What is the Three Dragons Housing Appraisal Toolkit?

To understand what the Three Dragons Appraisal Toolkit is, you must first understand who Three Dragons is. Three Dragons Ltd., headed by Dr. Andrew Golland, is a company offering their many years of experience with assessments and appraisals, both commercial and residential. The company has developed their Housing Appraisal Toolkit over the years. This Toolkit aids in determining the viability of the development of low income and other affordable housing.

The Three Dragons Housing Appraisal Toolkit is actually a viability assessment toolkit based on a particular method of appraisal known as the Development/residual method, which is used only for when land is bare or determined to be ripe, or ready for development. This is one of five different methodologies used in the UK for valuation assessment of land.

When there is a specific site in mind for housing, the Toolkit is applied to determine the viability of the project in question. Each site that is being assessed is done so on a site by site basis, determining particular needs of the surrounding community as well as the needs of the developers as well. This means that each project is assessed whether it is viable or not depending on certain factors which are determined on a per project and site basis. For example, each project, or site’s viability will have different criteria depending on the particular site factors themselves. For instance, a project that takes away open space would then add criteria to the project as a whole to make up for the loss of land.

The Three Dragon Appraisal Toolkit is also used in the determination of appeals and Core Strategy Examinations as well. Offering specific studies and services such as assessments and consultations and more, the Toolkit and various studies and assessments are completely LDF (Local Development Framework) compliant and 100 percent successful. The Housing Toolkit looks specifically at the impact of housing sub-markets, the impact of Section 106 on affordable housing and the impact of the viability of housing when compared with actual development of the land.

Section 106 is a “planning obligation” and part of the Town and Country Planning Act of 1990. A Planning Obligation is made between authorities enter into private agreements with developers. This private agreement allows for the development of land, which would otherwise be undevelopable for other reasons. The use of the Three Dragon housing Appraisal Toolkit hopes to settle certain disputes if they ever arise, concerning the authorities. With the use of the toolkits, the viability of the planned project can then be determined while attaching certain stipulations to the agreement for compensation of other issues.