Real Estate Development Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Development Managers, Property Asset Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-RE-026

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with property types, rental income, capital values and common development terminology.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Real estate development decisions commit substantial capital long before a building produces income. Teams must judge whether a site can be acquired, permitted, financed, built, leased or sold at an acceptable return while managing planning risk, cost inflation, market shifts and contractual exposure. Poor early assumptions on land value, demand, programme or funding can make an apparently attractive scheme unviable.

This course follows the development process from site selection through feasibility, acquisition, planning, design, procurement, construction, marketing, completion and asset handover. Participants learn to frame a development brief, assess market evidence, prepare residual land valuations, build development appraisals and cash flows, select funding structures, manage consultant teams and monitor delivery controls. The course addresses commercial, residential, mixed-use and public-sector regeneration schemes, with attention to the decisions that determine value and risk.

Teaching combines practitioner briefings with worked development cases, group analysis, negotiation simulations and structured reviews of appraisal assumptions. Participants apply recognised techniques including discounted cash flow analysis, residual valuation, sensitivity testing, risk registers, work breakdown structures and critical-path scheduling. They leave with a reusable development feasibility pack containing an appraisal model structure, due-diligence checklist, risk register, delivery plan and investment-committee paper outline.

The course suits professionals who contribute to development projects but need a firmer grasp of how commercial, technical and approval decisions connect. It is particularly relevant to developers, property investors, public authorities, lenders, consultants and corporate real estate teams responsible for development-led projects.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess site and market opportunities using a structured development brief and demand evidence
  • Prepare a residual land valuation from development value, costs, finance and target profit
  • Build a development cash flow and calculate NPV, IRR and equity return
  • Test project viability through sensitivity analysis, scenario planning and break-even analysis
  • Produce a development risk register with ownership, mitigations, contingencies and review triggers
  • Compare procurement routes and allocate delivery risks through appropriate contracts
  • Plan planning-consent, stakeholder and consultant-management activities using a stage-gate process
  • Draft an investment-committee paper supporting a defined development decision

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Judge whether a proposed site warrants further development expenditure
  • Challenge appraisal assumptions with commercially credible questions
  • Contribute confidently to investment-committee and development-board decisions
  • Identify planning, cost, funding and market risks before capital is committed
  • Communicate development viability clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders

For your organisation

  • Improves early screening of sites before costly due diligence begins
  • Produces more disciplined land bids linked to target returns
  • Strengthens governance through documented assumptions, sensitivities and approval gates
  • Reduces avoidable delivery exposure through clearer procurement and risk allocation
  • Creates a shared development language between commercial, technical and finance teams

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can map a development opportunity from initial concept to asset handover.

  • Development lifecycle from opportunity identification through completion, sale or operation
  • Sponsor objectives, return thresholds and risk appetite shaping project strategy
  • Property sectors, tenure structures and demand drivers informing development concepts
  • Development brief defining product, users, income strategy and success measures
  • Stage-gate governance linking evidence, approvals, expenditure and accountability
  • Roles of developer, investor, lender, consultants, contractor and public authority

Participants can screen sites against market demand, physical constraints and strategic fit.

  • Catchment analysis using demographics, employment, accessibility and competing supply
  • Comparable evidence for rents, prices, absorption rates and vacancy assumptions
  • Site inspection checklist covering access, boundaries, utilities, topography and neighbours
  • Planning policy review identifying allocations, zoning, density and use restrictions
  • Highest and best use testing against legal, physical and financial constraints
  • Site scoring matrix ranking market potential, deliverability and downside exposure

Participants can organise proportionate due diligence and record material development risks.

  • Title review covering ownership, easements, covenants, rights and encumbrances
  • Environmental investigations for contamination, flood risk, ecology and ground conditions
  • Utilities capacity assessment covering power, water, drainage and telecoms connections
  • Technical surveys identifying structural defects, asbestos and demolition requirements
  • Risk register assigning probability, impact, owner, mitigation and contingency
  • Red-flag reporting distinguishing fatal flaws from manageable development risks

Participants can prepare a basic development appraisal and derive a supportable land value.

  • Gross development value derived from sales, rents and investment yields
  • Cost plan separating construction, professional fees, taxes, marketing and contingencies
  • Residual valuation calculating land value after costs, finance and target profit
  • Developer profit measured as percentage of cost and gross development value
  • Benchmarking assumptions against comparable schemes, cost data and market evidence
  • Appraisal audit trail documenting sources, exclusions, timing and valuation basis

Participants can model development timing, funding requirements and investor returns.

  • Monthly cash flow sequencing land, fees, construction, debt and receipts
  • Discounted cash flow calculating NPV from dated costs and income
  • Internal rate of return and equity multiple for investor performance
  • Senior debt, mezzanine finance and equity compared by cost and control
  • Loan-to-cost and loan-to-value ratios tested against lender requirements
  • Interest during construction calculated from drawdown schedule and loan terms

Participants can test viability under changing assumptions and present a decision case.

  • One-way sensitivity testing rents, prices, costs, yields and programme delays
  • Scenario analysis combining downside market, cost escalation and funding assumptions
  • Break-even analysis identifying minimum revenue and maximum land price
  • Monte Carlo concepts for probability-weighted treatment of uncertain variables
  • Investment-committee paper framing recommendation, assumptions, risks and decision required
  • Approval conditions linking delegated authority, expenditure limits and review milestones

Participants can plan consent, design and stakeholder actions that protect development value.

  • Planning pathway from pre-application engagement through consent and conditions discharge
  • Design brief balancing market positioning, regulations, buildability and operating needs
  • Stakeholder mapping for authorities, communities, occupiers, neighbours and utilities
  • Consultant team appointments defining scope, deliverables, fees and liabilities
  • RIBA Plan of Work stages coordinating design decisions and information release
  • Section 106 obligations and infrastructure contributions incorporated into appraisals

Participants can select a delivery route and monitor construction performance against plan.

  • Procurement routes comparing traditional, design-build, construction management and management contracting
  • Tender strategy aligning contractor selection, pricing certainty and programme objectives
  • Contract risk allocation for design responsibility, variations, delays and defects
  • Work breakdown structure translating scope into manageable delivery packages
  • Critical path method identifying programme dependencies, float and completion risk
  • Cost reporting using committed costs, forecasts, change control and contingency drawdown

Participants can align commercialisation and exit decisions with the approved development case.

  • Go-to-market plan defining target customers, channels, pricing and launch timing
  • Pre-sales and pre-leasing strategies reducing funding and absorption risk
  • Lease heads of terms covering rent, incentives, breaks and fit-out contributions
  • Sales pipeline reporting tracking reservations, exchanges, completions and cancellation rates
  • Exit options comparing sale, refinance, hold and phased disposal
  • Stabilised income assessment supporting investment valuation and refinancing decisions

Participants can close a project with controlled handover, lessons learned and post-project review.

  • Practical completion checklist covering certificates, defects, commissioning and documentation
  • Asset handover pack including warranties, manuals, drawings and maintenance information
  • Post-completion appraisal comparing approved assumptions, outturn costs and realised returns
  • Lessons-learned review identifying decisions, controls and assumptions requiring revision
  • Development dashboard reporting programme, cost, sales, risks and approval status
  • Personal application plan identifying immediate improvements to current development projects

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Development feasibility appraisal template
  2. Residual land valuation worksheet
  3. Monthly development cash-flow model
  4. Site due-diligence checklist
  5. Development risk register
  6. Investment-committee paper outline

Who should attend

  • Development Managers — need to coordinate commercial, planning, design and delivery decisions
  • Property Asset Managers — need to assess redevelopment and value-add proposals
  • Real Estate Investment Analysts — need to test development returns and underwriting assumptions
  • Public-Sector Regeneration Officers — need to structure viable place-making and partnership schemes
  • Lenders and Credit Analysts — need to assess development feasibility and downside risk
  • Property Consultants — need to advise clients through development stages and approval gates

Skills and tools covered

Development feasibility appraisalResidual land valuationProject cash flowPlanning risk managementProcurement strategyInvestment decision papers

Tools and standards

RICS Red Book Global Standards, RIBA Plan of Work, Critical Path Method, Discounted Cash Flow

How the course runs

Training methodology

Instructor-led sessions use short briefings to establish the development process, followed by worked cases drawn from residential, commercial and regeneration projects. Participants interpret market evidence, develop appraisal assumptions, test cash-flow scenarios and assess land-bid decisions in small groups. Facilitated simulations address planning negotiations, consultant appointments and investment-committee challenge. Trainers use spreadsheet-based examples, development documents and peer discussion to connect calculations with real approval and delivery decisions. Each participant completes an application plan for a current or anticipated project.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with property types, rental income, capital values and common development terminology. Experience in real estate, construction, planning, finance, asset management or public-sector regeneration is useful, whether as a technical specialist or project contributor. Participants should be comfortable interpreting simple spreadsheets and percentage calculations. Prior experience building financial models, valuing land, reading construction contracts or using specialist appraisal software is not required. The course explains core calculations and uses structured templates rather than assuming advanced finance or quantity-surveying knowledge.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need basic familiarity with property concepts such as rents, values and property types. Advanced financial modelling, planning expertise and construction-contract knowledge are not required.

Bring a laptop if possible, as financial examples and templates are easier to review electronically. Participants may also bring a non-confidential project scenario, site proposal or appraisal question for their application plan.

It suits professionals involved in development decisions, including developers, investors, lenders, consultants and regeneration teams. It is designed for people who understand their own discipline but need to see the full development process.

Valuation courses focus primarily on determining property value, while project management courses focus on planning and controlling delivery. This course connects site selection, appraisal, planning, finance, procurement, marketing and exit decisions within a development investment case.

Participants can use the feasibility structure, due-diligence checklist and risk register to review live opportunities. The investment-paper format also helps them present assumptions, sensitivities and approval requests more clearly.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with about 6.5 contact hours daily. The five days progress from opportunity assessment and appraisal through funding, delivery, commercialisation and project closeout.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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