PA – Change of Use This legislation allows for development within the existing building structure; i.e. lowering the floor & introducing mezzanine level(s). This is how AURA Architecture designed a scheme that increased the GIA of the conversion by 50% based on a previous 6-unit scheme that had been approved for the ground and first floor levels. This increased the saleable space from 360m2 to 540m2. It’s important when designing a scheme that you think volumetrically and not just about layouts and how the 2D space can be arranged. It was evident when visiting the site that there were ceiling heights in certain areas that would lend themselves well to include mezzanine levels with only a small drop (circa. 1800mm) in the floor levels to create a semi-basement level. Introducing this extra space allowed for double-height zones to be created where Velux windows allow light to penetrate deep into the space and create compact, yet airy flats. Various iterations of layout were produced, including a 13-unit and 16-unit

scheme. Again, the prudent developers decided upon the 13-unit scheme, which included more 2-bed units, larger flats and better layouts to de-risk their exit. The units range from 33m2 to 68m2 with an average of 44m2. It’s worth noting that, under Class PA, you are not restricted to Technical Housing Standards in terms of unit size. We see too often this relaxation being abused by greedy developers. It was refreshing to see my clients chose the option that created higher quality accommodation over the potential small uplift in value. As part of this type of PA application, the Council will assess the impacts on highways and transport, risk of ground contamination, flooding, and acoustic impact.

Class PA – External Upgrades The Prior Approval application is only one part of the battle with this planning process. Once the change of use has been established, it is then a second process via a full planning application to get the external envelope changes agreed. In our case, these changes are quite dramatic. 50% of the walls will need rebuilding, the roof will be completely replaced, and external canopies are being introduced to enhance the aesthetic of this unloved and old building. Once the change of use has been established and Prior Approval has been gained, there really is little incentive for the Council to reject your external changes if they enhance the scheme. ➳

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 047

14 months forward from offer acceptance and my developer clients completed on this site after obtaining a RICS valuation of £2.275m with the new planning permission in place. Another win given that they were buying the site now some 30% lower than this value. Concept Design The site lies off Whitehorse Road and is industrial in nature. We wanted to replicate some of the original building features on site by using London yellow stock brick and exposed steelwork. Prior to 1932, the horse stables on site were used to bring coal to people in a twomile radius, and as the concept grew, we went from a green utopia to a more robust, stableslike aesthetic which is a nod the sites original heritage. Although harsher, there are still areas of grass, planting and soft landscaping, including mezzanine level gardens to enjoy as outdoor space. The client had a clear vision of what they wanted on this site and, together with our final design aesthetic, “Whitehorse Stables” was born. We started sketching further ideas for how this could be replicated on site. We presented precedent imagery and sketches of our thoughts and evolved the design to include our interpretations of ‘barndoors’, exposed metal door runners, timber panelling, and metal louvres. ‘Cobbled-style’ block paving and iron railings have been designed in the landscaping as a further nod to a stable’s aesthetic.

048 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

Phase 2 – Full planning permission Once the conversion had been approved, it was time to submit for a new-build scheme that filled the gap in terraced housing on Tugela Road to the rear of the site. Planning permission had previously been refused in 2015 to fill-in this gap with 3x terraced houses so with our new design, an approach was taken to create a detached block of flats that maintain a level of separation between the neighbouring properties. A Pre-planning Application process was

undertaken to get early feedback from the council. We would highly recommend this approach to bring the Council on board with your design process and to help you tailor the scheme to their requirements. In this particular case, I witnessed something that I rarely see from planning officers: a request to intensify the scheme! For those that don’t know, Croydon Council have huge housing targets to hit and are very much ‘pro-development’ currently. Now that doesn’t mean to say they will approve every scheme; it just means that they have additional pressure to bring new sites/ housing forward.

In our case, we had a very forwardthinking case officer that wanted us to increase our pre-app scheme from 7-units to a 9-unit development! We ended up at 8-units seeing as 9-units would have broken through the Councils habitable room per hectare tolerance for the area and could have proved a reason for objection. The developers didn’t want to take this risk. One other thing to note about Croydon Council in particular is that they are hungry

for family sized units. Typically, 3+ bed units (and even 2-bed 4-person units). 4 out of the 8 units we re-designed into our final scheme fell within this ‘family-sized’ bracket which was a huge plus for the council. Too many developers try to push through what they want, rather than understand what the needs are of the council. My development company EXP Property have improved two of our recent planning approvals following feedback gained in Pre-App and through conversation with the local Parish Council. Again, it’s about solving problems for people! The design aesthetics of the new-build scheme will complement the conversion with a similar material palette. Without the restrictions of an existing building, and because this will comply with Technical Housing standards, we have created stunning large apartments with high ceiling heights, full floor to ceiling glazing, private balconies, and a complementary interior design of warm woods and a nod to the industrial character of the site. Appeasing neighbours Now I must preface this chapter with the statement “You will never please everyone”. So don’t try. Yes, it’s important to open conversations with neighbours and bring them along for the journey, but I guarantee you will still get objections. Nobody likes property developers! Especially in their own backyard. Planning law and policy is what’s important here. Your neighbours objecting because they “don’t like the windows” or ➳

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 049

“the construction dust is bad for my allergies” is not a reason for refusal. In this case, the developers will admit that they listened to the neighbours too much and changed the design to cater for what they wanted. The most appropriate design was always for the new-build entrance to be off Tugela Road (as per the images below), with a pedestrian access route available to walk through the site. The neighbours were against this and wanted to keep Tugela Road private by restricting access to my clients’ development by including an 1800mm high wall as a barrier. Fortunately, the Council intervened and requested for a more sensible approach, which included the site entrances from Tugela Road, including bin collection from this side of the scheme where access isn’t prohibited. Take on board your neighbours’

050 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

comments, but if they are not a material planning consideration, then approach things more forcefully. Planning Committee Due to the level of local objections, the scheme had to be presented to the planning committee. Typically, 5+ good objections can call a scheme to this, but in this instance the trigger was 12. Unfortunately, with just 7 hours to go in the consultation period, this limit was breached, meaning we were off to Committee! The planning officers were in full support of the scheme and recommended for approval. The committee process goes something like this: 1. A planning officer presents the scheme from a factual basis; 2. The committee are allowed time to ask questions which the officer will respond to; 3. Members of the public have the opportunity to speak for 3-minutes each to either state their reasons for support or opposition. In this case, one of the neighbours presented his case for objection to which my client responded with a succinct 3-minute rebuttal of all the planning policies we conform with, the positive features that this development will bring to the area, and reasons why the objections are not material considerations; 4. The committee then vote on whether they uphold the planning officer’s

decision or overturn. 9 out of 10 committee members upheld the approval! Rightly so! It has been a long process (circa. 18 months) to get to this point, but my clients have added value at every stage whilst de-risking the scheme significantly. The total anticipated GDV of the site is now £7.8 million, which is huge and will provide a life-changing opportunity for my clients. Onwards and Upwards One of the next difficulties to face for will be the structural design and Party Wall Awards. There are approximately 13 house boundaries affected by this scheme and discussions regarding access and party wall agreements could be lengthy. I have no doubt their team are up for the challenge and my clients already have numerous Design and Build tender returns, and a contractor to decide upon in the coming weeks with a site start date of September 2020. The headline figures: Purchase price (inc SDLT and legals) Planning, Build and Development Costs GDV

£1.65m

Profit

Anticipated £3m+

Margin on GDV

40%+

Anticipated £3m (currently out to tender) £7.8m

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 051

Conclusion Persistence and perseverance are words synonymous with good developers and that is certainly evident here, where challenges have been faced front on and complex issues have been overcome. It has been a pleasure to be part of this process, having designed a scheme that we think is a real statement of architectural merit and a nod to the history of the site. I can’t wait to see this scheme coming out of the ground! If you have any questions about the design process on this complex site, or want to discuss one of your own projects, please get in touch. Contact me benrichards@aurahomes.co.uk Instagram @benrichards_property

052 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

If you’d like to make contact with the Developers: Daniel Farrow danny@themomentumgroup.uk Heinrich Lingenfelder heinrich@themomentumgroup.uk Facebook themomentumgroupltd Q.

P R O P E R T Y A C Q U I S I T I O N & D I S P O S A L C O N S U LT A N T S

The

Property Pedallers F I N D YO U R E X T R A G E A R

Tandem. R E A L E STAT E

Andrew McDonald

MRICS

E: ajm@tandemrealestate.co.uk T:+44 7711 140 955

Andrew Taylor

MRICS

E: art@tandemrealestate.co.uk T: +44 7811 946 001

tandemrealestate.co.uk

PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

Q&A WITH PHILIP HOWARD OWNER OF HGS GROUP. PHILIP HOWARD Founder HGS Group www.hgsgroup.co.uk

Philip, tell us a bit about your background - How did you get into property? I got into property by accident, really. After finishing studying, I had several different jobs; none of them that I really enjoyed that much. So, in my early twenties, I went off travelling for a bit and, whilst I was in Los Angeles, I was introduced to a property developer one evening. I met this person on a few occasions following this and we discussed what he did, and he showed me around some of his developments, which 054 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

really impressed me. He suggested that I start off as an agent (or Realtor in his case), see how that goes and then take it from there. So, my game plan was to go back to the UK, become an agent, get some experience, and possibly come back to the States. I never made it back to LA (to work), but I got a job initially as a commercial agent and then moved onto investment and developments as an agent. I then progressed to land buying for developers / house builders and then to doing my own deals.

With over 25 years of experience in the sector, you must have seen it all. What would you say are the three most valuable lessons you’ve learnt in business or property? Adaptability - being able to adapt and being prepared for change is key; always have a plan B or C. One of my previous bosses used to always say that you must be a chameleon in business, and he was right. Detail - throughout my career I have seen so many people in property put forward proposals to investors and JV partners omitting crucial information and due diligence. Lastly, Communication - especially within property, I have found that there is a generally way out or forward, but the key thing is not to panic or make rash decisions; things can and do change quickly.

