Blackfriars Leicester

The Blackfriars Site is approximately 1.5 hectares of vacant/under-­utilised industrial land. It is located within the recently defined Waterside Regeneration Area, where the Council’s ambition for the site is for a development of 3-­5 storey buildings with a large proportion of family sized units.

Instructed by Investec Bank to advise on the prospects of achieving permission for a residential-­led development contrary to supplementary planning guidance the Waterside SPD. Co-­ordinated the strategy and consultant team to achieve permission within 13 weeks for a development of buildings up to 11 storeys, 616 units with a small proportion of family sized units and up to 1,100 sqm of non­residential uses. No affordable housing was provided and planning conditions have been imposed rather than a S106 Agreement.

The planning submission followed an extensive consultation period with the City Council and Leicester Regeneration Company in order to demonstrate that the policies of the Waterside SPD could not be met on viability and good design principles. H Group prepared development appraisals on an open book basis to demonstrate the viability case.