Planning

Everton Football Club, Liverpool

Client:  Everton Football Club
Our Role:  Planning, EIA & Capital Markets
Date:  2017 – Present
Sector:  Sports & Leisure
Size:  52,888 Seat Stadium/Goodison Legacy Scheme
Contact  Iain Jenkinson/Chris Argent/Helen Clarkson

CBRE Ltd were instructed by Everton FC in 2017 to provide advice in relation to their ambitions to find and develop a new stadium site within Liverpool. CBRE’s initial role included the assessment of potential sites in terms of land acquisition, likelihood of gaining planning permission and funding of any stadium development.

CBRE Planning and EIA teams were instructed in 2018 to prepare a full planning application, involving a complex Environmental Impact Assessment, for a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock (‘BMD’); associated listed building consent submissions; and an outline application for a community-led mixed-use scheme at the Goodison Park site. 

BMD is a highly sensitive location adjacent to the River Mersey, within the ‘Maritime Mercantile City’ World Heritage Site (‘WHS’), Stanley Dock conservation area and containing Grade II listed structures. The WHS designation is in part due to the inter-linked historic dock system; the scheme however proposes to infill the existing BMD waterbody.

CBRE has led an extensive consultation programme/negotiation with statutory consultees, including Historic England, Natural England and Liverpool City Council (‘LCC’). The EIA team also led negotiations with the Marine Management Organisation regarding required environmental licenses. CBRE also led a large scale city-wide public consultation exercise which received over 63,000 responses. CBRE was lead advocate, preparing an Alternative Site Assessment to justify the necessity of the heritage harm to the WHS and an Economic Impact Assessment to justify that substantial public benefits exist which demonstrably outweigh the identified heritage harm. 

CBRE managed an exceptionally large client/sub-consultant/contractor team from project commencement through to Liverpool City Council planning committee resolving to unanimously approve the application in February 2021. The application was not called-in by the Secretary of State and full planning permission was issued in June 2021.

Segro Portfolio, Pan London

Client:  SEGRO
Our Role:  Planning
Date:  2018 – Present
Sector:  Industrial and Logistics
Size:  2000 homes, 700,000sqft industrial and logistics space
Contact  Jonathan Stoddart/Laura Elias

CBRE are retained strategic planning advisors to SEGRO representing their interests from national evolution of planning policy through to submitting planning applications.

Years of reducing industrial and logistics floorspace to meet housing targets has left London and the SE with a new challenge – how it can still provide strategically important employment floorspace and service a growing residential population?

At a London-wide level we support SEGRO to engage with the Deputy Mayors and GLA officers on industrial development. This is largely through Industry and Logistics Sounding Board for which we are the secretariat. We actively engage with key London boroughs on plan making to ensure that the London Plan’s intentions are delivered.

At present we are advising on proposals for over 2,000 homes and 300,000 sqft industrial space in OPDC for which site allocations have been secured.

We are also advising on proposals for over 400,000 sqft of industrial space in Ealing. Permission was secured last year for the redevelopment of Fairway Drive Industrial Estate, the success of which has led to further pre-application discussions in the borough. Longer term investments are also being promoted through the emerging local plan which will include multi-level warehousing.

Chinatown Portfolio, City of Westminster

Client:  Shaftesbury Plc
Our Role: Planning
Date: 2019 – Present
Sector: Estate Management
Contact: Will Lingard/Graham Timms

Chinatown for many Londoners has long been a place to walk through occasionally but usually on your way to somewhere else. In a sense that probably never really mattered with tourist income ensuring that its restaurants were content and a sufficiently large British born east Asian population keeping trade in its supermarkets healthy. However, Chinatown has distinctly changed in recent years and is being rediscovered by a wider spectrum than tourists largely due to the growing variety and quality of its food offer.

Our role alongside Shaftesbury is to continue to provide a planning estate management services that facilitates this change to a more discerning tourist and Londoner crowd . At the same time we are looking to future proof development for the potential impact of both The Elizabeth Line opening and Crossrail II bringing hundreds of thousands of additional pedestrians to Chinatown.

We manage an extensive portfolio of planning applications covering all manner of changes and complexities to buildings but also focus on improvements the public realm. We have achieved permission for a number of politically sensitive applications from a portfolio-wide CCTV system to a culturally important authentic pagoda.

Thamesmead, LB Bexley

Client:  Peabody
Our Role: Planning, EIA
Date: 2016 – Present
Sector: Estate Regeneration
Size: c. 3400 new homes. 100,000sqft commercial space
Contact: Liz Mason

CBRE was instructed by Peabody to provide planning advice, and submit planning applications, for one of the Mayor’s flagship Housing Zone sites at Abbey Wood and South Thamesmead.

Thamesmead is probably London’s best known 1960’s social housing project. As a response to a post-war housing crisis, the Greater London Council developed an extensive series of new homes in the Erith marshes. Acute social and economic challenges as well as failing buildings led to Peabody taking over responsibility for the regeneration of area in 2014. Over £1 billion is being invested in Thamesmead, making it the biggest public regeneration project in London

CBRE worked collaboratively as part of a wider consultant team to evolve a scheme for the area covered by the Housing Zone. Following submission of four planning applications in May 2016 for over 1,600 homes and 100,000 sq ft of new commercial floorspace, the planning applications were approved by the London Borough of Bexley less than six months later. We have since then brought forward detailed proposals for each phase.

In addition to planning advice, CBRE provided expert witness through the CPO inquiry, which was confirmed in April 2018. Following the continued success of the project we are now also appointed on the redevelopment of the adjacent Lesnes Estate for a further 1,800 units.

Francis Crick Institute, LB Camden

Client:  Francis Crick Institute
Our Role: Planning, Research, EIA, Project Management, Development Management
Date: 2007 – 2019
Sector: Life Sciences
Size: c 100,000 sqm Life Sciences
Contact: Hannah Blunstone

CBRE Planning has been the leading planning consultancy in life sciences floorspace provision long before the influence of the pandemic hit this sector. When we achieved the permission for The Crick we could not have anticipated that this would be such a strong catalyst for both life sciences in London but also the regeneration of this part of LB Camden. The Council, seizing on this opportunity, has since drafted an area strategy known as the Knowledge Quarter, that looks to marry the ambitions of life sciences companies and public sector research institutions with Camden’s planning policies that try to ensure that local communities and stakeholders also feel the benefits of development.

Life sciences buildings have their own complexities that are often misunderstood by local stakeholders and this is a lesson that we quickly learned at The Crick and have taken forward on other sites. Whilst it is a matter of prestige to have internationally significant institutions within their area or borough, there remains suspicion as to what these organisations are actually doing within these highly secure buildings and what the day to day impacts will be. Demystifying the issues, being open and collaborative, and taking a highly evidence based approach to answering those concerns was our successful approach, whilst at the same time working on the strategic communications with key decision makers.

The Crick represents one of the best examples of CBRE bringing together a particularly wide range of services to deliver an exceptional development.

Royal Liver Building, Liverpool

Client:  Corestate Capital Advisors
Size:  350,000 sqft
Nature of instruction: Re-positioning of the iconic Grade I building to create a ‘best in class’ office and leisure destination.

Advising Corestate Capital, the national planning team, working collaboratively with Liverpool City Council and Historic England, undertook a comprehensive visioning exercise which sought to establish key development principles as part of holistic approach to re-positioning this iconic Grade I Listed Building. As part of this process, CBRE secured broad support for improved wellbeing facilities and new uses including a visitor attraction and restaurants.

Following the visioning exercise, CBRE successfully secured full planning and listed building consent permission for 5 no. separate applications which will facilitate a significant investment in the building. The proposals will breathe new life into this iconic building so as to enhance the contribution that it makes to the Waterfront and City as a whole.

CBRE managed an exceptionally large client/sub-consultant/contractor team from project commencement through to Liverpool City Council planning committee resolving to unanimously approve the application in February 2021. The application was not called-in by the Secretary of State and full planning permission was issued in June 2021.

5 Kingdom Street, Westminster

Client:  British Land
Our Role:  Planning, Development, Research & EIA
Date:  2018 – Present
Sector:  Office
Size:  c 66,000 sqm office led mixed use
Contact  Will Lingard/Laura Elias

CBRE Planning has been working with British Land for circa 10 years since their acquisition of the Paddington campus. Following on from the permission for a 20 storey hotel, we were asked to advise on 5 Kingdom Street, the last remaining undeveloped site on the campus. 

Permission had previously been granted in 2011 for a 13 storey building that was permitted prior to the existence of the Community Infrastructure Levy. That permission was a product of its time and inward facing and therefore a new application was made for a 20 storey mixed use building. To deliver a permission, and given the sensitivity of the site, the public benefits became a critical consideration.

The heritage and amenity impact upon local residents made it a challenging application for the LPA to balance the public benefits against. Consequently, it was the GLA who took over the application and ultimately determined it. It was the first application that the Mayor had ‘called-in’ within Westminster and also his first office development.

Key considerations within the Mayor’s weighing up of the issues were the regenerative impact upon local communities of c5000 new jobs, a new physical connection into these deprived areas, the largest affordable workspace within Westminster, a commitment to zero carbon, a business start-up fund and local employment training as well as financial contributions totalling over £30m to CIL and affordable housing. 

In addressing these challenges CBRE supported the application through a wide range of services alongside its planning team with its EIA, Development and Research teams all providing vital inputs.

50 Berkeley / 50 Stratton Street

Client:  Astrea Asset Management
Our Role:  Planning
Date:  2020 – Present
Sector:  Offices & ESG
Size:  34,973 sqm, 376,446 sqft class E space
Contact  Will Lingard/Helen Nally

Environmental, Social and corporate Governance (ESG) will continue to have a particular influence across the West End as investors focus on more sustainable outcomes for sites whilst at the same time local authorities seek to apply the highest environmental standards. 

‘50/50’, as the project became known, involved taking two tired back-to-back office buildings and reinventing them in a much more environmentally aware manner. At the same time, and to deliver a viable development, a significant amount of floorspace was added to the buildings. 

The two buildings had distinct characters. 50 Berkeley Street was a solidly built imposing thirties headquarters building and the architects, Stiff & Trevillion, took a pastiche approach to adding massing to the lower floors whilst adding a very modern rooftop floor that took advantage of views across Mayfair and St James’s. 50 Stratton Street by contrast was a product of the 1990’s but in essence a good building that needed a stronger ground floor presence as well as a more prominent series of set back roof storeys.

We navigated the proposals through the planning application process in an extremely efficient manner. The message around the environmentally aware approach as well as the quality of the design and the incorporation of generous public realm proposals registered with the decision makers and local stakeholders.

Former HSBC Offices, Hoyle Street, Sheffield

Client:  Mace Developments & Cassidy Group
Our Role:  Planning
Date:  2017 – Present
Sector: Student Accommodation & Private Rented Sector (PRS)
Size: 1.13 ha - 260 residential units and 663 student bedspaces
Contact  Helen Clarkson

CBRE Planning were instructed by Mace Developments, to advise on the redevelopment of the former HSBC office building, situated on Hoyle Street, Sheffield. The brief was to achieve full planning permission for a mixed use scheme (student residential and PRS with ground floor ancillary retail / commercial space), whilst ensuring flexibility within the permission to allow for a phased delivery of the different elements of the project.

Key to the planning process was negotiating with Historic England, South Yorkshire Archaeology Service and Sheffield City Council Design and Planning Officers to develop a scheme that balances the client’s brief with the need for a sensitive design response, due to the presence of a Scheduled Ancient Monument within the site boundary. Other key issues included addressing the Council’s policy requirements in relation to unit mix and student accommodation; issues of on-street parking within the area; and the relationship with surrounding uses, which includes several low density commercial uses.

The application received unanimous resolution to approve from Sheffield’s Planning Committee. CBRE Planning remain involved in the project working on behalf of the subsequent site owner, the Cassidy Group, and have recently successfully amended the consent to deliver a varied unit mix through a Section 73 application.

Nine Elms, LB of Wandsworth

Client:  Dominvs Group
Our Role:  Planning
Date:  2019 – Present
Sector: Hotels
Size: c. 37,366 sqm , 624 rooms
Contact:  Matt Gore/Laura Elias

London is the second most visited city in the world and yet the economic and regeneration benefits of tourism are rarely given sufficient weight in planning decision making. London needs to build an additional 58,000 bedrooms of serviced accommodation by 2041, which is an average of 2,230 bedrooms per annum. 

CBRE Planning delivered this permission for a 624-room hotel within a building ranging from 10 to 16 storeys in Nine Elms on behalf of Dominvs. The concept for the hotel differs from the standard offer as it will combine a full brand Hilton with a ‘Hampton by Hilton’ that will share services and amenities on the site.

We set the need for the hotel in the context of the wider regeneration of Nine Elms, notably the Apple campus and the adjacent American Embassy as well as the long term strategic demands for London. This site embodies all of the requirements for a high service and high density hotel being well-connected and within a significant Growth Area. The way that the emerging public realm will connect into the walking, cycling and public transport routes makes it particularly attractive as well as environmentally sustainable.

The site also lies adjacent to the another CBRE Planning project, Ballymore’s Embassy Gardens (home to the glass-floored swimming pool recently opened that connects two buildings suspended 35m above the ground).

Tritax Symmetry, Junction 25, Wigan

Client:  Tritax Symmetry
Our Role:  Planning & EIA
Date:  2017 – Present
Sector:  Logistics
Size:  1.44 sq ft
Contact  Chris Argent/Helen Clarkson

CBRE prepared and submitted a hybrid planning application for 1.442m sq ft (133,966 sq m) logistics development (Use Class B8 with ancillary Use Class B1(a) floorspace) on a Green Belt site off Junction 25 of the M6 in Wigan.

As part of the Planning Statement, CBRE prepared a Very Special Circumstances Case, as well as an Alternative Site Assessment and a Socio-Economic Assessment which identified that the development, when built out in its entirety, could deliver approximately 1,600 jobs and will add £3m a year in business rates payments to Wigan Council. Additionally, CBRE prepared a Local Employment Strategy which included a comprehensive framework that underpins Tritax Symmetry’s approach to accessing local labour and training opportunities.

CBRE’s EIA team led the scoping process for the Environmental Impact Assessment, culminating in the preparation of an Environmental Statement to accompany the planning application. Together, CBRE’s EIA and Planning teams co-ordinated a multi-disciplinary consultancy team in preparing and reviewing the planning application.

The application was submitted in 2018 and in January 2020 the Council resolved to approve the planning application. The application has since been Called-in by the Secretary of State to be considered alongside several other similar applications in the region. CBRE prepared Statements of Common Ground, a Statement of Case and Proof of Evidence for the inquiry; acted as Editor-in-Chief for other Proofs of Evidence and Statements of Common Ground associated with other technical matters; and appeared as Expert Witness on Planning matters. The Secretary of State approved the application in June 2021.