How WBI develops
Our development process: one continuous responsibility.
We develop real estate as one continuous process, from undeveloped land to an asset in use. Decisions at each stage shape the next, so we carry them through together rather than handing a project on at every step.
Long-term value is designed in at the plot plan, not added at the end.
Land, plan, build, activate
Land
Undeveloped land, read for access, context and use: we assess sites and prepare them for development.
Plan
Plots, roads and uses resolved before construction. Plot planning and masterplanning set out circulation, services and the right use for each part of the site.
Build
Residential, commercial and specialised-use buildings, and accommodation for workforces: new development, expansion and redevelopment, delivered to the plan and to the needs of the people who will use them.
Activate
Bringing the asset into use: occupiers, operators and the services a place needs from its first day, from commercial frontage that works for the business inside to accommodation ready for its residents.
Principles we hold to
Use decides
Who will use a place, and how, determines the land it needs, the plan and the building. We work from that end first.
Early decisions carry the most weight
Access, plot structure, utilities and orientation are hard to change later, so they get the most attention while they are still on paper.
Plan for the next phase
Sites and buildings are planned so that expansion, a new occupier or a change of use is possible without starting again.
Running costs count
What a building costs to cool, maintain and repair over its life is weighed alongside what it costs to build.
Straight information
Landowners, investors, occupiers and authorities get the facts as we have them, including the unwelcome ones.
One responsibility
The people involved change over the life of a development. Responsibility for the whole does not.
The process, followed through
Consider an employer that needs to house a growing workforce near its plant. At the land stage, the question is where accommodation may be built within reach of the operation, on land zoned for it, with access that suits crew buses and utilities with capacity to spare. At the plan stage, the site is divided into living areas, shared services and open space, with buses kept apart from people on foot and room left for the next phase.
At the build stage, the blocks are designed to the rules and to the way the residents' shifts run, and built in phases so the first residents are not living on a construction site. At the activate stage, the kitchens, clinic, transport and management are in place before the first residents arrive. Each stage depends on the one before, which is why they are planned together from the start.
Working with specialists and authorities
Development brings together many disciplines: surveyors, planners, architects, engineers, cost consultants, contractors and operators, as well as the authorities that approve and license each stage. What holds that expertise together is a clear brief and a single view of what the development is for.
Authorities are part of the process from the start rather than a hurdle at the end. Knowing the planning, building, utility and licensing requirements for a site, and designing to them from the outset, saves more time than any other single step.
Where to start
Most developments begin with one of three things: a site, a requirement or an opportunity. Whichever you have, the first step is the same: share what you know about it, however incomplete.
Landowners can read about the routes to development, occupiers about build-to-suit, and investors and partners about investment and partnerships.
Bring us in early.
The earlier we see a site or a brief, the more of it we can shape.
Discuss an opportunity