What was your favourite project to work on, and why? There have been many that I could list as my favourite, however, there is one I particularly enjoyed working on, which was a former garage site situated at the rear of an existing development in Reigate that we agreed to buy in late 2015. The freeholder of this site had a terrible relationship with the existing leaseholders and residents association and there had been an on-going war for a number of years between them, primarily over this back land area that was formerly used as garages for the residents, that the freeholder wanted to gain planning consent on for residential development, but kept getting planning refusals due to the number of objections from the residents and adjoining neighbours. Things got quite nasty with the freeholder banning residents from using this area, ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 055

but the Association were very well organised and had a lot of support politically from local councillors and the refusals kept coming in. Things came to a head when they lost an appeal, so we stepped in and agreed a deal with the freeholder on a STP basis and immediately made contact with the key people in the residents association to discuss our proposal and invite them to contribute in the design process alongside our architect. Although there was some resistance at first, 056 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

I developed a good relationship with the head of the association and it soon became apparent that it wasn’t the development that she objected to – it was the loss of parking, which was the real concern among residents. Armed with this information, there was a glimmer of light at the end of tunnel and so we began to look at options on the existing development, which resulted with us identifying a suitable option, which was a large grassed island area on the estate with

some trees that could accommodate the parking spaces required by cutting into it, as well as maintaining, most of the trees. Finally, we had a breakthrough and a scheme that they liked and could support. We held an event for the other leaseholders at a local hotel where we and the association presented our scheme and parking solution, which received overwhelming support. We now had the green light to have our preapp with the planners, which was attended by the association as well. Soon after we submitted our planning application, which was approved at a planning committee within eight weeks of the application being validated for eight residential units. We received a good offer and sold this site to a local builder; the scheme has now been built and residents have their new parking. What was very satisfying about this was that we managed to gain planning permission in less than a year simply through engagement, dialogue and listening to the residents’ concerns, as well as developing a good working relationship. At the end of the day, had the freeholder taken a different approach, they could have achieved this too, as well as selling the site for significantly more than what we paid them!

Was there any moment when you faced a challenge that seemed impossible to overcome at first? If so, how did you overcame it? Yes, one that comes to mind is from my land buying days. I had been working on an acquisition of a site in a good central London location that had planning, yet offered further enhancement, as well as being in a great position; so, the perfect scenario. We won the bid and had agreed a deal in the order of £20m and established to exchange and complete within 4 weeks. In hindsight it was always going to be a tough call, from a housebuilder with the board approval process as well as being in the middle of November. We had been working on this for some time and naturally I was over the moon that we had won the bid; that was until I got a call from the group MD asking me to meet him in his office urgently to discuss the deal. He told me that the group had spent all the money allocated for the first half of the year but wanted to still move forward and not lose the deal. I was tasked along with the group development Director with coming up with a potential solution. After many hours and cups of strong coffee, we came up with plan. We were aware that the Housing Association, who we had agreed to take the Affordable units, was sitting on a lot of cash, so the plan was to ask them to loan the money to front the acquisition on the basis that they would get a significant discount off the S106 units. We got on the phone to the Development Director to explore this option, which to our surprise, he was up to discuss further. By this stage a week had passed so we had three weeks left. It took us into the ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 057

middle of the following week to agree full terms that they would lend the £20m to be backed by a parent company bond from the housebuilder as security and along with this project they would be the preferred RSL on two other projects we were working on. This left two weeks for both organisations to get through all the red tape with internal procedures and approvals required, but we did it and a simultaneous exchange and completion took place the day before the due deadline. The property development business has changed a lot in the past decades. What were the biggest changes in the way the property business works, in your opinion, and how has your work been impacted by them? (Comparing the year you started and now) There is a huge difference now: whilst relationships are still essential, it was 058 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

especially so in earlier years to obtain market information and to be offered deals. Although there were probably more genuine off-market situations, back then there were less developers and people in property were generally professional landlords etc. People were far less aware of property values. That all changed through the nineties with the emergence of buy-to-let, property programmes, the internet, and amateur landlord. I remember in the late nineties, friends who weren’t involved in property started talking about the amount per sq. ft values of their properties or a buy-to-let that they were buying that wouldn’t have happened

five years earlier. Technology has made information so much easier to obtain; when you’re looking at a project now, for e.g. in an unfamiliar area, it’s so much easier to form an initial judgement. What are some of the mistakes that you see experienced property professionals make, and what would you recommend they do differently? That’s difficult because no one’s business or model is the same, although what does amaze me with a lot of developers, even some that I know, is the lack of communication, especially with investors. My personal view is that it pays to regularly communicate, even if there are problems. Can you tell us about a project you are working on now? We are on site with a scheme in Hanwell for nine residential units, which has only recently started, and we have just got planning on a new scheme in Norwood south London, which will form part of a three site J/V agreement with this landowner. We are working on several opportunities but, of course, under the current situation, we are being particularly choosy about deal and structure. Please describe the Hanwell project? Our scheme in Hanwell is probably a good example of how we approach a deal. The building was until recently used to print perfume bottles, so quite a specialist business; however, the owners had outgrown

the building and required a self-contained facility in an industrial location. We agreed a deal initially on an option basis in February 2018 and soon after submitted a PD application for change of use from B1c light industrial use to C3, which went through, and by June we had consent for residential use under PD rights. Having gotten rid of the employment use, our architects drew up a new build scheme for nine residential units, which we submitted for a pre-application meeting with L.B Ealing, which was generally acceptable other than a few amendments, and we submitted a full application in September 2018. We got a resolution to grant planning in December with full planning granted in February 2019. We took possession six months later as the owner needed to decant to their new premises. The scheme is fully funded, and we commenced on site in March 2020. The building has been demolished and we are preparing the ground for the Piling contractor to start in May. Practical Completion Anticipated: April/May 2021 Development costs and senior facility: £2,785,000 Anticipated GDV: £4,650,000 Q. Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 059

060 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

PRIME RESIDENTIAL

THREE DISTINCT PHASES TO CORONAVIRUS & LONDON’S PROPERTY MARKET. GARY HERSHAM Founding Director Beauchamp Estates www.beauchamp.com

There are likely to be three distinct phases to the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation in terms of how it affects the Prime London residential property market, with each phase in the cycle having an impact on household and consumer behaviour, spending priorities, and the property market. The first phase in the cycle, lasting a few months, is likely to revolve around a quarantined London with business opportunities focused around virtual viewings, remote liaison, and people making reservations on properties, especially new build or unoccupied homes. During this ➳

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 061

phase, luxury rentals are also going to be in strong demand, particularly as most London hotels have closed down. The second phase in the cycle will be when people have taken a virus-antibody test and are able to return to things such as office work – this phased return to work, which China is now starting, will help assist the economy and property market, even if bars, restaurants, and clubs remain closed. The third phase is a lifting of quarantine measures and a gradual return to business activities. This third phase in the cycle could happen between October 2020 and March 2021 with the London economy and property market anticipated to have a “mini-boom” similar to that which occurred post-Brexit when the capital had over £750 million worth of deals for properties priced above £5 million in just a few weeks, as pent-up demand was released and buyers purchased properties they had coveted during the Brexit stagnation period. Forecasting how events are likely to unfold in the London property market is of course difficult at present, since each week brings fresh news regarding the Coronavirus pandemic and the UK and overseas governments’ responses to events. However, a review of how the Chinese, Hong Kong, and Singaporean property markets have performed over the last four months highlights some potential outcomes for London. London now The Prime London lettings market has remained active. In the current marketplace, tenants’ priorities have changed, with address less important than space and the desire for 062 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

a large home where they can self-isolate, which provides an abundance of living space, bedrooms, and large private garden. As other income generating opportunities such as the stock market have shrunk, landlords have focused more on their property portfolios, resulting in them being more flexible in discussions with tenants over rental levels, deposits, and terms. Landlords are also seeking medium to long term lettings agreements with tenants since they know that the halting of tourism and international business travel will have a huge impact on London’s annual short-term summer lettings market, with far fewer Middle East and Asian summer visitors likely to be in London this year. Early indicators show positive uptake by international investors and Beauchamp Estates has partnered with online technology firm Reevo 360, which enables buyers to remotely view a property and link up with a sales agent to take a guided virtual tour. Already a buyer in Asia has just had his offer accepted on a £20 million London townhouse, seen only via video. It is difficult to forecast how the London property market will perform during the Coronavirus pandemic but China and other Asian countries have started the second phase of the cycle which is why we feel the London market will go through a series of distinct phases. Our clients expect us to adapt, which is why Beauchamp Estates has launched a special virtual viewings portfolio, stepped up marketing online, switched to remote working and is overall staying active. London in three phases London is currently in the first phase of the

Coronavirus cycle, which is likely to go on for at least two months. This first phase is characterised by strict quarantine for all households across London, home working and all shops and leisure facilities closed apart from food supermarkets. During this first phase in the cycle, the market for second-hand occupied London homes priced below £5 million is likely to see a 60% - 90% drop in volume of sales over the next few months, with completions delayed until the quarantine lifts. For London homes priced above £5 million, the drop in volume of sales will be considerably lower since the level of transactions priced over £10 million is much lower and many properties are unoccupied and acquired by “cash buyers”. Any impact on prices is likely to be minimised as most buyers are just delaying their purchases rather than walking away. During the second phase in the cycle, as some Londoners return to office work, this should help to unlock the property market and

the volume of sales should begin to stabilise. During the third phase in the cycle, taking place at either the end of 2020 or early 20201, the Prime London property market is likely to see a 20% rise in transactions and a wave of deals at all price levels as pent-up demand from the months of quarantine is released. Unoccupied properties, primarily luxury new homes, dressed properties for sale, and lettings properties are the key instructions where business continues, focused around applicants being briefed remotely about properties via virtual viewings, videos calls, emails, and telephone calls, and people making reservations. As the Coronavirus lockdowns have begun to lift in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore, applicants have begun to make enquiries about properties in London as they respond to a favourable exchange rate and a desire to take investment out of the turbulent stock markets and put it into fixed assets such as prime real estate. Q.

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 063

PROPTECH

SEE OPPORTUNITIES, NOT RISKS.

SERGEY KAZACHENKO CEO & Co-Founder Propetly https://go.propetly.com/get

Qandor member Sergey Kazachenko is a CEO and CoFounder of Propetly. In this interview, he talks about his career, proptech, and lessons learnt in business. How did you get into property? It was luck more than strategy. At 19, we bough a property for private use that needed full work done. Once completed, we had to move out for personal reasons. As a result, we made £50,000 on a £50,000 initial equity 064 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

despite weak market. That felt like a lot of fun. Since then I’ve done a few things (part of them has not been as easy). What was your favourite project to work on, and why? The one I’ve yet to do! The most exciting part about property is that you can do so many different things even if at its core, it’s the same. It’s exciting. The favourite will be once I’ve done a fully passive house for social tenants. That’s when I’ll feel I did something really cool.

