Award-winning consultancy Planning By Design launches the UK’s first planning-led development marketplace as the housing pipeline hits a 15-year low.
More than one in three homes granted planning permission in England and Wales since 2015 have never been built. At the same time, the government is running nearly a third behind the pace required to hit its 1.5 million new homes target (Property Wire).
Planning By Design believes part of the answer lies in a problem it witnesses daily and is now launching a platform designed to solve it.
The Planning By Design Marketplace is a planning-led platform for buying and selling UK development sites, covering land, conversions, change of use, HMOs and commercial property. Unlike conventional property portals such as Rightmove or Zoopla, every listing is structured around planning status: what has been approved, at what stage, and what the opportunity is worth.
A market with a structural disconnect
The timing is significant. Planning permission was granted for just 209,781 new homes in England in the year to September 2025, the lowest 12-month total since 2013, and 38% below the peak seen in 2022. Yet a substantial proportion of the permissions that do exist remain unacted on, as landowners who don’t wish to build struggle to connect with the developers actively searching for viable sites.
Grant Singlehurst-Ward, Founder and Managing Director of Planning By Design, said:
“We’ve worked with thousands of clients over the years and we see the same pattern repeatedly. A landowner secures planning permission, a genuine achievement, often costly and time-consuming but doesn’t want to take on the risk and complexity of building. On the other side, developers are searching hard for viable sites and spending significant time and money doing so. Right now there is no structured way to connect the two.”
Industry observers have long noted the inefficiency. Developers routinely spend days compiling planning data on sites that ultimately prove unsuitable, a process that starts over entirely each time. The result is a market where good opportunities sit idle and capable developers chase deals that were never viable.
Faraz Rahis, Portfolio Director – Fund Monitoring & Asset Management (UK Wide) at Empire Capital Ltd, commented:
“The single greatest barrier to deploying capital efficiently in UK real estate is the absence of structured, reliable planning data at the point of investment decision making. Fund managers and institutional investors are frequently forced to commit significant due diligence spend on sites where planning viability remains opaque, leading to wasted capital, delayed deployment, and missed opportunities. Any platform that consolidates planning intelligence into a transparent, investable framework will be a game-changer, not just for developers, but for the funds and capital allocators behind them who are actively seeking shovel-ready, de-risked opportunities at scale.”
What makes it different
Existing portals treat development sites as property listings. Planning By Design’s marketplace is built around the planning stage, with every listing categorised from pre-application through to full consent. Developers can filter opportunities against their actual risk appetite rather than sifting through generalist listings where planning data is buried, inconsistent, or missing entirely.
A structured verification layer clearly distinguishes what has been independently checked from what has not, addressing the information asymmetry at the heart of current deal sourcing. An AI-powered search tool, Aisa, allows buyers to describe what they’re looking for in plain English, while built-in development insights, including indicative offer ranges and Gross Development Value (GDV) estimates, give buyers a faster route to assessing commercial viability without commissioning additional consultancy work.
Built for both sides
For landowners and sellers, the platform offers free listings with access to a targeted audience of active developers and investors capturing the financial uplift from planning gain without taking on build cost or construction risk. For developers and investors, free search and AI-powered alerts reduce time spent on unsuitable sites and lower the barrier to entry for those who currently lack access to structured planning data.
Early access
Planning By Design is inviting a small number of listings ahead of the platform’s full launch. The first ten sellers will receive verified listing status and three months of featured placement at no charge.
Singlehurst-Ward added:
“The housing pipeline is at a 15-year low. Permissions are scarce, and too many of the ones that do exist aren’t being acted on. Making those opportunities visible, structured and transactable is a concrete step that doesn’t require legislation; it just requires a better platform. That’s what we’ve built.”
About Planning By Design
Planning By Design is an award-winning UK planning and architectural consultancy. The firm has been recognised as IE100 Architectural & Planning Consultancy of the Year (2025) and holds four industry awards for innovation and excellence in architecture and town planning.
