Added Value

Stone Rise, Dartford, Kent

At Countryside Properties we look to create ‘added value’ at every stage of the development process from land procurement and planning to the high quality design of the homes, workplaces and environments we create. As a result, we work with our partners to capture the full value of land in the long-term.

High quality design and place making are the fundamental principle of our approach to ‘added value’ as it creates a premium whatever the economic situation, adds desirability to new homes, buildings and places and importantly creates a positive legacy. With every tier of Government and the major political parties increasingly promoting good quality design, it will continue to be fundamental in achieving planning consents.

Indeed our business model of collaborating with our stakeholders and in particular local communities will enable us to plan and deliver major new schemes today and in the future.

Much of the land in our control is procured through options and conditional contracts and we promote it through the planning system, adding significant value to it. Our master plans are informed by our extensive experience and are designed to regenerate previously neglected areas, and create new communities, with character and identity. We also have a track record of creating value in areas that are considered by others to be marginal.

Countryside Properties is a family business and we invest in our employees as we recognise the key to success for any company is its people. We have a strong continuity of management and countless people have been with the Group for many years. This is important for the culture of the Group and to our partners on the many long-term schemes with which we are involved. Such stability and the resultant thorough understanding of our values is an important differentiator when engaging with new partners and stakeholders. Additionally, the Group has a reputation for integrity and straightforwardness, which underlies everything we do.

Added value in three key ways

We therefore believe our responsible approach to development creates added value in three important ways:

• Our extensive experience in masterplanning and investing in place-making and design creates both a premium over local values and a lasting legacy.
• Our approach to economical, social and environmental sustainability supports us in obtaining planning consents.
• Our reputation and approach to collaborative working relationships with stakeholders, including local authorities and public agencies, means that landowners and their advisers often prefer us when choosing their development partner.

Brownfield focus

• In 2009 84% (2008: 79%) of our residential output was on brownfield and recycled urban land, well above the Government’s target of 60% by 2008 which we have surpassed every year since 2001.
  
• We are provisionally claiming £456,000 tax relief for the remediation of contaminated land during financial year (2007/8 £1.3 million). This pronounced drop is due to the impact of the recession on the number of active sites.

Stone Rise, Dartford

Building for Life Standard

Stone Rise, Dartford achieved a Building for Life Silver Standard in 2009 reflecting the strong design and environmental qualities of the scheme. The 37 mixed-tenure homes were designed by PCKO Architects and developed as part of the Homes and Communities Agency’s Design for Manufacture (DfM) competition. Stone Rise has succeeded in showing how we can construct environmentally friendly homes efficiently, to high quality and sustainability standards. All the homes were sold in under a year which was a much stronger demand than existed elsewhere in the locality at that time.

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