You mention in your LinkedIn prof ile that you founded SCH after being puzzled by the lack of a creative approach towards investments. What is the creative approach that SCH provides? And how it’s different f rom its competitors? I don’t feel Real Estate is a competitive market. I look at it much more as a collaboration. Maybe it’s because I come from an Equity background professionally, where it’s all about competition. Create for me means doing something personalised, not an out of the box solution. There are a lot of investment options out there, but the way I see it, none of them are great for anybody; it’s kind of okay to good for everyone, but not great for anyone. Creative means finding the best risk/reward for every investor. The whole Idea of SCH is built around the idea of maximising profit with a Value-chain approach to investment. This reduces risk for people who work with us in the long run while potential return is

unchanged. Proptech has been growing exponentially in the past few years - it is today an $18 billion industry, according to Forbes. With the increase of proptech companies in the market right now, how do you stand out? I strongly believe one company cannot solve it all. Any solution segregated from the rest is good improvement, but we will truly see a difference once the whole process and infrastructure can be created. We believe in creating a whole value chain that would make a difference, not only one company. What are the three biggest promises in proptech, in your opinion, and how could they change the property industry? During the last 30 years, the property industry efficiency has increase only 4%, which is the lowest among industries. This means reduction in real terms. It is time to change this. Construction needs to be more efficient: the transactional process needs to be simplified; management needs to be more cost-effective. In general, real asset ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 065

digitalisation is 30 years behind, and once achieved, the massive change in efficiency will happen directly. You’ve recently completed a reverse takeover. Can you explain what made you take this course of action, how was the process and would you do it again? The value-chain. We are only as strong as our weakest link. The take-over will allow us to create a bigger, better value chain and to bring a more integrated solution to the market. We aim to become the most effective modern Investment company with focus in Real Estate and related technologies. Can you think of three potential positive outcomes for the pandemic? 1. The market will get a big “sober” on income exception and talent will be less of a problem;

066 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

2. The capital will be selective, which will put aside the productive companies from less which at the end will increase the efficiency; 3. The overheating is over. Asset pricing stabilises, return potential increases and new wealth will be created. You are a motivation speaker, a developer, a member of several boards, and the founder of different companies. Which has proven to be the most challenging so far, and why? Motivational speaking is different to anything else. It is emotional, as you want the best for the people you are speaking to. You want to motivate them to action. There is nothing more challenging then to see a person with potential that doesn’t realise it and you feel there is nothing you can do. The second most challenging aspect, I would say, is people: employers or partners. They can make a business or break it. What would you say are the three most

valuable lessons you’ve learnt in business or property? • Do not listen when someone say it is impossible, even if you say it to yourself. • See opportunities, not risks. • Work with good/clear people. • Who is your inspiration in life, and why? • My farther. He has given us a fantastic childhood, despite everything. He achieved all the goals he put in place, despite his rough childhood, but most importantly, he helped many kids that maybe would not even be alive if it wasn’t for him. How do you cope with uncertainty? Excitement. It’s not fun to have uncertainty, but it makes life so much more worth living. Tell us about a passion project you’re proud of: We bought a big piece of land before Zoning and planning, spent two years putting it all together. As a result, we got permission to

build 92 houses and a hotel. This is a passion project that an ex-skier could not pass on. The location has doubled the amount of ski slopes but not the housing, so there is a big shortage. In total, we will create 1,000+ beds in an area of 30,000 people only. How much was invested on it: £3m (Total £25m when finished) How much was it sold for / will be sold for: GBP 6m (GBP 40m when completed) Number of bedrooms: 92 houses + a hotel Size: App. 70,000 sq ft + 60000 sq ft. for the hotel Where it is: Idre, Sweden How long did it take to get ready: 4 years. Q. Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 067

CONSTRUCTION

ACCESS DENIED. MICHELLE LOWE Founder Redshell Consulting www.redshell.org

Planning said yes, Highways said no. What happens when the Highways Authority refuses your construction vehicle access to your site from the road, the only road, after Planning Permission has already been granted? Well, nothing happens for a while. Not on site anyway. Our client, Urban-lab, is a socially conscious architecture and development practice that created a niche development strategy forming Development Agreements with existing and dilapidated church facilities in and around London. The plan? Demolish the existing drafty, un-modernised, and under-utilised church spaces, and construct modern and welcoming community spaces for the church with apartments above. A win-win situation for the Church, the community, the local housing requirements 068 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

and the developer, of course. The project planning process was a long drawn out 10-year saga. The church pastor was decidedly fatigued by the whole affair, initially working with a previous developer who had been refused planning permission multiple times over the years. Urban-lab picked up the project and sped through planning in 2018, satisfying what seemed like an eternally unsatisfied Newham planning authority. The planning application submission did include a detailed construction logistics plan by PTP, noting access arrangements and traffic management plans to control vehicular access from the front elevation off West Ham Lane and into the site designated area. West Ham Lane isn’t a red route itself and construction vehicles were not intending to stop and wait on the A class road. The plan by PTP was fully in accordance with Transport for London’s (TfL) Construction Logistics

Plan Guidance (April 2013). Box ticked, you’d think. The site as below is landlocked, aside from the front elevation which borders West Ham Lane. Established buildings and builtup areas are to the South, West and North side.

A pre-commencement Planning Condition (condition 7) required a demolition and construction management logistics plan to be prepared and submitted to Newham for approval. Further detail and consideration to the existing (approved) Construction Logistics Plan required, nothing unusual here. Newham would be seeking the advice of their internal Highways department on the proposals, of course. “Works shall be carried out in accordance with the approved Demolition

and Construction Management and Logistics Plan. Reason: To ensure that works do not prejudice the ability of neighbouring occupier’s reasonable enjoyment of their properties, to safeguard the amenities of the area and manage the impacts of the development and to ensure that works shall not represent any unacceptable level of vehicle movements such that the safety of pedestrians or other road users shall be unduly prejudiced.” This all seemed entirely reasonable. Any town planning consultant and any traffic highways advisor would have followed the same path and prepared the same reports. The Main Contractor was procured and the demolition and construction management plan prepared and issued for discharge of the pre-commencement condition. The response from Highways to the plan as submitted was a flat no. Access from West Ham Lane, the only road to border the site, was denied. Say what? was the general response from the team. Without vehicular access to the site from West Ham Lane, nothing could be demolished or built on the site perhaps doomed to be under-utilised and forever crumbling. So here we have a stalemate. But also, here we have the point where developers become successful, or not. The ‘on the ground’ local knowledge, tenacity, and bargaining skills of developers can be what makes or breaks a project. No more so than when faced with what would seem like an insurmountable challenge. The existing buildings to the side of the Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 069

Left: Existing Church Building

Church are fully occupied and utilised NHS and BT facilities. Access into these spaces and to the side of the site would be nigh on impossible and gaining enough space to allow for separate vehicular roadways and set down points would be difficult. Our development scheme requires a basement excavation, piling, and a tower crane. Not something you can squeeze into a few parking spaces! By a stroke of luck, the existing buildings to the rear of the site are two unoccupied residential blocks, owned at the time by Guinness Housing Trust. With valuable insider knowledge, our developer was wellaware of the plots and their legal ownership status, having reviewed the site some time back as a potential development opportunity. Guinness were due to relinquish their lease back to Newham within a very

070 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

short time frame. Were the Highways and Planning Authority aware of this and therefore pushing Urban-lab to investigate access from the rear? Not sure. If they did, there may have been some underhanded actions going on here. None the less. The site at the rear is accessed from Arthingworth Street and had existing access roads and car park areas sizable enough for this to work. A year’s worth of meetings, construction management plans, programmes and negotiated offers with Newham to formulate a licence agreement ensued. A whole year. The contractor was appointed under a JCT D&B 2016 with a hopeful view to start on site 3 months into this negotiation process. The developer by now tied in knots to allow the funding to be secured and commit to the Development Agreement with its long stop date now not seeming that long. Initial negotiations with Newham were eye opening to say the least. Representatives of the Planning Authority stated outright that the existing residential buildings were to be re-developed by themselves. Newham directly suggested we demolish both of the existing buildings as part of the access agreement to the tune of some £80,000. Were the existing buildings in the way of our access through this land? No, of course not. A barely disguised request for financial incentive is what happened here. A further £80,000 of cost to the developer to satisfy

the planners on a scheme that already had planning granted. Ultimately, the licence agreement has been now resolved. Access has been granted for a part period of the construction programme from the rear and moving to access from West Ham Lane for the later part of the build. The Licence Agreement was signed in February 2020 and we started on site swiftly in March. The full time and financial implications of this situation should not be underestimated: a full 12-month delay to the start on site after planning approval had already been granted; a full year of negotiating and meetings; a contract that had been awarded and then had to be suspended with some preliminary and contractor costs to be covered; a re-sequence of the build which resulted in an additional programme period and the additional preliminary costs that would ensue, plus of course the legal costs of the agreement; the final word from Newham, a £45,000 financial settlement in lieu of the demolition of the existing residential buildings please. A total figure on this would be in the region of a £150,000 cost increase. Could a situation like this have been avoided? I don’t think so. Many sites in and around London have access restrictions of course, but with planning granted, would you consider the risk that access to the site would be refused? Unlikely. Without our Developers’ local knowledge, the situation would have been a much tougher wrangle and would have taken indefinitely longer to result in agreement. Newham did request a financial incentive to allow this and the legalities and moral code of this move remains questionable. But this is sometimes the world in which we live.

So how would I advise a developer to prepare for such an unknown series of events? A robust contingency allowance, indepth local knowledge of the area, and some very adaptive thinking. Starting on site 9th March 2020 after a year’s delay was a joy. Finding unknown asbestos a week later and a COVID19 shut down two weeks after are a whole other story! Q. Below: CGI of new development.

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 071

PLANNING

FROM A TIRED SUBURBAN OFFICE INTO A £7M RESIDENTIAL CONVERSION. DAVID KEMP Director DRK Planning www.drkplanning.co.uk

David Kemp, Qandor member and director of DRK Planning, tells a case where the planning didn’t go according to plan, and how he counteracted it. “I’m not telling you it is going to be easy – I’m telling you it is going to be worth it.” Art Williams Office to Residential Prior Approval is often touted as the ‘low hanging fruit’ of the property development world. However, as 072 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

such rights have been around for 7 years since 2013, agents and land owners have come to realise they can use it to increase their asking prices, and Councils have become more resistant to it and familiar with the ‘grey areas’ they can exploit to stand in the way of a scheme. One of the most interesting cases we have dealt with recently relates to the conversion of Fountain House, Leatherhead, to 30 flats with parking. The estimated final value of the conversion is around £7 million; a value that my client, Westmede Properties Ltd, could

so easily have walked away from, as I explain below! Article 4 & the Overall Strategy In September 2017, fresh off the back of another office to residential scheme where we obtained permission for 39 apartments in North London, the client asked me if I was interested in working on another Prior Approval scheme – just one snag: there was an Article 4 Direction due to come in soon. The Direction would have stripped any short-term development value from the site, making it really only worth considering as an investment hold for office use. We had to therefore make sure that we obtained any Prior Approval on the scheme before the Article 4 Direction came into force on 16 December 2017. We worked 56 days back from this date to work out the latest date to submit the application (20 October 2017), and then aimed to submit the application at least 1-2 weeks before this for good measure. As we were looking at developing into the

roof, we had five different floor plans, as each layout reflected a different floor to ceiling height in the roof depending on what extent of change to the roof would be allowed in any later application to the Council. For instance, if they did not allow dormers but only roof lights, or if they would allow a mansard or crown or lantern-style roof. We could not test each of these different schemes consecutively – there just was not enough time before the Article 4 Direction would come into effect. So, we had to submit all five separate prior approval applications at the same time. The importance of checking the initial Planning Permission A lot of developers looking at these sorts of schemes only look to see if there is an Article 4 Direction but give no thought to the prospect of problems thrown up by the initial consent for the building being converted. In this case, the initial consent was not for office use. It was actually granted for ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 073

