Delays, uncertainty and red tape continue to plague the planning system – making even straightforward reuse of commercial buildings unnecessarily difficult. As Mark Leeson, operations director of McBains and member of The British Council for Offices (BCO) Technical Affairs Committee, put it:
“We’ve spent the last three and a half years trying to get planning for a recent retrofit office building in central London. It’s not a controversial application – yet we waited eight months just to get written feedback on the first pre-app.”
The impact of such delays isn’t just administrative. Leeson continued:
“It’s jeopardised the potential occupation – making decisions for tenants around lease events complex and hard to align with the development programme with investment decisions.”
As the commercial real estate landscape continues to evolve, particularly in the wake of shifting demand for office space, the need for greater flexibility in planning regulation has never been more urgent. A clear takeaway from the recent roundtable on subprime office revitalisation was the call to rewire permitted development rights (PDRs) to allow smoother, faster transitions between compatible commercial uses such as office, education and healthcare.
Current change-of-use processes often create unnecessary friction, slowing down the reuse of commercial spaces even when flexibility could unlock potential. While major planning reforms might be politically fraught, modest adjustments, such as expanding the commercial use classes and removing redundant red tape for low-impact conversion, could significantly accelerate reuse and reduce costs, particularly for small and mid-sized landlords.
Danielle St Pierre, a director at Hybrid Planning & Development noted:
Danielle highlights the regulatory hurdles that still limit flexibility, despite recent improvements. Complementing this, Harry Neal, director at St Anselm, points to the practical challenges tenants face with lease terms and use restrictions:
“An increased ability to flip between different uses and not require planning permission would be extremely helpful, particularly if you’re talking about educational uses which, on the face of it, are not dissimilar to office use.”
Together, their insights underscore the importance of pragmatic to unlock the reuse of commercial buildings that are structurally sound but currently commercially constrained.
The benefits are not only economic. Planning and design policies should also be evaluated in terms of their social and economic infrastructure outcomes. When a building is suitable for uses such as health or education and demand exists, restrictions should not prevent its use. By enabling smoother transitions, local authorities can help preserve valuable employment infrastructure while also responding more nimbly to community needs.
Such changes would not require a wholesale rewriting of planning frameworks but could be introduced as targeted refinements to existing PDRs. These adjustments would lower legal and administrative burdens, de-risk investments and give landlords greater confidence to repurpose underutilised assets – ultimately bringing life back to dormant buildings quickly and affordably.
Rewiring PDRs is not just about easing bureaucracy. It’s about aligning policy with the practical realities of reuse – empowering landlords and developers to deliver the kinds of spaces that communities need.
In an eight-part weekly series, the London real estate team will share insights drawn from a roundtable attended by a group of cross-practice industry experts to discuss the issues posed by subprime or so-called secondary offices with a view to proposing innovative, workable solutions. Each article focuses on a key “call for action” – a targeted idea to support those grappling with the realities of an evolving office market. Readers will hear directly from discussion participants, with selected quotes and real-life examples that bring to life the creative thinking and grounded advice contributors shared. To receive future updates on this topic, please email [email protected].