Apartments & Blocks of Flats

With the ability to create higher densities and taller developments than more traditional forms of housing, as well as converting existing or redundant buildings, apartments planning often provide challenge requiring creative and robust solutions.

At plande, we have a wide range of experience in obtaining planning approval for apartments, from small, low-rise developments in towns, to high-rise mixed-use developments in city centres. Contact us today to discuss your project.

Traditionally such investments utilised existing housing stock, including individual houses or flats. In recent years, apartments planning permissions have seen a growth in the Build to Rent (BtR) sector where developments, particularly apartments are built specifically for rent rather than sale. The number of apartment planning applications in cities, including Manchester for this specific tenure has increased significantly with developers creating a business model specifically geared up towards rental. Such developments are lifestyle lead with added amenities such as on-site gyms, bars, concierge services becoming the norm, differentiating the flats from the traditional build to sell model.

The recent changes to the permitted development and planning regulations mean that the creation of apartments through the Prior Approval route means that the traditional apartments planning permission route are not necessarily the only or best way to achieve new flats. Permitted Development Rights (PDR) have been amended over recent years with a string of changes and new opportunities.

The opportunities to convert existing buildings into apartments, adding additional stories on free-standing blocks to create additional flats as well as the demolition of specific types of buildings to allow for the construction of residential (apartments, flats, maisonettes etc) buildings in place are all options that give developers, investors and landlords opportunities to maximise the potential for sites.

Taking advantage of such opportunities is not necessarily easy or straightforward in practice unfortunately and careful consideration along with professional assistance is required to ensure.

Contact plande today if you are considering apartments planning permission or prior approval.

Serviced Apartments can often be a catch-all term for a range of different uses, including holiday accommodation, apart-hotels and short-term lets or holiday accommodation. These are a relatively recent and continuingly popular form of accommodation. In areas where there are restrictions on HMO’s such forms of accommodation could provide higher returns on existing or new build buildings.

Serviced apartments provide a popular option for business travellers, tourists and relocating employees, as such units generally contain individual kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms and living accommodation and provide a more private, independent, economical and homely environment, particularly for longer stays.

The use class of such serviced apartments will depend upon the specifics in each situation, including the length of stay, whether the occupants form a single household and could include Use Classes C1, C3 and Sui Generis.

Contact plande to discuss your serviced apartments planning requirements.