Montagu Evans presents… London, Historic Environment & Townscape

London is at the heart of the UK economy, presenting substantial opportunities across all real estate, whether residential, infrastructure or commercial. The city and its central boroughs are forever changing. Balancing local demands, political pressures, and economic stability is an ongoing challenge for many council leaders, officers, landowners, developers and investors.

London’s resilience to global issues means it continues to attract worldwide and domestic employment and capital. In 2018 investment in offices outpaced that of Hong Kong, Manhattan and Paris, whilst the unique heritage and culture of London continues to attract millions of visitors every year who are keen to see the iconic and historic buildings at the heart of our community. This all boosts our economy and makes our city a better place to live, work and visit.

However, in meeting the needs of such a wide variety of pressures and interests, major placemaking, heritage preservation, housing, transport and public realm investment are needed to support growing businesses and residential communities. Land ownership, changes in leadership, funding, resource and conflicting priorities between public and private sectors challenge many developments.

We help navigate our clients through this complex world in order to maximise value, whether it be through the application of specialist advice or, more generally, by drawing upon our experience of working for both public and private sectors across the capital. For example, working within these complex neighbourhoods, our specialist Townscape and Historical Environment advisers work across Central London and have advised on some of London’s most historic buildings.

As a planning and development-led practice, we pride ourselves on our strong relationship with key national and regional stakeholders such as Historic England, the Greater London Authority, as well as Council Members and Officers, working alongside planners and many of who are involved in as well as many highly influential government and business networks.

We have an exceptional track record in aligning public and private sector priorities to ensure the best possible outcome that maintains London’s unique built environment whether you’re considering planning or development consent, sensitive heritage assets through to, the acquisition or disposal of land or assets.