R&D instead, and then when the building was built, the use commenced as an office building instead. This was a breach of planning control and within the first 10 years of this happening was not lawful change of use to offices. However, by the time that we were applying for consent, it had since become lawful. Fortunately, we caught this very early and put together evidence to prove that this was now lawful. Furthermore, unlike the situation where a planning condition has to be removed first, there is no need to put in an application to the Council first to determine that the intervening change of use to office use has since become lawful. If in such a situation then I would recommend the following to bolster your application before you submit it: • Evidence on oath from the selling agent, managing agents and vendor for the

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•

• • •

whole last 10 years to get confirmation they remember its use as offices over the whole time. Look through business rates and planning records over this time for floor plans, and references to ongoing office use in application forms and material and officers’ reports. List of the current tenants or occupiers and a copy of their leases over the time. Check that leases all refer to the ‘permitted use’ as being for B1 office purposes Check websites, social media and general internet pages for all occupiers to ensure they all could be regarded as conducting office based activities – if in any doubt (e.g. medical consultancy services that use the premises for office/ clerical activities), then try to obtain a statement from the occupier to explain what they do and that is essentially an office.

Existing roof with grey tile finish

new window frames to match existing

2504 brick coping to parapet wall

2805

Existing brick facade

2600

It took about 2 weeks to prepare the five applications, including the evidence, and they were all submitted comfortably in time to allow for at least 8 weeks for the decision target date.

Bin Store side elevation, brick finish to match existing

timber panel fence to private garden

Pressed metal cladding surround to main entry

painted timber entry doors

secure access door

pressed metal awning to entries

timber cladding to bike store

PROPOSED FRONT (SOUTH) ELEVATION

Existing roof with grey tile finish

Existing brick facade Riser - tile finish to match roof.

PROPOSED SIDE (EAST) ELEVATION 0

SCALE 1:50 REVISIONS Date Rev By Description

Job Title

17.04.19 P1 DM ISSUED FOR PLANNING 13.06.19 P2 DM ISSUED FOR PLANNING 04.07.19 P3 DM ISSUED FOR PLANNING

Date

Rev By Description

Date

Rev By Description

Date

Rev By Description

E info@mcl-architecture.com W www.mcl-architecture.com

Deemed Approval – Failing to Notify the Applicant of a Decision The 56-day target date for this application was 1 December 2017 and so a decision had to be taken by 30 November 2017 at the latest. It was, however, clear that the officer had left his review of these applications until the last minute (as often happens with overstretched Planning Departments). Anxious to ensure that he made a decision in any event before the 56 days expired, the officer rushed out refusals on all five applications on the very last day! However, not making a decision properly and within the law means that the decision is unlawful and has to be ‘quashed’ or setaside. The effect of this is to leave the application without any decision having been taken! According to the General Permitted Development Order 2015, if no decision has been taken, then the only result can be

painted render finish to side elevation of plant room.

High level windows by Bike store

FOUNTAIN HOUSE

Drawing Title

Client

PROPOSED ELEVS Scale

Date

1:50@A1

17.04.19

Drawn

WESTMEDE PROPERTIES Project No.

Sheet Number

1722 FH-P-25-MF-01-01

Rev

a ‘deemed approval’ – you automatically get approval by law! It should be noted that deemed approvals do not automatically get entered on the local land charges register. Therefore, if solicitors acting for purchasers of your flats or your funder’s lawyers go looking for these and cannot find them, they may raise an issue. In which case, if you obtain a deemed approval, you should also look at doing the following (but speak to your funding lawyer first, if necessary, to check what they would be satisfied with). This article continues online! CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 075

PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT: REFLECTIONS MADE DURING THE LOCKDOWN. DORIAN PAYNE Co-Founder Castell Group www.castellgroup.co.uk

I hate to admit it, but I was one of those who dismissed Covid-19 back in January, upon first hearing about it, as “just another flu”. How wrong was I? The rapid change and consequent ‘Lockdown’ that was to follow felt unreal, with most people shocked by how quickly their businesses were, and continue to be, affected by the restrictions and measures put in place. We were no different; within a space of a few months, our exciting 2020 growth plans were 076 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

replaced with our 2020 Survival Plan. However, this provided us with an invaluable opportunity and a rare one at that: the chance to reflect. The crisis forced a spotlight on the notion of ‘risk.’ What risks are we taking? How can we minimise and mitigate these risks to stay as healthy and safe as possible? These were of chief concern, but the scale of the crisis meant that ‘risk’ spread into areas of the economy, social life and business. For us business owners, this has led to worrying conversations: how do we keep

moving when everything has stopped? Will my current deals survive? Will we survive? Prior to the Pandemic I had considered myself to be a fairly risk-conscious individual. In fact, our business Castell Group which specialise in the development of social, affordable, and disabled homes is built on a strategy of risk mitigation; our deals have an exit strategy secured in advance (Our developments are pre-sold). We work with some great, forwardthinking registered social landlords who are on a mission to build much needed quality housing with low environmental impact. Up until the crisis, our growth rate was fairly rapid, then we came to an abrupt halt. Our deals were left in limbo and we felt like we had little control over our own business. This naturally led us to put our operations under the microscope; had we done enough to make our business safe and secure? No one could have predicted what happened, that’s for sure, but were we being risk-conscious enough in our day-to-day operations? Do we have enough contingency built into our business model? We decided some introspection was required. Firstly, we realised that even though we focused on mitigating our market risk (fluctuation in price and sales demand), we hadn’t paid enough attention to other risks associated with our business, chiefly: • Finance Risk – (Debt exposure, adverse terms, time constraints); • Acquisition Risk – (Not doing enough due diligence / Acquiring the wrong deal); • Development Risk – (The predictable and unpredictable risks associated with actually completing the development);

• People Risk – (Wrongly assuming that certain people would perform as expected/ as they should). We completed a company risk assessment which highlights and breaks down the risks mentioned above; this, along with an action plan, allows us to measure, mitigate, and monitor each risk. This led to the introduction of more detailed individual project risk assessments in order to establish more fully what the known risks are for each individual project and their likely impact. We can then more accurately assess if we can live with the consequences should we take this deal on and the risks materialise. This has enabled us to come to a more balanced view on whether the risks involved with a project can be taken on and a deal progressed. Secondly, we realised that our funding criteria was not being adhered to as strictly as it ought to be, leaving us more exposed at times than we should be. For example, we had an emphasis on reducing equity investment whilst increasing debt investment, but without measuring adequately enough the new exposure to risk. For example, we may have increased the profit by £100k, but the risk involved in a £1m project would now fall 100% on our shoulders rather than at the 50% previously. This has now led to our funding risk criteria being compared against our decision making on a monthly basis to ensure continued compliance. Monthly management of accounts will also be produced for the company and its various Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), with an emphasis on forecasting for the next quarter, allowing ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 077

us time to prepare and plan for eventualities. As part of our risk assessment on projects, we specifically measure risk as well as return; we do not simply chase the higher net profit scenario. It was Ray Dalio who said, “He who lives by the crystal ball will eat shattered glass.” Moving too quickly can be problematic. It is important as a business owner to make the decision-making process as efficient as possible. The various selfdevelopment and “success” books I’ve read over the years suggest the best businesspeople make decisions swiftly and rarely change them. However, I have found that this can be a little misleading and sometimes dangerous. From my experience, what I believe to be true is that: “The best businesspeople make decisions swiftly and rarely change, once they’ve established and reviewed all the facts, material considerations, and consequences of the decision.” In a thriving and fast moving market where there’s an abundance of activity, you will no doubt experience difficulty and huge pressure to make decisions quickly without having the full facts and material considerations available to you. But less haste and more deliberation may save a lot of future pain. In light of this consideration, our comprehensive project appraisal must now be completed prior to any decision made so that we have to hand all the available facts and material considerations. Consequences of a decision must be noted within the risk assessment for a project. At the same time, it must also be remembered that whilst decision-making should be built on a solid foundation of evidence and risk awareness,

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if a decision has become unviable, one must remain flexible enough to change course. Don’t pig-headedly stick to a plan that might once have seemed viable but for whatever reason is no longer as fruitful as it once was; there is no shame in changing course. A property development business is classed as a high-performance business because we are dealing with significant sums over a prolonged period of time (years). As such, one must have in place robust processes, procedures, and controls to help keep the business on track. With this in mind we turned our attention to creating a more comprehensive business plan which now more fully and accurately covers the key principle, as taught by Cranfield School of Management, of: • Where are we now? • Where are we going? • How do we get there? This revamped document now provides a clear understanding of our goals, structures, roles, environment, growth strategies, risks, controls, and funding requirements which has crystallised our future direction. This is now our guiding doctrine. Our business decisions and operations will be reviewed at regular intervals by trusted advisors to confirm if we’re veering off-course. (Fellow Qandor member) Richard Little of Your Land Partner has been working with us to provide quality guidance and clarity. To end where we started, the Crisis has taught us never to dismiss an emerging risk; don’t ever underestimate the damage it may do. Of course, some events and occurrences can never fully be prepared for, but don’t leave your business risks to chance; expect the unexpected. Q.

