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Department of the Built Environment - Development Land Appraisal and Project Realisation.

Introduction

This essay will look at the individual roles of different interested parties in a development project and their interplay with each other during the various stages of the project. It is important to look at the main individuals that contribute skills and responsibilities to each party and their respective goals from the project, be it professional or financial. The five main parties involved in a development are:

1. The Funding Institution team, which will include the Fund manager, the valuer and appraiser. The Fund manager will be looking to make a long term investment with good returns for the investors, the valuer and appraiser will be trying to provide an estimate of the final value of the development.
2. The Contractors team, which includes a Contracts manager and a contracts surveyor. They will have a duel responsibility to the developer to provide quality services within cost and also make a profit and provide a professional service that will help their reputation.
3. The Local Authority team, which includes the Estate Manager, the Planner a Legal Officer and the Economic Development Officer. Their main aims will be to allow the developer to legally and responsibly provide attractive and productive end result.
4. The Developers team, which includes the Developer, would be initiating the development from stage one. Working directly for the developer are the Architect, the Project Leader and a Planning assistant, all of which would be responsible for facilitating the projects requirements.
5. The final team will be the Lead Tenants, who would be gaining the end result and who would be involved in providing he initial design requirements. They would have there own valuer, a Managing Director and an Operations Director, both of which would be requesting detailed requirements from the project.

Many of the individuals involved will be required to contribute throughout the development, others only during certain periods. As with any development, their will be 3 main important stages in terms of their effects in the overall time frame of the project. The project can be split into the Planning stage, where the initial design will be addressed by all the parties involved and the end product and its usage can be addressed, and where planning permission, legal rights and applications for all the obligatory consent are made. It is also during this time that the professionals and resources such as building materials and financial investment will be brought together. The second step will be to commit all the parties involved to the project and co-ordinate the implementation of the design through contractors and raw materials to the building. This can only happen when all the plans have been approved. Design alterations may be made throughout the process as the construction and use of project finances progress. The last stage will be to hand management of the final development to the lead tenants which should now comply with their initial requests. This is the stage where the project can be deemed a financial success or not for all the interested parties.

The roles of each individual department of each team can now be addressed in terms of their responsibilities and their place in the overall scheme of the project.

1. Funding Institution Team.

The team’s main goals will be long term. They will want to make sure that the investment they make will be sound and that they will be taking as few risks as possible to secure a return from their investment.

1. The Fund manager

The Fund manager’s primary concern is to invest in projects that will make a profit long term, and that the short term funding will be reasonable in relation to this. They must therefore have the market research and professional opinions to back up their instincts that a project will be successful. They will also have to look at the developers experience and history before backing them to determine whether they have the ability to make the project a success. The Fund manager will work with the Developer, Architect and Contractors in order to determine whether the plans will be cost effective, as well as making sure the lead tenants will be happy with the end result as they will be responsible for providing the return from the investment.
 
      b) The Valuer

The Valuer’s primary role will be provide accurate information on that estimated value of the initial site and the projected end value of the same after the development project has been completed. They would do this through market research and working closely with the architect, surveyors and the local authority to determine how much the final project will be worth. They will be directly accountable to the Fund manager and would be able to give a realistic profit margin and short term costs.

      c) The Appraiser

The main role for the Appraiser will be to determine the market value of the development and the best use for the end product. They will be used because of their experience in the field and will have a non-biased opinion of the projected worth of the development in the local market. This will be a guide selling price only, and the Developer would be able to negotiate with the lead tenants over this.

2. Contractors Team

The contractors will be interested in providing a quality service for the development, which would go towards improving or maintaining their reputation in the field and being able to make a financial gain for their efforts. The Project leader would be co-ordinating a contracts manager as well as a contracts surveyor towards this goal by outlining the plans from the Architect and giving them an estimated time frame from the start of the building phase to its completion.

       a) Contracts manager

The Contracts manager is employed to find and use good quality contractors with good reputations that will reduce the risks to the developer substantially that the project will be a success; however there use must also be cost effective. The Contract manager will be involved throughout the process from the comprehending and building from plans laid out by the Architect, to the finished quality of the development, and finding suitable contractors to carry out this work. The contracts manager will be working directly with the Project leader in arranging the building implementation phase.

1. Contracts Surveyor

The appointed surveyor will be used to carry out an initial ground survey to determine the sites load bearing capacity, access, drainage etc, and will be responsible for submitting a report on the suitability of the area for the development. The surveyor will assist in assessing the cost and quantity of raw materials needed to facilitate the building work from the architect’s plans. The Contracts surveyor will arrange non-biased advise for the Architect and Developer and work closely with the Project leader in order to develop the plans within certain guidelines, making the project safe and in accordance with official building guidelines.

3. Local Authority Team

The local authority’s key concerns on a development are will it make a good contribution to the area, in terms of jobs, housing or providing local amenities, and to be able to give planning permission for suitable schemes legally and under public scrutiny. They therefore must be happy with all plans drawn up by the Architect on behalf of the Developer as they are themselves publicly accountable.
 

1. Estate Manager

The role of an Estate Manager is to manage the land under their control, negotiating with land owners, tenants, and potential developers. They are employed by local authorities to see that this land is used appropriately and profitably and that any developments made on it are in accordance with local policies and with the consent of the residents in the area. The Developer and Architect would have to go through the plans with the estate manager before any work can take place in order to get their consent.

