Land Intelligence: Smarter, Faster, Connected Development

If you’ve ever tried navigating the property development process, you’ll know it can feel like wandering through a maze… blindfolded. From finding the right site to securing planning permission, it’s long, complex, and often expensive.

At LandTech, we don’t think it has to be this way.

That’s why, in our recent LandIntelligence preview webinar - ‘LandIntelligence: The Future of Land Development’ - Simão Saco, LandTech’s Head of Marketing, explored how we’re rethinking the development journey, turning months of uncertainty into a clear, connected, and actionable process.

He was joined by Lia Butler (Strategic Client Services Manager at LandTech), Jonty Angel (VP of Product at LandTech), Daniel Everett (Head of Business Development at Hometrack), Shashin Mishra (VP EMEA at AiDASH), Gonzalo Marquesini (Founder of RenKap), and Daniel Bridge (Business Development Manager at AtkinsRéalis), who shared their insights on how data, AI, and collaboration are shaping the future of development.

Here’s the lowdown.

The Current Reality: Development is Complex

For SME developers, the average planning window now stretches 18-30 months, with site finding taking 3-6 months, assessment 8-14 months, and LPA determination often running 6-24 months. And if you thought PDFs and emails made life easier, think again; each site can require 30-50 documents and up to 12 consultants.

Planning by appeal is on the rise too: 17.5% of homes approved in early 2025 were granted via appeal, with median appeal durations hitting 27 weeks. And all of this comes at a cost - developers now spend five times more than in the 1990s to get permission, even after inflation.

The good news? Around 60-70% of this timeline is under developers’ control. That’s where LandIntelligence comes in: turning data overload into clarity, control, and faster outcomes.

Sources: https://lichfields.uk/media/w3wjmws0/start-to-finish-3_how-quickly-do-large-scale-housing-sites-deliver.pdf | https://lichfields.uk/media/8198/small-builders-big-burdens_how-changes-in-planning-have-impacted-on-sme-house-builders.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/planning-inspectorate-statistical-release-24-april-2025/planning-inspectorate-statistical-release-24-april-2025 | 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emily-williams-5436a024_tracking-the-impact-of-the-revised-nppf-on-activity-7357048653498175490-aQrb?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAx5aCAB2oIEccKEUHaXF_OAtLj4rHZb8GA

LandIntelligence: An End-to-End Platform

So, what is LandIntelligence? Think of it as your development compass, guiding you from site sourcing to planning submission. It’s built around three core stages:

• Site Finding - Advanced tools help you filter by criteria, refresh your UX experience, and soon, explore a Land Deal Market to connect directly with homeowners.
• Assessment - Smarter appraisals, surveys, and designs, plus collaborative project tools and Quick Insights for faster, more informed decisions.
• Planning Submission - A centralised workspace to assemble funding, consultation, and submission documents, ready to go.

By connecting these stages, Land Intelligence transforms a fractured process into a seamless, end-to-end journey - helping every project move from risk to readiness.

The Four Pillars Powering LandIntelligence

• Partner Ecosystem - We work with the best planners, data providers, consultancies, and specialist tech partners, bringing expertise directly into your workflow.
• Artificial Intelligence - From generative AI that produces content, to agentic AI that autonomously assesses sites and appraises them, our AI layer goes beyond insights to action.
• Data Insights - 10+ years of curated datasets underpin everything: ownership, planning, comparables, market trends, and constraints. No more hunting for the right info - it’s all there.
• Site Sharing & Collaboration - The newest feature, launching soon, allows you to securely invite stakeholders to collaborate on sites; contributors see their own files, collaborators see everything, and you keep control over who sees what. Goodbye endless PDFs, hello streamlined teamwork.

Collaboration in Action: Site Sharing

The highlight of the webinar was our Site Sharing demo. By moving from public links to a secure, interactive workspace, LandTech lets you:

• Invite planners, architects, surveyors, JV partners, or landowners
• Assign role-based permissions to control access
• Upload, comment, and view documents in one centralised place
• Track activity with full transparency

In short, it’s collaboration without chaos - everything your team (and partners) need to progress a site efficiently.

Why It Matters

LandIntelligence isn’t just another tool. It’s a platform designed to tackle the most challenging parts of development:

• Reduce surprises
• Strengthen submissions
• Speed up outcomes
• Turn data into decisions

By combining AI, deep data, and seamless collaboration, developers can focus on what really matters: delivering great projects on time, on budget, and with confidence.

Explore LandIntelligence

Curious to see how it works in practice? See how Land Intelligence connects every stage of the development journey - from site finding to planning submission.

Want to learn more about LandIntelligence? Click below.