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PROPERTY FINANCE

TRACKSUITS AND FLIP-FLOPS. PAUL OBERSCHNEIDER Founder Hilltop Credit Partners www.hilltopcreditpartners.com

Paul Oberschneider is a Qandor member and CEO & co-founder of Hilltop Credit Partners. In this article, he talks about life after the lockdowns. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve worn a suit and tie and I’m getting pretty used to flip-flops and sweatshirts as the New Norm for work-at-home attire. I’m in good company though; I read that Warren Buffet is struggling to work out which tracksuit to wear these days as well. 080 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

That said, I suspect we’ll all be marching slowly back to work in some form or another over the next few weeks and, whilst I think that’s good news, it would be nice if we could get away with continuing to wear sweatshirts and track suits. Things will be different - for a while at least. There are two trends that may come out of this mess: rising home values in the medium term, and a specific focus on demand for housing outside of city centres. While buyer demand for housing has softened recently, the supply of homes

(already in short supply) has contracted to a greater degree during this period. UK construction figures point to a 23 year all-time low, as most of the industry has shuttered sites. On top of that, viewings have not been possible and, as we’ve seen, uncertainty has scared the market...for now. The good news is that so far there has been no fire sales; I think most people recognise that this isn’t a crisis spurred by the breakdown of our financial system, rather one that has been largely manufactured. The fact remains that the housing supply in the UK has been undersupplied for years, and the pandemic has just made it worse. Widespread closures and business shutdowns across the construction supply chain will curtail the delivery of new homes in the short-term; investor caution and pullback, higher equity cost, and slow development finance just adds to the problem. While we don’t have a crystal ball, I think it’s fair to say that housing will continue to be a priority for the UK; that demand for quality affordable housing will continue to outstrip supply even with a prolonged period of economic slowdown. Affordability will be the key, and a shift away from the cities, where safety and quality of life is better, will drive home sales moving forward. Q. Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 081

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INTERNATIONAL

WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER BUYING PROPERTY IN THE BALEARIC ISLANDS DYLAN MITCHELL Founder Worldwide Property Co. www.worldwideproperty.co

The three islands of the Balearics, found in the clear blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, are one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world. Each island has its own personality, attracting different visitors and offering a varied property market and lifestyle. Whether it’s a party weekend, family holiday, holiday home or a more permanent base, these beautiful islands have it all. ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 083

Mallorca (pop. 900,000) The largest of the islands and the most developed, offering regular flights from the UK all year round. The main city is Palma, which is only 10 minutes from the airport. Palma offers excellent shopping, restaurants and nightlife. The north coast has grown in popularity with a number of new marinas being built in recent years. For a more ‘authentic’ Spanish experience, the east coast offers more undeveloped towns such as Arta. Over 40% of the island is protected national parks, and the Tramuntana mountain range is now a popular cycling and hiking destination.

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Menorca (pop. 95,000) Generally with lower prices than the other islands, Menorca is also less developed, offering a quieter lifestyle. The capital Mahon is the busiest part of the island and has a well-preserved Moorish town centre and a beautiful harbour where you can watch the local fisherman land their catch of the day. Ibiza (pop. 150,000) Surprisingly, even though Ibiza has a reputation for its nightlife, large parts of the island are quiet and calm. Property prices are some of the highest in the islands, and luxury is the norm.

Purchase costs Buyers should allow 13% of the purchase price to cover the costs of buying a property, and potentially another 2% if buying with a mortgage. Taxes will vary depending on the price. 1. The transfer tax (ITP) (similar to Stamp Duty in the UK) based on the purchase price is: • Up to 400,000 euros – 8% • 400,000 to 600,000 euros – 9% • 600,000 to 1,000,000 euros – 10% • 1,000,000+ euros – 11% 2. This is only paid on existing properties, if you buy a new build from a developer then no ITP is paid, instead VAT (IVA) is included within the price. VAT is currently 10%. 3. Lawyers’ fees 1-1.5% plus VAT

Mortgages Mortgages are currently available of up to 70% loan to value, so buyers would need to pay a 30% deposit plus the purchase costs. Interest rates are historically low, circa 2% to 2.5% fixed for up to 30 years. Taxes In addition to the property purchase taxes, owning property in Spain will bring you into the Spanish tax system, so you should also be aware of the wealth tax, capital gains tax and Spanish inheritance tax. Taxation is influenced by where you are resident and whether the property is a main home, holiday home or investment property. Fortunately, with careful tax planning, you can largely mitigate these taxes. If you’re looking for a healthy Mediterranean lifestyle with warm climate, beautiful beaches with crystal clear waters, then the Balearic Islands have it all. Q.

4. Notary fees approximately €1,000 Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 085

CROWFUNDING

RISK VS REWARD IN PROPERTY INVESTING – UNDERSTANDING THE CAPITAL STACK. ROB WILKINSON Co-founder and Director Crowd With Us www.crowdwithus.london

One of the most valuable tools available to investors for evaluating and understanding risk in property investments is the Capital Stack. The Capital Stack refers to the different layers and sources of finance that go into funding the purchase and development of a property investment project and incorporates the total capital invested into the project. Ideally, a property development project will hit its projected returns allowing each segment of finance to be paid according to plan. But, like any investment, property has inherent risk. The Capital Stack provides investors with 086 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

vital information about where they fall in the order of prioritised return, and what this order means for the risk of repayment. Ultimately, it provides a framework to determine whether the targeted return on investment is worth the assumed risk. Here we show analysis for the four most common types of capital in ascending order of priority.

Each of these investment levels comes with its own unique risk and reward. Typically, higher positions in the capital stack earn higher expected returns due to their higher risk. When reviewing the capital stack, there are simple rules for comprehending it: 1. Each capital source has seniority over all capital sources located above it in the capital stack; 2. Each capital source is subordinate to all capital sources located below it in the capital stack; 3. Typically, only the senior and junior (mezzanine) debt positions are able to secure a registered charge against the underlying asset; 4. Typically, upon sale or refinance, the bottom position gets paid first until fully repaid and so on; 5. To the extent that there are insufficient funds to fully repay all the capital, then losses are incurred from the top down; 6. This means that risk increases as you move higher in the capital stack; 7. This, in turn, means that returns should increase as you move higher in the capital stack; 8. Developer investment is most typically contributed as common equity where investor equity will take the preferred equity position (verified in legal documents). It’s important for investors to understand that in a well-constructed capital stack, there is no right or wrong position but, rather, positions that incur more risk or less risk and, in exchange, pay out larger or smaller rewards. One of the most important parts of investing in property development projects is

performing due diligence. By understanding the capital stack, you become empowered to make an informed decision as to where you feel comfortable in the capital stack based on your investment criteria, as well as whether the risk, relative to each position, is proportionate with the potential reward. The graph below shows a direct correlation between the amount of risk and the potential for reward. Every offering posted on the Crowd with Us website is analysed and assessed with this in mind.

As investors grow and diversify their property investment portfolio, it’s common to invest in different layers of the capital stack as a means of spreading risk and to generate higher blended returns. The Crowd with Us platform offers accredited investors the opportunity to invest at different points in the capital stack such as first position debt (Seafield Road), second position / mezzanine financing (Soham Road) and equity investments (Factory Yard). Risk Warning: You could lose all of your money invested in this product. This is a highrisk investment and is much riskier than a savings account. Q. Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 087

CROWDFUNDING

BUILD, BUILD, BUILD – A NEW GOLDEN AGE OF CONSTRUCTION? MIKE BRISTOW CEO & Founder CrowdProperty www.crowdproperty.com

As a property professional undertaking property projects, you are critically important to the country in these times. You can be economically productive right now, and you can bring further economic productivity into the economy as the Covid-19 situation eases, aiding the country’s economic bounceback. There is no doubt that a key part of economic recovery will be to build, in terms 088 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

of both infrastructure and chronically undersupplied housing, as this drives spend on materials, labour, and services throughout the building and construction ecosystem. This has now been emphasised by Boris Johnson in his Dudley speech on 30th June – good old Keynesian economics. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll build enough homes in this country for once. But the rhetoric needs to move to reality and that’s where so many good intentions fall down. Let’s zoom into housebuilding. The SME housebuilding segment dropped in housing

output from 60,000 in 2008, to 20,000 in 2017, in a context where the country built c.200,000 in each of those years. The actual requirement has always been over 300,000 of course, which we’ve not delivered on for decades. Not building just one home not only exacerbates the housing under-supply issue but also means that £100,000-£200,000 less is spent in our economy on labour, materials, and services. 100,000 fewer homes cost the economy £10bn-£20bn. The reality is that the drop in SME housebuilding over the last 10 years was largely compensated by an increase in delivery from large housebuilders… but herein lies the problem. Large builders need large sites, which are by definition are becoming more scarce. The lifeblood of many UK industries is in the SMEs – the small and medium sized enterprises – the many, many businesses that deliver entrepreneurial growth rates

and innovation to challenge incumbents. In building and construction, they can also unlock the almost infinite supply of smaller projects and smaller parcels of land and are therefore critical to achieving the big picture ‘build, build, build’ vision. So why did the housing output from the SME segment drop by so much? By far the biggest reasons is funding, with 42% of respondents to our survey (the largest SME property professional survey ever undertaken) saying that funding has been their biggest barrier to building more homes, with 41% going on to say that ‘new sources of finance’ would be the biggest enabler going forward. A damning (but not surprising) review of traditional sources of finance for small and medium sized property projects. This is exactly what we experienced ourselves for decades and is the pain that underpins the CrowdProperty proposition. ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 088

We’ve built the best property project lender in the market, as property finance by people, delivering the speed, ease, and certainty that you need to grow your property business quicker and deliver more housing and spend in the UK economy. A customer-focused proposition in financial services – how novel. First and foremost, CrowdProperty is a specialist property project lender, built on expertise in exactly what you’re doing – small and medium sized residential property projects. We’re not bankers who have never been to a building site, or lawyers who’ll throw the contract at you without

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understanding the context, or tech people who have no grasp of the real world or property and offer no way to get in touch. We’ve been in your shoes and fundamentally understand your needs. As ours were, and as we continually reassess through research, your needs are around speed, ease, and certainty of finance, alongside transparency, access to decision makers, expertise in what you’re doing and building a long-term funding partner relationship. We know, just for example, that it’s critically important for you to select the right project as efficiently as possible (and understand why you may wish

to pass on one project based on direct expert feedback), that you can get the best deal by delivering speed and certainty to vendors and the best way to keep the site motivated is to pay swiftly, supported by market-leading speed of assessing and releasing drawdowns. All this is actually irrespective of our sources of capital – whether we’re an ‘alternative finance’, ‘peer-to-peer’ or ‘crowdfunding’ business – you want a funding partner to help you grow your business quicker. As it happens, and what couldn’t be more important right now, is that we have uniquely diverse sources of capital from retail, high net worth, ultra-high net worth, private fund, and major institutional sources. Most funders in the market are exposed with single sources of capital, and they were the first to shut up shop as Covid-19 set in. Even those with multiple sources were exposed as those sources had exactly the same underpinning exposures to equity market volatility and lending attitudes. Diverse types of capital with different needs,

preferences, and attitudes, which is only built up by 6 years of lending with a perfect track record, gives far greater reliability of funding through any stage of market cycles. As a result, we’ve been open for business throughout these tougher times, supporting existing and new borrowers, and are picking up the pieces for many who have had agreed funding lines cut, even part way through projects (yes, incredibly some funders have stopped drawdowns even in arrears to progress on sites – we’d love to name names but won’t). We will scrutinise projects carefully and advise where we believe that it’s in your best interests to delay a transaction / project commencement, but we will progress all good applications, fund as necessary and work closely together with you through these times. Think ahead to the next time there is economic turbulence – who delivered for their customers throughout Covid-19? We have recently also seen other funding providers pulling out of refinancing completed projects. The projects have been successfully completed and value has been added. We are working closely with current borrowers and other borrowers stuck on expensive late interest rates with other funders (just one of the many traits of transactional lenders with onerous hidden fees), assessing each on a case by case basis with an expert eye and working through the best solution for all concerned. We’ve had a Development Exit product for years to allow for final touches and sales timelines, which is understandably a very popular helping hand right now. This article continues online! CLICK HERE TO READ MORE Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 088

