This month’s investor interview is with property developer Paul Higgs, who some long-term readers may know, and recently we spent some time with him at his latest development scheme in Chalfont St Giles, Bucks. When we met up again I mentioned to Paul that it was ten years ago, back in 2014, that we did a previous interview with him and that was one of the first on-site videos we had done for the PIN website.

Paul is of course also well known within land and planning industry circles in the UK as he was formerly head of land acquisition for Barratt Developments and held senior positions at Laing Homes before that. Back in 2002 he formed the Millbank Group and decided to forge his own destiny by sourcing development sites and, when appropriate, to develop them himself.

That previous project in 2014 that I referred to earlier was at his Old Dairy scheme at Norwood Green in west London. It comprised of eight detached properties with a combined GDV of £7m, which were all then sold and Paul reminded me of what he had done there some ten years ago.

“That site in Norwood Green was acquired in 2009,” said Paul, “and I managed to get the proposed scheme through the planning process quite quickly in about six months. It had been previously used as riding stables but that activity was in decline. The previous owner had died and the estate beneficiaries were unsure what to do, but they eventually accepted my proposal. We built it out and eventually made a healthy return for our efforts.

“Adding substantial value to a site prior to the build phase is where significant profits can be made and that’s what I will always look to achieve,” added Paul. “I focus my efforts on off-market sites and by that I mean anything with or without an existing building on the land, where there could be an angle to ‘work’ the planning process and achieve considerable gain.

“Once I have added real value through the uplift from the planning process, then I will either sell or look to develop the site myself, depending on the circumstances, and over time I have sold on half of the sites and developed the others myself.”