Optimizing functional relationships for new residential developments

The acquisition of land and planning permission on favourable terms is the crucial first stage in any construction project; essentially determining what might be built, where and how profitably. The research project on which this paper is based takes as its starting point the negotiations around the conditions and obligations accompanying grants of planning permission. The process has been criticised on grounds of moral and legal validity. Furthermore, anecdotal evidence suggests that this may be the root cause of a typically adversarial relationships between Town Planners and Developers. The existence of the problem may be acknowledged, if not the causes, and the conviction shared that any improvement must be sought within the framework of existing legislation and resources. But how and to what extent might this change be achieved? In an ongoing project it is hypothesised that aspects of the development process can be deconstructed into their component activities. Furthermore, their rationale and allocation to stakeholders can be critically examined to enable a conceptual model of a better optimised process to be synthesised based on the partnering philosophy. This paper will explore the background to the problem, outline first thoughts on solutions and a method of completing the research.