DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL APPRAISALS
Senior financial appraisal for schemes that need to add up.
The challenge we solve
Development and regeneration schemes live or die on their numbers, but the numbers are rarely simple. Capital receipts, grant conditions, borrowing costs, and viability all interact, and a model that misses one of those interactions can take a scheme through governance only for it to unravel later, or worse, stall it at the point of approval rather than the point of delivery.
Many organisations have people who can build a spreadsheet. Fewer have someone who has taken a financial case through Board, Cabinet or Full Council under a real deadline, and knows which numbers actually convince a sceptical room.
Who we are
Ground Up Consulting's Development Financial Appraisals service is led by Fiona Astin, a housing and regeneration consultant with over 35 years' experience across the housing association, local authority, and residential development sectors.
Since 2015, Fiona has worked as an independent consultant to local authorities and housing associations across the South of England, building the financial case behind some of the South Coast's largest acquisition and regeneration programmes. She has developed the financial modelling that secured Cabinet and Full Council approval for the deployment of pooled Right to Buy receipts at scale, secured over £1m in Brownfield Land Release Fund grant funding, and built the business case for government grant programmes against tight match-funding deadlines.
This is appraisal work built for governance rooms, not just spreadsheets, modelling that has to survive scrutiny from finance, members, and a regulator, because it already has.
what we offer
We work with clients in three complementary ways. Engagements are scoped to the scheme, not to a fixed product.
Financial modelling. Building the financial case for an acquisition, regeneration, or development programme, including cost of inaction analysis, options appraisal, and sensitivity testing. The "make the numbers stand up to scrutiny" engagement.
Business case development. Full business case preparation for Board, Cabinet or Full Council approval, including the supporting narrative, risk quantification, and delegated authority structures that make a scheme deliverable, not just approvable. The "get this through governance" engagement.
Funding strategy. Identifying and structuring the right mix of receipts, grant, and borrowing for a programme, including navigating grant conditions and match-funding deadlines. The "find the funding route that actually works" engagement.
our specialisms
Right to Buy receipts and subsidy frameworks, including the financial modelling behind large-scale acquisition programmes.
Government grant strategy, including Local Authority Housing Fund and Brownfield Land Release Fund conditions and deadlines.
Securing Homes England funding for both schemes and programmes
HRA capital programme structuring and compliance.
Options appraisal and net present value analysis for complex, multi-scenario decisions.
Equalities and safety impact assessment as part of the financial case.
track record
A selection of the work that sits behind the practice.
Secured millions of pounds of Homes England funding over the years.
Developed the financial modelling and business case that secured Cabinet and Full Council approval to deploy pooled Right to Buy receipts at a south coast unitary authority, scaling from an initial pilot to a multi-million-pound programme.
Secured over £1m in Brownfield Land Release Fund grant funding for regeneration site demolition.
Built the funding structure and business case for a government grant programme against a hard match-funding deadline, securing a combined investment of over £1m.
Prepared equalities and safety impact assessments as part of major financial business cases, documenting the human cost of inaction alongside the financial case for it.
how we engage
Financial modelling. Typically 5 to 20 days, fixed-fee.
Business case development. Typically 10 to 30 days, fixed-fee.
Funding strategy. Time-bounded advisory, scoped to the programme.
Engagements priced on enquiry.
work with us
For a conversation about how we might help, get in touch.