A project managers guide to development

1 strategy and the property development

process including environmental
sustainability considerations
© University College of Estate Management 2016 IMD001 v1-0

Podcast transcript

Welcome to Topic 5 which concerns “A project manager’s guide to

development strategy and the property development process including
environmental sustainability considerations”.

Supporting this study paper are the activities shown on the VLE for this
topic, which include the sustainability paper titled “Protecting the
Environment”.

Property or real estate development can mean different things to

different people. On the one hand, it can be seen as an industrial
process, and on the other, as a process that is fundamentally socio-
political. Then again, with the increasing influence of the financial
institutions, it can be regarded as an essentially financial process. There
is no doubt other descriptions are equally valid in their own right.

Some people involved in urban development tend to see the

development process as an industrial process, that is to say, as a
functional process in which the market meets the demands of
consumers by producing buildings for a variety of purposes. The
property developer, or in the case of public housing – the local authority,
can be compared to an impresario ‘assembling and co-ordinating a
variety of skills and resources to provide accommodation for other
commercial, social and industrial activities’

If we use this kind of definition, real estate development can be linked to

any other industrial process in which raw material such as (land, labour,
bricks and mortar) are combined by a producer in this case a
(developer/ local authority) to produce a product or (building) to meet
the demands of a consumer or the (occupier).

The development process can be regarded as a series of separate

professional skills – valuation, architecture, quantity surveying,
construction etc. It can however perhaps, be seen as a management

1
 A project managers guide to development strategy and the property development
process including environmental sustainability considerations
task with the developer/local authority as the “manager” organising and
controlling the inputs of the various advisers and operators.

However, we should not forget that a key overarching issue affecting all
aspects of the development process is that of sustainability.

In the real estate development process, the locality in terms of town, city
or region in which to develop, is the first decision which the developer
must make. The choice may precede the search for suitable sites, and
may be determined by the geographical area to which the organization
is tied by its very nature (for example, a local authority or a locally
based developer or industry). So this decision is basically one of policy,
although with some developers, the geographical choice may be much
larger and include a number of countries as in (multinational
corporations).

The presence of financial incentives, such as tax free zones by

government, may influence the decision to choose a particular region.

Ultimately, the decision in the private sector will be influenced by the

economics of the scheme and development will take place when and
where it is either financially viable or most practicable; bearing in mind,
such constraints as labour, availability of land and planning permission,
etc.

The study paper also investigates other factors which may influence the
location of a particular development such as:

• purchasing power of consumers;

• amount of properties – residential or commercial already

available;

• transportation and car parking;

• shopping habits and preferences.

• The catchment area for the development and the number of

people within a certain time or distance from the proposed
location.

• And many others.