Two decades and counting: Our Land Quality Service

With the need for new housing more urgent than ever, finding the right land to build new homes on can be a difficult challenge for most UK developers, and whilst greenfield may appear to be the easy answer, the latest National Planning Policy Framework revision has tipped the balance of gaining planning success in favour of brownfield sites, especially those close to transport hubs, making brownfield, urban settings, and ‘grey belt’ locations increasingly attractive to developers

But, regardless of a site’s history or setting, every project carries unique risks, underscoring the critical importance of early, thorough due diligence.

That’s something our Land Quality Service team knows well, having worked to better understand the hidden features and true nature of potential plots for more than two decades.

Experience counts

Since 2005, our specialist geotechnical and geo-environmental engineers have been de-risking land for house builders, strategic developers and others involved in the complex task of bringing forward land for residential markets.

As the country’s leading warranty and insurance provider for new homes, we set up the function to help our customers remove uncertainty over whether a site is suitable for future housing development.

The team plays a key role in supporting the industry to deliver the quality homes we believe everyone deserves – because with timely, detailed insights about land, developers can make more-informed decisions, save time and take the crucial first steps to pre-foundation sooner.

A lot’s changed over the last 21 years, though.

“We’ve grown significantly, for a start,” said Karen Thornton, NHBC’s Land Quality Service Manager.

“But more importantly, we’ve now got the benefit of extensive experience, having supported some of the largest regeneration schemes in the UK – and plenty of complex and unusual projects, too.

“That means customers today can benefit from an incredible amount of collective knowhow of the real, sometimes surprising hazards that can lie hidden beneath your feet.”

Only NHBC decides whether proposals meet the NHBC Standards

Of course, working with NHBC’s Land Quality Service also offers a further advantage.

“We use a three-stage process that’s designed perfectly in line with Chapter 4.1 of the NHBC Standards,” Karen explained.

“That consistency and alignment smooths your road to compliance, making the journey to securing warranty and insurance cover for your sites more efficient.”

In fact, the team provides developers with a Land Quality Certificate that demonstrates how investigation, land remediation work proposals and verification works have been thoroughly reviewed by qualified specialists.

“The certificates are important because they prove which stage your proposed land has reached, giving investors and stakeholders confidence that you are serious, attentive and committed to de-risking,” Karen said.

“It’s much easier to get backing and engagement when you can say to people ‘look, NHBC agrees that our strategy is suitable and compliant’ – house builders like the reduced risks of delays and nasty surprises; Building Control will be reassured, too.”

A three-stage process

So who’s in Karen’s team, and what does their day to day look like?

“We’ve got eight chartered engineers, including four geotechnical specialists, four geo-environmental specialists and a technical manager,” she said.

“No two days are ever the same, because we’re often working on multiple projects at different phases of development, some of which are office based and others involve site visits.

“The first stage we complete is the technical review of the evidence detailing what the customer’s site investigations have found, which is all about ensuring that important hazards are identified and appropriately evaluated.

“Next, we judge the customer’s chosen remedial or earthwork solutions: are they suitable against NHBC Standards to address or mitigate the hazards?

“The third and final stage is when we confirm that the stated remedial works have achieved their pre-agreed objectives and decide on compliance with NHBC Standards.”

Customers and homeowners first

One thing that hasn’t changed since 2005, however, is the partnership approach used by Karen’s team.

“Our Land Quality Service is highly bespoke; it’s not an off-the-shelf thing because every site poses new challenges and every developer has their own priorities,” she said.

“We work closely with our customers to understand the approach and to consider whether proposals are realistic and can achieve workable outcomes – like giving a specialist opinion on which foundation proposals are likely to be acceptable or detailing the outstanding technical issues that would need to be resolved before or during development.

“Engaging us gives you access to all this expertise, which is why we encourage customers to speak to us from the earliest possible stage of a project and maximise that value.”