property/construction experience

Build your reputation in the construction/property sector

BOTTLE PR has plenty of experience in the property and construction sector: development and planning, management and construction, law and investment. Our consultants have worked with companies such as German eco-builder, Baufritz (UK) Ltd and Haymills Contracting and as a result they have developed strong media contacts both in the trade and consumer property press.

Our consultants will raise your profile.

News stories. Photo features. Lifestyle stories covering property development and renovation projects.

Do you need to steer a contentious project through a difficult planning process? Draw on a BOTTLE PR core strength: managing relationships to secure - and keep - political and public support.

What can we do for you?

Audit stakeholders’ views, spot possible ‘rocks in the road’, deal with influencers and decision-makers
Help attract tenants and increase buyer interest
Provide strategic PR/public affairs advice throughout a prolonged planning process
Make complex technical issues easy for key audiences to understand
Bring to bear our extensive experience of dealing with pressure groups, local residents, traders and other third parties

As we have done for companies like these:

CA Group
Christchurch Harbour Hotels
Roseland Peninsular Homes
Rhodes South and Kings Rhodes (Gary Rhodes’ restaurants in Dorset)
EuroHypo
Buildonline.com
National Homebuyers
Builders Ede
Oxford Architects
Four Pillars Hotels
MPG Associates
Buyland

“Working with BOTTLE PR for a few years, we have been really impressed with their copywriting and the coverage they have generated. In addition to fantastic media relations work, BOTTLE PR put us forward for awards - and we won a Daily Mail UK Property Award.”
Claire Johnson (Sales Manager), Builders Ede

CASE STUDY: TESCO PROPERTY AMESBURY

The following details just one of a number of controversial store developments during which the Tesco Property team has called on the lobbying and community relations experience of BOTTLE PR for advice and support.

In the summer of 2007, Tesco unveiled proposals for a new foodstore in Amesbury, Wiltshire, making use of a partly derelict site on a main route into the town. The site was considered a local eyesore and initial feedback from Tesco’s public consultation on its proposed new store was positive. Consequently, a planning application was submitted by Tesco to the Local Planning Authority, Salisbury District Council, in September 2007.

However, it soon became clear that some key local organisations and stakeholders were opposed to Tesco and supported a planning application by Asda for a store further away from the town centre. The Tesco proposals attracted many letters of objection to Salisbury District Council and negative correspondence and coverage in the local press.

BOTTLE PR was appointed in late 2007 to undertake Public Relations and gain Public Affairs support for the proposed new store. As a planning application had been submitted, direct contact with members of the Local Planning Authority was considered inappropriate. We therefore recommended a focused media relations and community relations campaign. At its heart was building constructive relationships with those who would be directly affected by Tesco’s proposals, in particular town centre traders and residents living near to the site of Tesco’s proposed new supermarket.

We adopted a twin-track media relations strategy. This encompassed both a vigorous proactive campaign, communicating the positive aspects of Tesco’s proposals in a newsworthy manner to local media, alongside rapid rebuttal of incorrect information. We made strong contact with David Vallis at the Salisbury Journal to ensure coverage of revisions to Tesco’s store plans, made in direct in response to public consultation and comment.

As BOTTLE PR was appointed late in the application process, relationships with stakeholders, residents and key influencer parties had to be built in a short space of time. Our community relations programme included visits to all properties adjacent to the site to provide information as required which would help to answer residents’ questions and address their concerns. In addition, we delivered more than 300 letters to local businesses and retailers, and to other key parties likely to be interested in Tesco’s proposals, such as Age Concern, Amesbury Women’s Institute and the local branch of the National Farmers’ Union.

OUTCOME: BOTTLE PR was able to develop relationships with key members of the community and within key media outlets across the county. When the Tesco application was considered by the Local Planning Authority’s Northern Area Planning Committee, and subsequently by its Planning & Regulatory Panel earlier this year, several local residents spoke in favour of Tesco’s proposals.

The Local Planning Authority resolved to grant consent to the Tesco application. However, this application and the planning application by Asda for a supermarket in Amesbury were subsequently ‘called in’ by the Secretary of State to be determined at a Public Inquiry.

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