INSURANCE

5 OBSERVATIONS FROM THE INSURANCE MARKET IN COVID-19 UK. TOMMY HODGSON Director Eggar Forrester Insurance www.eggarforresterinsurance.com

Premium rates are increasing This is most pronounced in the Professional Indemnity market where the market was hardening long before Covid-19 came along and where it is proving very difficult indeed to find cover in certain areas. I have seen businesses in the property sector, especially those with valuation or design exposure, having to pay 5 or 6 times their expiring premium when renewing in the past few weeks. 092 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

Several insurers have exited the market and those that remain are wary of the litigation that might arise in the coming months if the property market remains depressed. As far as property insurance goes, we are also witnessing rate increases, albeit far less aggressive than on the PI side. For those buying insurance, I recommend engaging with your broker as early as possible (8 weeks before renewal at least) and insisting that they get out to market

well in advance of the renewal date. You don’t want to be left in a position where you receive news of a large increase a couple of days before renewal as you may end up being backed into a corner. Insurers are being sued There are high-profile legal cases taking place with a large number of businesses challenging the decision taken by Hiscox and other insurers not to pay business interruption claims. A large sample of policy wordings are being scrutinised in the courts and the verdicts will dictate whether or not insurers will end up paying out total claim amounts that could reach into the hundreds of millions of pounds.

Future Pandemic insurance In the same way that terrorism insurance has become a common part of a property owner or business owner’s insurance programme in recent years, it may well be that pandemic insurance becomes a widely purchased product in the near future. Insurers are already working on assessing the risk associated with this cover and the premium levels that will likely apply. Flexibility being shown on unoccupancy conditions Standard property insurance policies typically restrict cover once a property has been unoccupied for a period of time, typically somewhere between 30 and 60 days. Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 093

In light of Covid-19, most insurers have extended this period to 90 days and beyond to help policyholders whose properties have been vacant due to Coronavirus and government action taken to prevent the spread of infection. Working from home Everybody’s doing it and, with insurance brokers and underwriters largely sitting in the category ‘are able to work from home’, it seems unlikely people in the insurance industry will return to the office en masse for a few more months to come. This shouldn’t have an effect on the customer experience, but I have heard some grumblings about the service levels at larger organisations where co-ordinating huge numbers of people working from home is a challenge. Q.

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TAX

AN EASY AND FINANCIALLY BENEFICIAL WAY FOR BUSINESSES TO WEATHER THE COVID-19 STORM. SHAUN MARSDEN Director Catax www.catax.com

As the impacts of lockdown measures unfold, businesses around the UK are focusing on cash flow. The government has been refining the process of accessing grant and loan schemes, with new announcements published weekly. While this funding is essential for the economy, many business owners feel they 096 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

will not be able to cope with the level of debt this could incur, once the crisis measures are lifted. In looking to protect businesses, utilising unclaimed and readily available tax relief is an effective way to get a cash injection into a business without incurring debt, and within 6-8 weeks. Several tax relief schemes are already in place, with HMRC continuing to drive through and support claims during

the pandemic. Exploring unclaimed tax relief could mean the difference of an average £62,000 to your bottom line and have associated cash flow benefits, which doesn’t need to be repaid. Research & Development tax relief was a major highlight of the budget announcements on March 11th 2020, with the Chancellor releasing plans to increase public R&D investment to £22bn per year by 2024-25. For qualifying companies, this tax relief is money claimed back for work you have already done, and money already spent, on both successful and failed projects, and loss or profit-making businesses. The UK government is looking to increase R&D expenditure as a % of GDP over the next decade from 1.7% in 2016 to 2.4% in 2027. This illustrates the commitment to ensuring companies are continuing to invest in and be given the appropriate reliefs for developing innovations within their sector.

The civil engineering and construction sectors are filled to the brim with innovation. With companies continually trying to find ways to make builds faster, safer, more costeffective, and more environmentally friendly, it is more than likely that they will be eligible to claim R&D tax relief. Some examples of activities that would be eligible include: • Development and implementation of 3D design software; • Development of sustainable technology; • Development of tools and materials to improve efficiency; • Modern methods of construction and BIM; • Developing new and job-specific methods of installation and safe working procedures. One such client is Shropshire Homes, who have received considerable rebates over their last three claim years with the ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 097

Exploring unclaimed tax relief could mean the difference of an average £62,000 to your bottom line and have associated cash flow benefits, which doesn’t need to be repaid.” support of Catax, as their specialist R&D service provider. Their most recent claim focused innovation of a specialist concrete created to eliminate a chemical imbalance in the ground. “I was introduced to Catax by Richard Canfer-Taylor who owns Reclaim Tax UK, the Business Development Division of Catax. I was pleasantly surprised at how unobtrusive the process was from start to finish. Catax were incredibly thorough and explained things in a manner that made completing the claim incredibly straight forward. To have a return of over 7 figures was truly amazing and we look forward to this years’ claim!” – Gerald Rogers – Construction Director Other companies have received significant benefits for a wide array of innovation, including; • the development of a unique water extraction solution (£27,000 in 098 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

tax relief); • the development of eco-friendly methods of resurfacing roads (£705,000 in tax relief); • the design and development of structural frameworks for historical listed buildings (£328,000 in tax relief); • the development of fire-retardant flooring and door components for use in offsite construction builds (£25,000 in tax relief). If your company has been trading for more than 12 months and have developed new, or improved existing products, processes, systems, services, devices or materials, then there is a significant chance you will be eligible to claim for Research & Development Tax Relief. Catax can help you uncover hidden value during these trying times, working together with you to get ahead of the upcoming financial strain. We have claimed over a quarter of a billion pounds to date for our 14,500 clients and are working with our community and partners to ensure all businesses affected have the tools and cash flow they need to sustain their business. If you’re interested in finding out whether your business could make a claim, please contact Richard Armstrong at Catax today. Alternatively, you can quickly fill a form an find out if you are eligible on this link, developed by Catax in partnership with Qandor. Q.

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PENSIONS

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY PENSION ON DEATH? GEORGE TTOULI Director Burlington Wealth Management www.sjpp.co.uk/burlington/index.html

This is a question I am often asked. I thought it might be appropriate to cover it in this article considering that most of you have pensions including SIPP’s and SSAS’s which you have used as vehicles to invest in commercial property. There is this notion that “my pension dies with me” and, not surprisingly, this is the main reason why some clients are not motivated to accumulate funds in pensions, despite the very favourable tax benefits. What is a pension? Some people regard a pension simply as an income in retirement, so it is true that with certain schemes on death, the income stops and so the pension dies with you. If you took out an annuity or you start to draw income from a Defined Benefit scheme (final salary scheme), then on death there is no return of a capital sum. With most defined 100 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

benefit schemes, the income you are receiving on death is normally transferred to your spouse, civil partner or common-law partner, usually at a lower rate of 50% of the income you were receiving. It must be said however, that what happens to your accumulated capital in your pension plan on death entirely depends on the choices you make when you start to draw funds from the pension plan. At this point, financial advice is absolutely essential for many reasons, not just to clarify the death benefits. If you purchase an annuity for guaranteed income, then you are giving up your capital. You can instead keep your capital invested to provide your own income stream and, in this case, the remaining pot can transfer on death to your chosen beneficiary. So, the information below in this article is largely relevant to Money Purchase pension schemes. These are pensions where you are

the owner of the underlying investments, usually a Private Pension Plan/SIPP. The good news is there were significant changes from the 6th of April 2015 relating to pension death benefits under Money Purchase Personal Pension Plans. Generally, the rules made the tax on benefits more favourable and increased the flexibility. The key age is 75. Pension rules are created by legislation and as it stands, when an individual dies before age 75, their pension fund can be paid as a lump sum death benefit tax-free. This is subject to the deceased’s limit referred to as the Lifetime Allowance, currently £1,073,100. So, for example, if an individual dies at the age of 74 and happens to have a SIPP with a combined value of £950,000, then the individual’s spouse could elect to draw these funds entirely tax-free. If there is no spouse, you can elect to have a beneficiary of your pension fund and they will receive the lump sum tax-free. If you are a member of any type of pension (or you have any type of private pension), you must complete a Death Benefit Nomination form or an Expression of Wishes form. This will direct the Trustees of the pension as to how you would like your funds distributed if the worst should happen unexpectedly. Now what happens if you pass away at age 75 and above? Well, unfortunately it’s not quite so tax efficient. Death benefits in this situation paid as a lump sum will be taxed at the recipient’s marginal rate of Income Tax. This could be quite horrendous for a large pension pot. I have experienced this previously with existing clients who have passed away over the age of 75 and there are solutions to minimise the tax. Without going into too

much detail, briefly it involves keeping the pot in a pension drawdown account for the beneficiary and making withdrawals gradually over a number of tax years. Some of you reading this may be wondering: where does Inheritance Tax fit into all of this? Well, the value of your pension plan does not form part of your estate, so it will not be taxed under Inheritance Tax which is 40%. Interestingly, there are some very tried and tested methods to use a pension pot for more Inheritance Tax efficiency by setting up a Trust. So, going back to my earlier example of an individual who dies before age 75 and the spouse receives £950,000 tax-free. At first glance the family may think this is an amazing result, but if that money is simply invested and held in the spouse’s name, then on the spouse’s death, it will form part of the spouse’s estate and most likely that will be taxed at 40% under Inheritance Tax. If the spouse was aware of this issue, a gift could be made perhaps to their adult children, but this would take seven years to be disregarded for Inheritance Tax. The solution is a Trust. On death before age 75, the expression of wishes should direct all pension fund values to be transferred to a Trust. You can appoint spouse, children, or anybody else to be a Trustee whose job will be to control this pot of money. The money held in the pension is outside of the deceased’s estate and by transferring it from the pension to a Trust on death, it will continue to remain outside of the beneficiary’s estate. I have often joked with Qandor members at our face-to-face social events (do you remember those) that pensions have their own language. What I’m saying is pensions to most people are unnecessarily complicated. Q. Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 101

LEGAL

CORONAVIRUS IN THE MIDST OF ADJUDICATION. PHILIPPA SOMERSET Director Somerset Estates www.somersetestates.com

In the beginning of April, there was a pivotal moment in the construction courts. Deemed to be the first of many, the Millchris Developments Ltd v Waters case and outcome will serve as a precedent after The Technology and Construction Court (TCC) rejected an injunction to stop an adjudication, dismissing that Covid-19 was a key factor.

