The Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, has announced that in summer 2020 owners of purpose built blocks of flats will have a permitted development (PD) right to install extra storeys on their blocks.
The new scheme will allow the construction of up to two storeys on top of existing blocks of flats without owners and developers having to go through the scrutiny of planning permission.
The Implications for Airspace Development
The initial implications for airspace developers is fairly obvious in that, provided the development is limited to two new storeys, a developer will not have to go through the time and cost of obtaining planning permission for a development. It is likely that these new permitted development rights will be subject to various limits and conditions so developers will still need to be aware of what those limits are before embarking on a development – daylight/sunlight, for example, could come under scrutiny.
The New PD Rights Remove Some of the Risk From Airspace Development
Airspace developers will be quick to realise that the new PD rights will remove a substantial amount of risk from the development process. The traditional airspace development trajectory is for a developer to obtain an exclusivity agreement and during the exclusivity period have the seller serve the Section 5 notices and the developer to apply for planning permission. With the new scheme, an airspace developer will be relieved of the potential sunk costs of attempting to obtain a planning permission only for the existing tenants of the building to exercise their right of first refusal.
Quality of Development
The lessons of previous attempts to widen permitted development rights are still fresh in the memory of many in the urban development sector. The permitted development from offices to residential units produced too many examples of undersized, poorly converted homes that were not fit for purpose.
Some airspace developers are concerned that if there are a number of poor quality, poorly designed airspace developments put up under PD rights, then years of work undertaken by airspace developers to convince stakeholders and the market that they produce high quality, highly-designed well-built airspace developments with minimal disruption to tenants and great results for all will be undermined.
For more information on airspace developments and the new PD rights, please contact Simon Kenneally on 020 3892 602 or fill in our online enquiry form.