Urban development on brownfield sites is being steadily replaced by new developments in suburban locations, according to research by Savills. The company’s recent analysis of all regionally important sites and development schemes in the UK shows that the proportion of development schemes/sites located on the edge of city/town centres has increased from 4% in 2003 to 15% this summer.

Yolande Barnes director of Savills research comments: “We suspect this increase is due to a lack of potential development sites in city/town centres, which has forced developers to move into peripheral locations where you tend to find redundant manufacturing/industrial premises. These sites present even bigger challenges to developers as they often lack inherent heritage or landscape features. They often have to be re-created, landscaped and designed as completely new places in order to become commercially viable for development. These schemes now account for 38,000 acres and most are earmarked for mixed use development. We suspect that a large proportion of these schemes are residential developments with other uses tagged on.”

Since Savills started their analysis in 2003, the nature of the development schemes in the planning pipeline, and under construction, has changed markedly. There has been an increase in the proportion of former manufacturing/industrial sites being brought forward for development. At the same time, there has been a fall in the proportion of land being brought forward as waterside developments in former dockyards.

Barnes explains: “Former docks with their waterfront location have tended to be preferred for development in the past. This is largely because there has been high occupier demand, (both commercial and residential), for this type of waterside location. The availability of this type of site over the years has dwindled as more and more have been developed. Waterfront sites now represent 30% of schemes down from the 44% recorded in 2003”.