Location: 499 London Road, Boxmoor

The Challenge

• We were appointed to complete desktop research into the London Road property to provide views on the site's values. 
• The application site comprised a large, vacant commercial building which was last in use as a car showroom and associated vehicle servicing area. 
• In order to achieve a considerably increased land value prior to the sale of the site, we were instructed to appoint and manage an architect to design a residential-led mixed use proposal and present this to Dacorum Borough Council. 

Our Solution

• We appraised the site to understand the redevelopment potential and guide HWO Architects on a realistic, yet optimal redevelopment scheme that we would be confident presenting to the council, with out justifications, having assessed the relevant Local Plan and National (NPPF) Planning Policies. 
• We identified useful examples of other approved applications in the borough that also comprised of the loss of commercial/employment use floorspace to make way for new residential development; and focused on the council's policy aspirations to deliver new housing. 
• Noting that the site was designated as 'Residential Area within a Town or Large Village' and formed part of a larger allocation in the Site Allocations Development Plan Document as and 'Improved transport interchange, new multi-storey car park and housing'; we suggested a small element (158 sq m) of ground floor commercial unit floorspace fronting onto the main road, 61 new residential units and 48 car parking spaces.
• We managed the entire process from obtaining and assessing architect fee proposals, advising the client on which practice to appoint, managing the architect's work to ensure the client's aspirations could be achieved and then presenting the scheme with the architects to the council's planning service. 

The Results

• Working with the architects, we managed to arrive at a proposal that would deliver a small commercial unit fronting onto a busy thoroughfare with high pedestrian footfall, along with 61 new residential units and 48 car parking spaces.
• Having received a positive pre-application response from Dacorum Borough Council, the site was then sold to a developer at a price that exceeded our clients' expectations.