1. Planner

The role of the Planner will be to first run through with the Developer, Architect and surveyors, the requirements they must adhere to in order to get planning permission. The planner has a responsibility to maintain local building standards and will do so by assessing professional plans in accordance with local policy and to inspect the project well into the building phase in order to maintain the requirements set out

1. Legal officer

The Legal officer will also be involved from the inception of the project as the developer will need to be aware of any legal guidelines they must adhere to and to investigate any claims on the land used for building work. This may also include environmental constraints due to the presence of protected species or position relative to an area of special scientific importance or wildlife preserve and rights of way. The Legal officer will assist the Developer in getting all the legal requirements they would need to develop the project.

1. Economic development officer

The Economic development officer will look at the project in terms of the economic assets it would bring to the local area. They would look at the projected financial gains and how much would come back to the local community in the form of the projects appearance in the local environment, tax from the development, jobs for the local community, and the general advancement of the area. They could then  advise the projects merits and disadvantages.

4. Developers team

The Developers will wish to make a considerable profit from a development project, both financially and in reputation from the overall running of the project. A successful Developer will have an experienced and well run team of professionals that can utilise their skills in producing high quality projects. Their advice to the Developer can allow them to market the development to potential investors and tenants and calculate profits at an early stage, thus reducing the risk of failure.

1. Developer

The Developer will be at the core of the project, and in communication with all parties throughout the development from inception and beyond the end product. The Developer carries most of the risks and therefore must be satisfied that the project has a good chance of being successful, they will also need to convince the Fund Manager of this, as they are responsible for acquiring the project funding and be able to provide the Funding Institution with a financial guarantee. They need to understand the lead tenants requirements and help the architect develop the plans along these lines. The Developer must also acquire the planning permission from the local authority to proceed. A good Developer will surround themselves with the best professionals and contractors and will rely on their project leader to co-ordinate all the various individuals.

1. Architect

The Architect, working from the initial requirements of the lead tenants and the instruction of the developer will design the initial plans which they will go through with the local authorities and the contracts team to develop the project into a viable and legal development. They will continue to provide any design changes to the project throughout its construction as requirements change or costing adjustments need to be made. The Architect is under a legal obligation to remain impartial when questioned by local authorities and lead tenants.

1. Project leader

The Project leader will be on the team to ensure that the project is completed within the time frame and budget by co-ordinating all the professionals involved to create the finished development in both the design a building process. They will anticipate any problems their may be at any stage as well as being able to plan in advance how the building stage will proceed. They will be directly responsible for making sure the contractors are following the local authority guidelines as well as the requirements of the architect’s plans and the wishes of the lead tenants and the Developer.

1. Planning assistant

The planning assistant will assist the Developer with obtaining planning permission with the local authority by providing all the necessary information about the project as well as looking after monitoring the finances and making sure the expenses are within the budget as well as making the payments to the professional staff and contractors. They will assist the developer and Project leader in the day to day running of the development as well as the administration.

5. Lead tenants team

The Lead tenants will be looking to acquire a high quality investment from the end result that will be built to their specifications and will have all requirements they set out from the initial plans. They would have been in direct contact with the developer’s team from the start, and would have dealings with the funding institution and the local authorities in order to make their intentions clear for the development both as a financial investment and a responsible development for the local area.

1. Valuer

This Valuer would be contracted or working for the lead tenant and would provide a link between the lead tenants and the developers. They would be able to advise the lead tenants independently of the developer and the funding institution on the value of the project and liaise from the planning stage with the architect and surveyors. They would also be able to keep a check on the development that it is being built to the required specification.

1. Managing director

The lead tenants Managing director would have been contact the developer from the start with an interest in the development, and would have gone through the initial design parameters with the operations director and the value of the project to the lead tenants by the Valuer. They would be the main source of financial return from the project to the funding institution and the developer and would therefore need to be kept up to date and satisfied with the progress of the development.

1. Operations director

The Operations director will have fundamental knowledge on how the design of the building will have to meet certain requirements that are needed for the project to be a useful commodity for the lead tenants. They will be in communication with the Architect, from the planning stage, outlying the exact specifications that the completed building will have to comply with, including maintenance of the building once it is completed. Once the Operations director is satisfied the Managing director would then be able to give the Developer the go ahead that they are interested in managing the development.

Conclusion

A development of this type may be initiated by the developers or from the needs of the lead tenants from the start. The project through the various stages of its development however, becomes a highly complex interplay between the needs of the lead tenants, a profit margin for the developers, a guaranteed return for the funding institution for their financial investment in the development, the policies and requirements of the local authorities and the availability, cost effectiveness and quality of contractors. A lot of this interplay must be resolved during the planning stages of the development whilst all the parties are flexible enough to alter plans and designs, as once the work has started that flexibility is gone. The developer at the heart of this project needs to consider the goals and requirements of all of the interested parties and facilitate the sharing of information from planning to the final management of the development to all the individuals involved to get the desired result. 

Bibliography

Calvert, R. E., Bailey G. & Coles D. (1995) Building Management 6th Edition. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd.

Cadman, D. & Topping, R. (2004) Property Development 4th Edition. Chapman & Hall.

Cullingworth, J. B. (1997) Town and Country Planning in the UK 12th Edition. Rouutledge.

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