We are instructed on a particular kind of site: former NHS, ambulance, education and sheltered housing estate, alongside consented residential land. These rarely reach a portal. What follows is the stock, and the four things that decide whether a site is actually worth bidding on — planning, biodiversity net gain, the Gateway regime, and the abnormals nobody mentions at the viewing.
Former hospitals, clinics, ambulance stations, education centres and sheltered housing schemes. Public sector and institutional disposals come to us as instructions, not as portal listings.
Whether consent is in place, outline only, lapsed, or absent — and when it has to be implemented by. You should not have to discover that from a search.
Indicative GDV, residual land value, and the abnormals that move it: demolition, remediation, service diversion, CIL, section 106 and biodiversity units.
Our fee comes from the vendor. No introduction fee, no retainer, no buy-side commission on top of the price.
Use class, unit count, lot size, GDV range, geography and the deal structures you will consider. Precise boxes get matched; open briefs do not.
Planning status, title issues, overage and clawback, and the abnormals we already know about. If a site does not work, we would rather say so than waste your appraisal time.
Unconditional, subject to planning, or conditional with overage. We handle the vendor, the deadline and the paperwork through to completion.
A consented scheme, an outline consent, a lapsed consent and a bare site are four completely different assets, and vendors are not always precise about which they are selling. Establish whether permission is full or outline, when it must be implemented by, whether reserved matters remain, and whether any pre-commencement conditions are onerous enough to delay a start on site by a season.
A lapsed consent is still useful evidence of principle, but it is not a permission. Price it as a site with a good planning argument, not as a consented scheme.
This took effect on 6 August 2026 and it changes appraisals on small sites materially. Four things moved:
For higher-risk buildings the Gateway regime, not planning, is now the thing most likely to wreck a cashflow. The statutory target for Gateway 2 approval is 12 weeks. Through 2025 actual turnarounds ran to roughly 33 weeks on remediation work, and schemes ended up 12 to 18 months behind programme.
Two things have improved. The Building Safety Regulator now accepts staged applications, separating groundworks and foundations from the superstructure so a site can start while the rest is assessed. And recent reporting suggests applications are coming back inside the 12-week period again. Neither removes the risk, but both change how you programme and how you price finance.
Ex-clinical and institutional buildings carry a predictable set of abnormals, and they are rarely in the sales particulars. Asbestos in fabric and services. Contamination from clinical or laboratory use. Decommissioning of plant and medical gas. Service diversions where the building sat inside a wider campus. Fire strategy on a change of use that the existing structure was never designed for.
Then the title. Disposing authorities frequently retain overage or clawback on an uplift in planning value, sometimes for decades, and restrictive covenants limiting use are common on former healthcare and education land. Read the overage drafting before you model the exit; it is often the difference between a viable bid and a good one.
Community Infrastructure Levy and section 106 obligations, biodiversity units where BNG applies, demolition and remediation, and stamp duty — remembering that Multiple Dwellings Relief was abolished on 1 June 2024, which changed the tax position on multi-unit acquisitions and still catches out appraisal templates that were not updated.
We will give you our view of all of it before you bid, including when we think the guide price does not survive the abnormals. We are instructed by the vendor, but a bid that collapses at due diligence helps nobody.
Some do, most do not, and we say which on every instruction. A handful are consented schemes with a unit count already established. The majority are former public sector buildings sold with a planning argument rather than a permission, which is precisely why they are priced the way they are. If a listing does not make the position clear, ask us and you will get a straight answer.
Yes — on 6 August 2026. Sites of 0.2 hectares or less are now exempt where there is no on-site priority habitat, temporary permissions of five years or less are exempt, and the self-build exemption has been removed so those schemes now need the full 10%. For minor development, off-site gains count equally with on-site. The 0.2 hectare test is measured on the whole red-line boundary, which is where most people get it wrong.
On many of these sites, yes. Vendors disposing of former institutional estate are often more concerned with certainty of completion and clean title than with an unconditional exchange. Conditional structures with overage are common. Tell us how you want to structure it and we will tell you whether the vendor will entertain it before you spend money on an appraisal.
Because that is the work. Public sector and healthcare estate disposals are a specialism, and those instructions come to us directly rather than being advertised. It also means we know what these buildings cost to convert, which is more useful to you than a glossy brochure.
No. Our fee is paid by the vendor. We do not charge an introduction fee, a retainer, or a buy-side commission. If you want representation specifically on your side of the table across multiple vendors, that is a separate conversation and we will be clear about it up front.