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The Case The overall particulars of this case are fairly straightforward. The client, Waters, engaged the contractor, Millchris, to carry out works to her residential home in 2017. Following the contractor ceasing trading in 2019, the client launched an adjudication in March 2020, seeking recovery of overpayment and defective works. Following the appointment of the adjudicator and the request for evidence including a site visit, the contractor argued they could not comply and meet the deadline

wadequate time alleviating issues gathering information and evidence. Any further issues showed a lack of mitigation and disruption caused by the pandemic. In this case, the Courts were not persuaded that Covid-19 was the reason for the difficulties faced by the contractor. Notably, they dismissed the claim that their solicitor was self-isolating, when this provided little reason for non-attainment of evidence.

to submit evidence, due to travel restrictions measures in place. Taking the Covid-19 crisis into consideration, the adjudicator refused to postpone the adjudication, but offered a twoweek extension in light of the circumstances. In opposition, Millchris disagreed with the decision and sought an injunction from the TCC to prevent the adjudication from continuing. The Decision The contractor contended that adjudication in the midst of a Covid-19 would be a breach of natural justice as the pandemic prevented obtaining critical evidence, such as procurement of evidence from witnesses. However, the Courts were not convinced and the injunction was declined. The TCC ruled that the extension of the timetable provided

Lessons Learnt Here the Courts were very clear in reinforcing that adjudications can be still be held, albeit remotely, and the impacts of the crisis should not be used as an excuse to suspend hearings; extensions of time can resolve difficulties faced. The Courts upheld that they will only delay adjudications that have already commenced in extreme and rare circumstances that require a clear demonstrating of attributable cause and effect and as a consequence of other reasons. If a key witness contracted Covid-19 and was unable to provide information due to being seriously unwell, then arguably a contrasting outcome could have resulted. But in this case, there appeared to be a lack of contemporaneous record keeping and evidence that could substantiate a counter claim or sound argument. Preparation Adjudications are still expected to take place, although we are expecting any Covid-19 related cases to be met with the same scrutiny. ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 103

Inevitably submissions may become more complex. Gaining access to information will be more problematic. We advise to use this time to make any necessary preparations as accessing information may be more challenging due to lockdown restrictions and staff that are on furlough leave. This will help the strategy of mobilising once the current situation is over. Communication and keeping representatives up to date are of imperative importance at this time and complying with procedural provisions could prevent a dispute from arising. Record Water tight record keeping is essential in documenting any impacts that could delay and disrupt a project. We advise more than ever to document, maintain, and record all communications with parties and ensure proper and safe record keeping (regularly backing up any cloud-based information). Photographic evidence gives a detailed and concurrent time frame of events, and is vital in establishing the state of the project at that time. In the months and years ahead, the situation may be very different. For example, the other party may not be in business, which is even more reason to document the status of the works may help lessen the impacts of the crisis. Q.

104 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

“Communication and keeping representatives up to date are of imperative importance at this time and complying with procedural provisions could prevent a dispute from arising.”

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TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

COVID-19: THE DISRUPTOR THAT THE UK DEVELOPMENT PLANNING INDUSTRY HAS BEEN WAITING FOR? STEPHEN EYTON Director Vectos www.vectos.co.uk

In the 1990s, 80% of people were driving by age 30. By 2018, the same level was only reached by age 45. At the same time, a 2015 study showed that for two-thirds of millennials, having the latest smartphone was more valuable than owning a new car and that car sharing as an alternative to owning a car would rise in future, particularly in cities. 106 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

Despite this, and the fact that there has been a decline in the rate of traffic growth over the last 20 years, many highway authorities continue to require traffic assessments for new developments based on assumptions of peak hour traffic growth and seek to determine appropriate development levels based on peak hour traffic capacity. This is an outdated view, referred to as ‘Predict and Provide’, and is not the essence of the approach enshrined in the National

Planning Policy Framework. Transport planners have long been arguing that changing attitudes to car ownership and use should properly be reflected in the approach to determining appropriate development from a transport perspective. There is progress in moving away from traditional ‘Predict and Provide’ traffic assessment towards what is referred to as the ‘Vision and Validate’ approach. However, like most industries, often it takes a significant event for there to be real change. COVID-19 could be the disruptor that transport planners have been waiting for. So, what are the opportunities and risks that might arise for property developers? The Effect of Covid-19 Before anyone had heard of COVID-19, many people living and working in the UK were going about their ‘normal’ daily lives. Getting in their cars, without thinking, to travel to work as this was where they were required to physically be. People were increasingly understanding of the negative effect this was having on them personally (e.g. stress) and the wider environment (e.g. worsening air quality), but didn’t have the reason or the time to seriously question whether there could be a ‘new normal’. The outbreak of COVID-19 has given them both. During the initial lockdown, all but essential travel was banned. Companies that could had to find ways to get their staff working from home. Parents had to teach their children at home. People had to plan grocery shopping rather than simply go out as many times as they liked. The result was a huge fall in car use and traffic on the UK’s

roads. Air quality improved quickly and as people ventured out for exercise purposes, they found that walking and cycling was much more attractive. It is of course possible that things will return to what was ‘normal’ prior to Covid-19 over time. However, COVID-19 has profoundly affected many people’s lives and will continue to do so for many years. A recent YouGov Poll found that only 9% of people want personal and social circumstances to return to how they were pre-COVID, so it seems much more likely that there will be a ‘new normal’ for most aspects of life, including road traffic levels. What Might the ‘New Normal’ Look Like Although they have increased a little since the lockdown restrictions were eased, road traffic levels are a fraction of what they were prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. The question is: what happens next? COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on the economy. Following the last recession in the UK in 2007, there was negative traffic growth for 3-4 years and traffic volumes did not return to 2007 levels until 2015. A significant difference between then and now is the amount of people working from home. The effect of COVID-19 is demonstrated by the fact that in April 2020, 44% of employed adults worked from home compared to around 12% in April 2019. We are now at a stage where people have been working from home long enough for employers and staff to realise that it can be a long-term strategy. ➳

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 107

At the same time, the UK government has recently announced a £2 billion package to create a new era for cycling and walking and the Mayor of London has also announced plans to transform parts of central London into one of the largest car-free zones in any capital city in the world. All of these shortterm active travel measures are intended to evolve into long term strategies. Based on the above, traffic is unlikely to reach pre-COVID-19 levels in the short term and there is a chance that it never will. In this case, the ‘new normal’ would be much lower traffic levels on the UK roads. Opportunity and Risk for Property Developers This ‘new normal’ creates opportunities for permitted, current and new developments.In the case of permitted developments, it could be that implementation is dependent on building significant highway infrastructure, which was deemed necessary based on traffic modelling done on the assumption of continuous traffic growth into future years. In this case, and especially if there are also issues with the viability of a scheme, there is the opportunity to seek to renegotiate with highway authorities regarding the amount of highway infrastructure necessary. In the case of current and new developments, there is the opportunity to say to highway authorities that any traffic impact assessment should be based on no

108 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

growth from pre-COVID-19 traffic levels in the worst case and lower traffic levels in the realistic case. In locations were highway authorities incorrectly place considerable emphasis on peak hour traffic capacity, this approach might enable more development in the ‘old normal’. The challenge in realising these opportunities will be agreeing the realistic traffic impact case based on the ‘new normal’ traffic levels. This will involve discussions with highway authorities using a mixture of pre-Covid-19 and newly collected data. This is where risk to developers lies. Rather than a simple survey to establish existing traffic levels, it will require assumptions. It will take time and provide those minded to find fault in assessments with more scope to do so, whether they be committee members or competitors. To mitigate this, it will be vital to seek to undertake pre-application discussions with highway authorities to agree on the assumptions. Summary COVID-19 has and will continue to have significant negative effects for many people in the UK. However, disruptive events can also have significant positive effects. COVID-19 could be the catalyst for a permanent change in the way companies work, how people travel, and their relationship with cars. The transition to the ‘new normal’ brings with it opportunities and risks for property developers. To realise the opportunities and minimise the risk, it will be even more important to engage with highway authorities at the pre-application stage and sustainable travel needs to be at the heart of any development. Q.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

BUSINESS AS UNUSUAL. HANAN KANDILI Founding Director The Doublie Unit www.thedoubleunit.com It’s interesting to see the renewed fervour for LinkedIn in recent weeks. We spend a lot of time using LinkedIn to support our clients at The Double Unit and really see the value in sharing helpful, supportive content which gives an insight into a business – not just reflecting the values of the businesses but, perhaps more importantly, of the people who run them. We are now, whether we like it or not, highly dependent on digital tools to run our businesses and connect with our clients and teams. This is good because it allows us to continue working when we cannot physically be together in a certain space.

110 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

The internet, and all these vital digital tools, are now our ‘umbilical cords’ tying us to the outside world. And in the first few weeks of panic, to ensure that we were all able to run our businesses from spare rooms and kitchen tables, and that our cords were firmly in place, we pressed pause for a few days at The Double Unit. The idea behind this was to spend a bit of time thinking about what we really needed to run our business and serve our highly valued clients successfully. Yes, we need decent internet connections and access to video conferencing, but there were also some little things we wanted to get right, before being swept along in the rush to resume ‘business as usual’. In fact, we acknowledged that this was really unusual.

