Sam is a Partner with our Planning and Development team and is principally based in Birmingham. He joined in May 2019, after having worked for an agricultural practise in the Midlands for a decade. Sam specialises in identifying strategic land opportunities and working with landowners to unlock greenfield-led schemes for both residential and employment uses, together with advising on planning policy and financial viability.
Sam was brought up on a family-run farm in Northamptonshire and remains actively involved in the day-to-day running of the business. This enables him to truly understand the intricacies surrounding rural businesses in what is a very private industry. He is also acutely aware of the nervousness which often surrounds teaming up with a development partner to bring land forward. His skill base is based around development consultancy and agency.
Sam has advised on a range of transactional-based development agency instructions for private and public sector clients, including formulation of marketing strategies, developer selection and negotiation of heads of terms for disposals and acquisitions. He has also given strategic development and planning advice to landowners to seek out opportunities in unlocking future development, by having an in-depth understanding of both the planning position now and how it might be shaped in the future, whilst seeking to provide solutions to problems throughout the planning phase.
Recent projects
- On behalf of a private landowning client, we monitored the promotion of a development site in Kislingbury, Northamptonshire ensuring that all the obligations as detailed in the promotion agreement were fulfilled by the developer. On successfully achieving a planning consent, we agreed a marketing plan with the client and launched the 44-unit residential site onto the open market in Autumn 2019.
- Sam acted for a private family who owns 124 acres of strategically positioned land adjacent to Junction 16 of the M1 motorway. He negotiated the terms of a mineral option agreement, together with seeking a development partner to promote the land for an employment led development scheme.
- We acted on behalf of a private landowning client in the sale of a prime logistics site benefiting from a planning consent at J15A of the M1 motorway extending to 25 acres. The site had been promoted under the terms of an Option agreement.
