Carter Jonas appointed to gain planning consent for £100m Berkshire-based herbarium building on behalf of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
National property consultancy Carter Jonas has been instructed by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to act as planning consultants in the preparation of a planning application for a new herbarium building at the Thames Valley Science Park at Shinfield just south of Reading. The new facility is intended to maintain and protect Kew’s preserved plant collection of over 7m dried plant specimens for future generations. It will provide space for future growth of these collections, as well as a more efficient and sustainable building which will deliver value for money. As a world-class herbarium, the facility will ensure the usability of the collections for biodiversity research and provide the flexibility to respond to future needs. The move to the TVSP site will additionally enable the redevelopment of the Kew Gardens site for improved and expanded research, education, and public engagement facilities, enhancing the global impact of RBG Kew’s work. The estimated net construction cost is £100m. The project will be completed in line with RBG Kew’s sustainability strategy, Climate Positive by 2030: urgently tackling the climate and biodiversity crisis which is based on a commitment to achieve or better the RIBA 2030 Challenge, LETI Operational Energy and Embodied Carbon Targets, BREEAM Outstanding, and the wider RIBA Sustainable Outcomes. Nicky Brock, Partner, Planning and Development, Carter Jonas Oxford, commented, “We are extremely pleased to have been appointed by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to prepare this planning application. The new herbarium project will enable RBG Kew to continue its unparalleled work in botanical research and, importantly, increase accessibility to this wealth of knowledge. With the benefit of a comprehensive sustainability strategy, the new facility addresses significant global issues and we look forward to a positive resolution.” Mark Rushworth, Project Director at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew commented, “We are delighted to appoint Carter Jonas to join our project team to deliver our new Herbarium at Thames Valley Science Park in Reading, which is promoted by the University of Reading. The project is critical to support our mission to understand and protect plants and fungi for the well-being of people and the future of all life on earth. We are very much looking forward to joining the British Museum and the National History Museum who are also located at the site.” It is anticipated that the planning application will be submitted in December 2024. In the meantime, Carter Jonas is working with the project team in the preparation of the application, liaising with the council officers and local stakeholders, and public and stakeholder consultation later in the year. It is hoped that planning consent will be granted in May 2025. Carter Jonas’ Planning team will work closely with Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (architects) and Gardiner and Theobald (project, cost and construction management). Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Carter Jonas Completes Sale of Land at King’s Lynn to Barratt and David Wilson Homes
National property consultancy, Carter Jonas, acting on behalf of a private landowner client, has completed the sale of a residential development site at King’s Lynn to Barratt Homes. This follows Carter Jonas having obtained planning consent on behalf of the developer in November 2023. The 38.2 hectares (94.39 acres) site, known as Knight’s Hill, will feature both the Barratt and David Wilson Homes brands in eight distinct character areas and will provide 574 homes, of which 108 are allocated as affordable housing. Over 30% of the land will be retained as public open space, featuring woodland, allotments, play areas, a football pitch and wildflower meadows, whilst a further 10% will be retained as ecological mitigation zones. The new development will encourage active travel through the provision of cycle and pedestrian links throughout. Toby Lambert, Head of Residential Development (East) and a Partner in Carter Jonas’ Cambridge office, commented: “We are extremely pleased to have completed the sale of this site to enable the new community to go ahead. It is a scheme with which Carter Jonas has been closely involved – gaining the original allocation in the Site Allocations and Development Plan in 2015, achieving outline consent at Inquiry in July 2020, and full planning consent in November 2023 – and now culminating in this successful sale. We look forward to seeing Knight’s Hill emerge as an attractive, sustainable community, one which will go some way to addressing the housing shortage in this part of west Norfolk.” A spokesperson for Barratt and David Wilson Homes Cambridgeshire, said: “We would like to thank Carter Jonas for it’s support in the planning of the Knight’s Hill development. We’re very much looking forward to delivering a range of homes to the area, as well as supporting the local economy.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
New 81-bedroom care home in Surrey set to open in 2026 following recent land sale
Specialist business property adviser, Christie & Co, has announced the sale of a development site with planning permission for an 81-bedroom care home in Ewell, Surrey. The site, which was formerly occupied by the Organ & Dragon pub that was demolished in 2014, sits in a highly prominent position, at the junction of the A24 and Ewell bypass. Planning consent was achieved in February 2024 and the care home development will provide much-needed best-in-class accommodation for the local elderly population. When completed, the scheme will benefit from 100 per cent wet rooms, luxury communal resident amenities, balconies, and landscaped gardens. Following a competitive sales process run by the specialist care development brokerage team at Christie & Co, the site has been purchased by leading care home developer, Morrison Community Care Group, which plans to complete construction in 2026. Paul Sokhi, Managing Director at Morrison Community Care Group, comments, “Morrison