Local Authority Support


Local Authority Support

Acting as a subconsultant to Black Cat Building Consultancy, Hive are acting as planning consultant providing advice and planning consultancy services to South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue with regards to their Elm Lane site in Sheffield.

Health Innovation Bolton (HIB) is an innovative new proposal for land adjoining Bolton Hospital that will provide exemplar new facilities to support the growth of the hospital. The proposed enabling development could include employment facilities and housing, including specialist and care related accommodation that provides the transitional care needs for hospital leavers and delivers on the Council’s growth aspirations 

Hive was appointed to support Middlesbrough Council and their development partner, BCEGI, to secure money from the Brownfield Housing Fund to de-risk and deliver the Middlehaven regeneration proposals. 

Hive has extensive experience in leading bids and securing grant funding for both public and private sector clients from a range of government backed grant funding programmes. This wide-ranging experience meant Hive was ideally placed to support the Council in securing money from the Brownfield Housing Fund, the administration of which had been devolved to the Tees Valley Combined Authorities.  

Hive was appointed to support Bury Council in securing grant funding to deliver the enabling infrastructure works at Pyramid Park, one of the Council’s major brownfield housing sites.  

Pyramid Park is ideally placed for residential development, being located in close proximity to Bury’s Transport Interchange and the wider town centre. However, the site presented delivery challenges that required addressing in order to present the market with a viable and deliverable development site. Hive identified the, One Public Estate administered, Brownfield Land Release Fund as the perfect programme through which to secure grant funding for the site’s delivery.  

Maltkiln Village is a proposed sustainable new settlement, located adjoining Cattal Train Station, approximately equidistant between Harrogate and York. The scheme is to include at least 3,000 new homes and supporting on-site services and was being promoted a strategic land company. Harrogate Borough Council engaged Hive’s services to develop a strategy for the design and delivery of a new stewardship vehicle and to address the concerns of its members over the delivery and maintenance of the communal facilities. The stewardship vehicle needed to be capable of maintaining the green and community infrastructure within the settlement in a manner that is in keeping with an exemplar development. 

This site is adjacent to the iconic Wigan Pier and is one of the largest brownfield sites in Greater Manchester, having capacity to accommodate 800 homes, offices, a hotel, commercial and leisure space. It is a highly complex site with a number of delivery challenges including extensive up-front infrastructure, ground remediation, utilities upgrades, demolition and conversion of listed mills.  Acting for the landowner/developer (the Heaton Group) Hive were commissioned to provide project management, governance, delivery and infrastructure funding advice.

Hive has undertaken extensive work with local authorities and Homes England to develop effective strategies for the delivery of land in public ownership. This work is grounded in many years of experience and expertise in designing disposal strategies aligned to client objectives for what they what to achieve with land. Building on this expertise we were instructed by Peterborough Council to de-risk and dispose of a stalled, greenfield site with a capacity for over 1000 homes, in the Council’s ownership.

Hive was instructed to provide a wide range of planning and development consultancy advice across the project, supporting a £140m Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) bid to unlock future growth within South Lancaster, including a 3,500 home Garden Village. In a ‘client-side’ role we provided comprehensive project management and capacity support, as well as core advice around the delivery of housing and infrastructure. Our work also included specific advice on HIF and the related liaison and partnership work with Homes England. 

Acting as planning consultant on behalf of Anwyl Partnerships, planning permission was secured for an Extra Care scheme comprising of 53 apartments on a former NHS site in Liscard, Wirral. Magenta Living, the largest Registered Provider of Social Housing in Wirral, are to manage the site going forward.

Hive were contacted at the time Cheshire East Council were at the start of putting their HIF bid together. Aware of Hive’s extensive background with the programme, both whilst Stuart and Mark worked at Homes England and their subsequent work under Hive, the commission was to act as lead authors and project managers for the bid process.

Hive are working with the Council on engagement with landowners and stakeholders within St Cuthbert’s, a key workstream given that there are over 100 landowners and very little publicly owned land within the Garden Town (GT). For any GT to work, regardless of the delivery vehicle, it is imperative that the Council engage comprehensively and frequently with all landowners to understand their position and appetite towards development, as well as consulting on the emerging masterplan and planning policy.

This project demonstrated Hive’s ability to work positively and proactively with the local planning and highway authorities, understand the technical details of a development scheme and successfully negotiate amendments to a planning permission and discharge conditions in order that work can start on site at the earliest possible opportunity.

Hive are instructed as planning consultant on the project by BCEGI and Middlesbrough Council, working primarily alongside JM Architects, Arup, Layer and Turley Heritage. We led the submission of a detailed planning application for the proposals.

The Preston City Living Strategy (CLS) is an exemplary approach to identifying, unlocking and kick-starting the delivery of brownfield housing sites. Working with Preston City Council (PCC), Hive led this award winning strategy for regeneration and maximising the development potential of brownfield land (in public and private ownership).