Browns builds on brief for property developer

Browns has been appointed to design a website for property manager and developer MacDonald Egan this week, as the consultancy works towards an October launch of a promotional book for the company.

What began as a straightforward literature brief has evolved into a more ‘substantial, interesting and far-reaching piece of communication’, says Browns partner Jonathan Ellery.

He adds, ‘It’s not gone as far as an identity, but it is a new, fresh way of speaking – a comprehensive language that will be translated into other areas.’

The book will be distributed to the company’s key audiences from local authorities to architects. Described by a MacDonald Egan spokesman as a ‘chunky, high-cost, high-value item’, its aim is to communicate the company’s ethos and approach.

‘It should arrive on people’s desks and make them take notice immediately and in the longer term as they read the content,’ he adds.

The consultancy was appointed following a four-way pitch in late July.

MacDonald Egan specialises in the development of mixed-use estates in ‘edge-of-city’ London locations like Dalston, Deptford, Hackney and Shoreditch, putting an emphasis on the social aspects of regeneration.

Over the past two years, it has obtained planning consents for three schemes with a combined value of more than £100m. The company often commissions artists and galleries to contribute to the ‘life’ of an area as part of its regeneration process.