Community Care has a long-standing reputation in the design and development of care homes. We are one of the UK’s leading care home developers because we are passionate about providing the very highest standard of living and service possible, having successfully done this in Scotland for over 30 years, we are now excited to bring our expertise to England. This is another step on the group’s journey to achieve our target of becoming the largest care home developer in the UK, to ease pressure on the NHS, and to provide quality, welcoming, sustainable care facilities for those that require them in our local communities and beyond. “We are delighted to announce that the Group has continued its expansion into England, and has now come as far south as Surrey, with the acquisition of this site. We look forward to bringing the Morrison Community Care product of sustainable quality care environments to Ewell, where residents can enjoy safe quality time while enjoying many amenities such as a cinema, champagne bar, spa, bistro and a private dining room.” Jordan Rundle, Director – Head of Healthcare Development at Christie & Co, comments, “We are delighted to have assisted in the delivery of a state-of-the-art care home scheme for the local community in Ewell. As is the case with many Greater London locations, the local catchment has a material shortfall of market-standard care bedrooms to meet the current demand statistics. This transaction is another example of the demand for high-quality consented development sites being robust within urban M25 locations. Morrison Community Care Group performed exceptionally well on the purchase, and we look forward to visiting the care home once it is built.” The development site was sold for an undisclosed price. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Planning Portal unveils integrated Building Control service
TerraQuest, the operator of Planning Portal, is unveiling a new Building Control Portal, offering a raft of new features designed to benefit local authority building control teams (LABCs), planning agents, architects and developers, as well as householders. The move is a key step in streamlining and digitising the building control application process for all users, creating a single portal that serves as the home of planning and building control. Built on TerraQuest’s proprietary KeyChain software platform, which is recognised by international experts for its quality, the new building control Portal expected in spring 2024 allows applicants to pull information through from existing or approved planning applications to pre-populate elements of building control applications. A single sign-on will give users direct access to all their planning and building control applications, while the platform brings with it a host of usability and interface enhancements that will save users time and money. Meanwhile, LABCs stand to benefit from a single portal for all development applications across planning and building control. The single portal means they will have the same high degree of integration with their back-office systems that they already enjoy from Planning Portal, bringing a streamlined approach that allows for a substantial reduction in manual data entry, processing and time. Geoff Keal, CEO at TerraQuest, said: “Having developed the new Planning Portal, we know the benefits that leading digital products and services bring to end users, whether they are applicants or on the local authority side. We wanted to extend these benefits to building control applicants and LABCs, which is why we have built our new integrated Building Control Portal on our proven KeyChain software platform.” Behind the scenes, LABCs will benefit from substantial efficiencies arising from the new service’s payment processing, providing a consolidated payment solution. “One of the main drivers of this software update is to enable greater agility in adapting to shifts in health and safety legislation, enabling applicants to make compliant submissions more easily. We have in-house policy experts who are constantly striving to ensure our platform is up to date and allows us to serve our overall goal to drive development more quickly,” added Geoff. TerraQuest has cautioned users that existing Planning Portal building control service accounts will not carry over to the new system, and that draft applications will not be transferred. Existing drafts will need to be submitted before the transition to the new system or inputted into the new system when it launches. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Unite Students receives planning permission for two major schemes in London and Bristol
Unite Students, the UK’s largest provider of student accommodation, has received planning approval for a landmark 952-bed property in east London and 500-bed scheme at a key Bristol location. The Stratford development, next to Meridian Steps near Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, is a 41-storey tower targeted to complete in 2028. The construction of a new entrance and exit to Stratford Underground Station is also part of the plans, providing a positive benefit to the local community by helping to alleviate passenger congestion and improve the area’s infrastructure. The Group’s Freestone Island development, in Bristol’s Temple Quarter, has total development costs of £73million, and is set to open in 2026. Unite Students is working in partnership with the University of Bristol through a nomination agreement on the property, which will guarantee rooms for the university’s students. This will assist the university in delivering high quality accommodation to support its growth in the Temple Quarter area of Bristol. Temple Quarter, in the heart of Bristol, is one of the UK’s largest regeneration projects – with 130 hectares of land being redeveloped to create a mixed-use community that includes office and commercial space, as well as pedestrianised green areas, alongside Unite Students’ student housing. The Quarter will be a key contributor to the West of England’s economy by creating new homes, jobs and generating income for the local area. Unite Students’ development, which has received full planning approval, will be close to its 600-bed Marsh Mills site, on Feeder