One of the things we decided to do was to switch from online project management tools and time-keeping apps to good old Excel and a notebook. It was a breath of fresh air. Ok – we appreciate that it is easier to do that when you work in a smaller team like ours, but there is something very calm and controlled about managing our work in this way, giving us more time to think, research, and pass on valuable opportunities to our clients without seeing tasks fall from green into red. No technological barriers, no phone

reminders at 4:44am that there are seven outstanding bits of work that should have been done yesterday. The time allowed us to restructure our work delivery for the better and to embrace the power of pen and ink as something just as valuable as Asana, Zoom, TEAMS and iCloud (and the list goes on). These are really unusual times and, as such, connectivity is key – but don’t forget that ensuring we ‘disconnect’ now and again is just as valuable; valuable to us, to our wellbeing and to the value, by implication, that we pass on to our clients. Q. Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 111

xxx––Qandor 112 Qandor––Issue IssueNo. No.44

VIDEO & PHOTO

WHY USE VIDEO IN YOUR CONSTRUCTION PITCH? CHARLIE FIREBRACE Sales Director Wonderhatch www.wonderhatch.co.uk

Pitching is never an easy task. Traditionally, pitch teams win contracts through a combination of strong client relations and excellent performance on the day; but in a post-covid world, where face-to-face meetings are still a long way off, we need to think creatively about how we can develop that same sense of rapport online, as in the boardroom. We need to ask ourselves: how best can we convey our storyline? Video is nothing new, and yet the volume of video content seems to be growing exponentially! Hubspot finds that 78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% now view online videos every day. Video has not only reshaped ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 113

business marketing and consumer shopping but has totally transformed how companies connect to and support customers. Video has the power to make people care, and when you’re demonstrating your ideas to a potential new client, that’s an invaluable tool in your arsenal. Video makes you memorable Our brains are primed for visual content and as a result, we remember much more of the message when it’s displayed to us in pictorial formats. Studies show that we retain up to 95% of visual messaging as opposed to 10% when reading it (Insivia). Due to the fact that video congregates audio and visual information, the cross dimensionality makes it easier for our brains to hold onto. To put it simply; video helps us remember. Using video in your construction pitch develops a graphic language between you and your potential client that cuts through the complicated technical and financial details with something everyone can relate to. Video captivates There’s no denying the emotive quality of film; whether it makes you jump, laugh or cry, good video content can make you feel something, and great content makes you care. 114 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

Incorporating film into your pitch allows you to hone in on your story, and tell it wonderfully. Which is probably why nothing seems to captivate us quite like video. By bringing together movement and noise, video engages and, most importantly, retains our attention. This means that video sticks with us. Film adds dimension to your pitch and makes information easy to digest as well as entertaining. Incorporating video keeps you in mind now and increases brand awareness for later. So, if a picture is worth a thousand words, then video must be priceless. Video is now We consume video on a daily basis, and we love it. Cisco predicts that by 2022, online video will make up 82% of consumer internet traffic (up 15% from 2017), mobile video use rises by 100% year on year (Insivia) even Facebook is predicting the end of text on its platform by 2021 (Quartz). Why? Because videos make extraordinary storytellers. Fundamentally, that why it is such a powerful medium and why it is here to stay. Including videos in your pitch, has the potential to showcase your company in its best light and make that emotional connection where you will be remembered. Q.

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LEADERSHIP

THE IMPORTANCE OF BUILDING THE RIGHT TEAM. Craig Phillips CEO ApexxepA www.apexxepa.com

It goes without saying that it has always been the case in everyday life that your success is a direct representation of the people that you have chosen to surround yourself with. Hopefully, as you read this, you look around you and are pleased by the people that help you on a daily / weekly basis, and you know that you wouldn’t be where you are today without them. However, it is entirely possible that you may have chosen some 116 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

people who do not fit well within your team, and therefore have had a detrimental effect on your business or on specific results. I, like many before me, have had both success and failure when building my teams, and have made many mistakes along the way. Fortunately, over time I have been able to identify some people that may not have been the best fit and have managed to tweak the ones that are involved in the businesses. This is not a character assassination of anybody in particular, as I hold my hands up and take full responsibility for the choices I have made

along the way. It must be said that, not all teams have to be active within your business all the time. You will have the important core members that you rely on 80% of the time, and the remaining 20% will be made up of tried and tested (this is important) people that can step in only when needed. So, what gives me the right to talk about building a team? Well, apart from being reasonably successful at the moment (I will leave it to the reader to judge if they wish to), I am historically from a military background and have dealt with large teams in both wartime and peacetime missions, and smaller specialist niche teams for varying reasons. I feel that this puts me in a position that not many other people would find themselves in (or wish to), where they have to adapt to both types of leadership. The large scale where hundreds of eyes are looking at you to make decisions and smaller groups where man-management is key and knowing your ‘stuff ’ inside out and being the local area expert is what inspires the confidence in your ability. The lessons taken from those environments have helped me forge the team I have put together today with some key learnings that I’m more than willing to share in order to, hopefully, make you think about the team you have around you. Skill Levels It sounds too obvious to even need a section to itself, but you would be surprised. Surely all accountants, architects, planning consultants and solicitors are the same? Well, if you

have a smile on your face as you read that last part, we both know that this is not the case, and with such a wide margin between a good service provider and a bad one, it is sometimes best to ask for recommendations first and then test each one from there. Please don’t make the mistake I did when I was started and just choose the local solicitor. Not targeting solicitors specifically, but due to the fact that they are an integral part of any property business, it seems logical to use them as an example. When you have a ‘traditional’ conveyancing solicitor, it might be good for one client, but not for all clients, and it is essential that as a property developer or investor, where things can change on what feels like an hourly basis, you have a solicitor that is actually able to perform to the standards required not to sink the deal. This obviously goes for all service providers; yes, ask for recommendations, but make sure you interview them (yes, I said interview them) to make sure you feel that they are right for you. A mistake here can cost you thousands, and if you lose a project due to the lack of professional knowledge, this may result in lost projected profit into hundreds of thousands of pounds. The Ability to Work with You What? Surely everybody wants to work with me, I mean, what is not to like? I’m lovely, I’m a nice person, I’m driven, I’m keen to get the next deal under my belt, I want to get this paperwork signed yesterday, what do you mean that the lender’s solicitor is not in ➳ Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 117

today? Why Not? Tell the planners that the topographical survey was done last month! What is wrong with everybody? Lets face it, 99% of the time, you are hopefully the epitome of tranquillity and nice to everyone you meet; however, we both know that when you are up against a deadline and the whole project is in danger of falling off a cliff, that formally tranquil disposition may have left for just a moment and you are now in full Tasmanian devil mode, where everything needs to get done yesterday. There lies the problem: you need to identify team members that will support you during these times and not just run for cover when you most need them. It goes without saying that during times of stress you may need somebody to take the reigns and take that workload off you. The people that do this are keepers; make sure you look after them, so that they can look after you. Think outside the box Believe it or not, coming up with solutions to every problem you are ever going to face is not just down to you and you alone. You need people in your team that are adaptable,

118 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

can think on their feet and look for solutions for the problem, instead of those people who are determined to find a problem for every solution. We recently purchased a property in four working days using bridging finance and SASS pension funds with none of our money in the project. Sounds crazy, impossible, you can’t do that, it’s unheard of. Well, fortunately for me, I have an amazing team that were able to do just that (it is important to tell you that we already had the searches in and bought them). Look at your team: do you think they would be able to get it over the line? Not to beat records but to get you the project. We had people doing conference calls between the lender / vendor and my solicitor, valuations and reports done in days, our land buyer keeping the vendor happy. We also had people driving around the country getting wet signatures for the trustees of the pension fund. During this time, everybody came up with a solution for a potential problem and we got the deal done with 16 minutes to spare on day 4. I couldn’t have done that without that team, and that is why I value them all so greatly. Work well with each other I think that this might just be the most important section. It is essential that your team members work well with each other or it will just result in delays and, as we all know, delays cost money. If your structural engineer doesn’t get along with your architect, or your commercial broker doesn’t get along with your mortgage broker, the likelihood of them working with each other quickly and

efficiently is probably minimal. I think for those starting out, it would be wise to speak to an architect and see who they recommend as a structural engineer, or a highways consultant. That way, you know that they will be on good terms from the outset and that they will already know how the other one likes to work. Treat them as equals and not as employees This one took me the longest to figure out, and I will hold my hands up and say that I could have done this better and earlier, if I’m being honest. My military background was great in some ways, but not in others, and learning to communicate with people properly took me a while. I had to learn that the best way to get anything out of certain people is to treat them as equals, not as employees or temporary consultants. Believe it of not, contractors or plasterers do not like being told what to do. Now we have various levels of team meetings, from board meetings, shareholders meetings, right down to site meetings, and each time everybody who is in the room is made to feel equal and part of the team. It is essential that all members feel that they are working towards the same goal and that they do not feel that they are working for you. Sure, it is important for them to know that you are ultimately in charge, but please never forget this….you need them more than they need you. Some may disagree but I strongly urge you to try it and see what a difference it makes to the work ethic of those involved.

Refer them to others Last but not least, if you unearth a hidden gem of a planning consultant or a project manager, let others know. They will be happy that you value their services and are willing to tell others about them. The rule of reciprocity can be strong here; they will probably feel very thankful of the extra work (and extra money) and they will hopefully want to work with you on multiple projects in the future. It may also mean that if you have a request that comes in via email, your request gets dealt with first (you cannot guarantee this but it might just happen). Summary Your team is everything. If you chose to go alone you can still achieve great things, but if you go with a team, it can be more rewarding both financially and mentally. Property can be a torturous environment to work in and having people around you that can support you should not be underestimated. I would say that most of my team (the 80%) are now strong personal friends of mine and I know that I can pick up the phone and call them at any time and get something sorted. Doing business in this environment is, in my opinion, ultimately more rewarding. The Christmas parties are also a lot better. Q.

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 119

QANDOR COLLABORATIONS. Qandor is about getting good deals done. Here are some of the successful collaborations within the club

Proptech in action Qandor member Nikhil Patel, founder and MD at Flamingo Investment Group, is currently using the app developed by fellow member Jan Tore Grindheim, founder and CEO at Fonn Construction, on his development projects. “We began working on a multi-unit development project at the beginning of 2020 and collaborating closely with our external team of planning consultants, architects, etc. to deliver the project. Using an industry focused platform helped to pull all of our team together and it has made the communication process a lot easier and more streamlined.” Says Nikhil Patel. Flourishing bathroom With health and wellness in mind, Ocean Bathrooms and EDGE Design Studio created a tranquil space for the forward-thinking generation. This bathroom has been designed for a modular development in Dulwich, soon to go on the market. When designing a space, it is important to keep the end-user in mind and make sure to install quality products that will last. We have focused on products that have good eco credentials, such as Duravit, who reuses materials; Geberit, who have a zero waste policy, and Dornbracht, who use green brass (pure brass, lead free), eco water saving taps and shower heads. 120 – Qandor – Issue No. 4

Seafield Road Rob Wilkinson and Ben Richards worked together on a project that involved the purchase and development of the lower ground floor of Seafield Court in Reading to provide 2 x 2-bed flats. EXP Property Investments Ltd raised the £350,000 first charge debt investment through the Crowd with Us platform. The flats are now complete and are marketed for sale. Factory Yard Another project with Crowd With Us involved the redevelopment of a former printworks site in Hanwell, London into 9 new apartments. The developers, Philip Howard and Paul Goodsir worked with Crowd with Us to raise £535,000 of equity into the project. The project is now well underway and progress reports are continuously shared with investors. Mayfield Road Crowd with Us raised over £800,000 in a second charge loan for the purchase and development of a site in Mayfield Road, Edinburgh. The developer, Thomas Knust, from Lanark Student Living Limited, has submitted a planning application for student accommodation with a total of 306 beds once combined with the two adjacent sites which they already own. Once built the GDV for this scheme is £53m.

Issue No. 4 – Qandor – 121

WATCH MORE ON YOUTUBE. As Qandor and Tropolis prepare for a busy postsummer period, Matt and the team are increasing their presence on YouTube, with a wide variety of content from past Q.TV presentations to interviews with facinating entrepreneurs and thought leaders. We are also soon going to be launching several new videos as part of an educational series to help

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