Case Studies
Bassingthorpe Farm Strategic Site
Estate Regeneration - Residential
Planning Policy – Plan Viability, CIL, Strategic Sites, Employment Land
Property Market Analysis
Site Specific Viability Assessments (VAs) for S106
Homes England
Overview
Bassingthorpe Farm is a large strategic site north of Rotherham town centre with the capacity of around 2,500 dwellings and around 9.3 hectares of commercial land. The majority landowner is Fitz William Wentworth Estate with the minor landowner being the Local Planning Authority Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.
The site is required to provide 25% affordable housing and £17.65 per square metre of Community Infrastructure Levy contributions. AspinallVerdi were instructed by Homes England to advise them and the respective landowners of the site in terms of financial viability and deliverability.
Services
The site has a history of technical work including financial modelling which AspinallVerdi undertook a detailed review of this to understand the site and identify areas of clarification.
AspinallVerdi then prepared a detailed property market report to inform key financial appraisal assumptions in terms of housing mix, sales values and sales absorption rates.
AspinallVerdi then prepared a financial appraisal of each of the 25 land parcels across the four phases of development. This enabled analysis on a parcel-by-parcel basis as well as phase by phase, over the whole allocation or by land ownership.
Sensitivity tables and analysis were provided for each appraisal taking into account changes in affordable housing, gross development value, build cost, infrastructure cost and profit.
Output
AspinallVerdi engaged with both landowners individually and collectively. This was to present the findings of the viability work but also discuss land owner priorities and requirements in order to identify the delivery options available. This culminated in a delivery strategy being prepared with the pros and cons for the landowners being identified both individually and collectively. This also considered the role that Homes England could play in unlocking the site for development.