Road, and the University of Bristol’s Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, where up to 4,600 students will be based on completion. The new development will provide 4,500 sq ft of affordable workspace and will be BREEAM Excellent with EPC Ratings of A across the scheme. The Stratford project, which has approval with conditions and is yet to obtain full planning permission, will also deliver 1,151m2 of commercial space which will include workspace and a retail area. Part of the space is earmarked for Canning Town-based You Press, a social enterprise for young people and underrepresented communities. A total of 333 beds will be let at affordable rents; 30 beds will be in self-contained studio flats while the rest are in shared flats of five to 10 bedrooms. One in 10 bedrooms will be wheelchair accessible. The planning application was supported by University College London (UCL) and full planning permission is expected later this year. Unite Students is in the process of confirming a long-term agreement with the university for its students to let the majority of the beds. This will support the university’s recently completed UCL East campus in Stratford. Embodied carbon to practical completion is targeted at 730 kgCO2e/m2 (carbon emission equivalent per square metre), showing further progress towards the Group’s 2030 net zero development targets. Including this project, Unite Students’ total planned investment into Stratford is c£400m. This includes the delivery of 716 new beds and academic space for the London Academy of Excellence at its Hawthorne House property, which is replacing former office block Jubilee House on Farthingale Walk. Tom Brewerton, Group Development Director at Unite Students, said: “Unite Students is leading the purpose-built student accommodation sector and these London and Bristol developments are unique offerings in their respective cities – two cities where we already have a strong footing and are committed to investing in further. “We are excited to get started with construction in the swiftest possible timescale. It is fantastic to have received approval at planning committee for this exciting new Stratford development that will positively contribute to the area’s changing skyline. “Bristol is one of the most undersupplied markets in the UK for purpose-built student accommodation and our Freestone Island project provides Unite Students with the opportunity to grow further in the city by providing high quality, value for money rooms for our students and university partners. “We are trusted by parents, students and universities to provide quality, safe and affordable accommodation that supports the entire university experience and are committed to delivering our record development pipeline to meet this demand.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Construction commences on new homes at Television Centre delivered by Mitsui Fudosan (UK) and Stanhope
Mitsui Fudosan UK and Stanhope, as the development manager, have announced the start of construction on two new residential buildings at Television Centre which forms part of the second phase of the Television Centre masterplan in White City, London. Multiplex has been appointed as the construction manager and completion is scheduled for mid-2027. The two buildings – the nine-storey ‘Scenery House’ designed by architects dRMM, and the 25-storey ‘The Ariel’ by AHMM – comprise a total of 347 apartments and townhouses. The accommodation will range from studios to four-bed townhouses with a complementary range of amenities designed by both MSMR and Sella Concepts including residents’ lounges, a screening room, co-working spaces and meeting rooms, as well as a private dining room and roof terrace. Particular attention has been paid to greening the areas in and around the buildings. Landscape architect, Gillespies, has designed a courtyard garden, rooftop terrace and pocket park between the two built elements of the scheme. The announcement comes as Macfarlane Place, the first building in this development phase, nears completion. The scheme will provide 142 affordable homes for Peabody across two predominantly brick buildings designed by Maccreanor Lavington. This brings the number of Stirling Prize winning architects working on the iconic development to three (including AHMM and dRMM) – reflecting Mitsui Fudosan’s commitment to the very best in British architectural design. Tatsu Imamura, Executive Director, Mitsui Fudosan UK said: “We are delighted that construction works for the penultimate residential plots are now underway and we will continue to build upon our existing work on the Television Centre site, which already includes over half a million square feet of office space and 574 private and affordable homes. We are committed, along with our partners Stanhope, to delivering much-needed high-quality new housing on the site, while continuing to explore wider investment opportunities in London and other parts of the UK.” David Camp, CEO at Stanhope added: “It’s great to see Multiplex get underway with work on site and continue to develop this phase of the Television Centre masterplan. Our partnership with Mitsui Fudosan has grown from strength to strength over the years and today marks another important milestone for the project.” Callum Tuckett, MD of Multiplex UK commented: “Commencement of construction on the latest residential blocks at Television Centre signifies a pivotal moment in the project’s progression. Multiplex is extremely proud to be delivering our second project for Stanhope, and we are honoured to play a central role in delivering this crucial component of Stanhope and Mitsui Fudosan’s overarching vision, which will provide 347 new homes on the site.” The cluster of buildings comprising phase 2 of the Television Centre masterplan, are designed to have a distinctive character of their own, complementing each other as well as those buildings already established across the wider estate. The development of phase 2 will complete the masterplan and further open up the site to local residents by the creation of a second entrance on Wood Lane and a pedestrian connection through to Hammersmith Park via interlinking streets. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals