Development Agency and Consultancy
Whatever your project and whatever stage it’s at, Hambleden provides the experience and expertise required to ensure that your goals are achieved with the upmost professionalism and with a focus on ensuring that owners of land and property are supported at every step of the project.
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The advice and support that we provide fall within two key areas – Development Consultancy and Development Agency. Most projects will involve both.
Development Consultancy
At Hambleden we have extensive experience in assessing potential and ongoing development projects and providing advice on optimising the strategy or undertaking specific services.
This could include for example:
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Working with landowners to identify and assess development opportunities on their estate, and reporting on the optimum strategies.
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Undertaking comparative feasibility studies on commercial property to assess the viability of changes of use.
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Undertaking comparable research to inform development negotiations and reporting for planning agreements.
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Writing portfolio strategy reports in conjunction with planning input for internal / board level assessment.
Development Consultancy is by its nature a very bespoke service, and Hambleden would be delighted to discuss your specific requirements.
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Often Development Consultancy is combined with, or is part of wider Development Agency instructions.
Development Agency
Most Development projects will have some form of transaction – a sale of land or property, an agreement to secure planning, third-party access agreements, planning agreements, for example – and all projects that involve a transaction should have experience and expertise on all sides to ensure all interests are properly represented and protected.
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However experienced they might be, most Landowners do not have the familiarity and expertise with the intricacies of a development project or the up to date knowledge of the market and optimal project structures, and this is where Hambleden provides Development Agency services. We act for the owner of the land or property as their expert, and everything that goes along with it.
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Even where the owner does have sufficient expertise, Development Agents can often be instructed to relieve pressure on resources, to provide objectivity, to provide governance and liability cover. As we undertake this work day-in day-out we keep completely up to date with the market, standards and regulatory practices, and emerging strategic opportunities.
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Typical situations in which we at Hambleden have direct experience would be:
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Undertaking comprehensive marketing and selection campaigns for land with planning permission to find the best deals from house builders
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​Directing the competitive process for commercial occupancy following development of mixed-use sites
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Negotiating Option Agreements and Promotion Agreements on Strategic Land
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Land collaboration agreements and division of proceeds agreements
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Freehold sale agreements
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Tenant, third-party land, parish council engagement, and other stakeholder negotiations
The critical part of any transaction is to ensure that the parties are fully informed, that they feel confident in the decision making process, and that they know that the process is professional and diligent.
At Hambleden we always act transparently, diligently, and abide by the regulations set out by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, to ensure our clients are confident that we are acting in their interests only and that we are trusted experts in our field.
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In most cases we act speculatively – the owners of the land or property are rarely liable for any of our fees until such time that a transaction completes and land value realised. In this way Hambleden shields our clients for the risk of up-front costs or consequential costs should projects be delayed or become unviable.
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If you have land or property that you think might have development potential, or if you have a project already underway, we would be delighted to outline how we could assist you. Please contact us for a no-obligation discussion.