**_PlanningHub_** **_joined the_** Geovation Accelerator Programme**_in March 2024. The programme, backed by HM Land Registry and Ordnance Survey, provides geospatial and PropTech start-ups with grant funding and 12 months of support, encouraging the innovative use of our data to benefit the property market, society and the economy._****__** ### **Making planning decisions easier** Have you ever wondered whether a property could be extended before you buy it? Or perhaps been asked about planning permissions as a property professional? Many people feel baffled when trying to understand planning rules and restrictions which can feel complex, fragmented and difficult to interpret. That's exactly the challenge PlanningHub was created to solve - our goal is to make planning information easier to access and to act on. The idea for PlanningHub came from my experience as an architect. Even for a simple householder project, answering questions such as _Do I need planning permission?_ or _What are my chances of getting approval?_ can involve searching multiple websites, interpreting complex planning rules and reviewing past planning decisions. ### **Creating a more transparent property market** So how does PlanningHub help exactly? We help people to understand a property's planning potential before investing significant time, money or professional fees. We combine planning expertise with responsible artificial intelligence (AI) and trusted data sources to provide clear, property-specific planning information that people can understand and act on. Our Householder Planning Permission Report examines the property’s location and project details and breaks down all the planning rules, restrictions, and past applications relevant to a property. Presented in an easy-to-read format, the report highlights key planning considerations, approved and rejected applications, and a checklist of documents needed for your planning application. ### **Helping buyers and homeowners make informed decisions** For someone buying a home, it helps answer questions such as whether an extension is likely to be possible and whether there are planning constraints that could affect future plans. It also gives buyers a clearer picture of a property's development potential before they exchange contracts. For homeowners who already own a property, the report provides a clear starting point before investing in architects, designers or planning consultants. It highlights planning constraints, explains relevant policies and identifies similar planning applications nearby, helping people understand the planning context before taking the next step. We also analyse planning activity around the property, giving users visibility of nearby developments that may influence future views, traffic, privacy or the overall enjoyment of their home. ### **How Geovation helped us grow** PlanningHub joined the Geovation Accelerator Programme in 2024 to accelerate the development of our products and learn from others transforming the property sector through technology. The programme gave us invaluable mentoring, industry connections and the opportunity to work closely with HM Land Registry and the wider PropTech community. It reinforced our belief that trusted public data can unlock practical solutions for everyday property decisions. ### **The role of HM Land Registry data** HM Land Registry data is fundamental to our products. Title information and indicative property boundaries provide the foundation for our reports. We combine this with planning, geographic and environmental datasets while also highlighting restrictive covenants (legal restrictions on a property) that may influence future development, something that is often overlooked during the property buying process. Together, these data sources allow us to present complex planning information in a way that is practical, trustworthy and relevant to a specific property. ### **Some of our successes** Our Householder Planning Permission Reports are now reaching thousands of homeowners and property buyers and are available through multiple platforms and partners. Our customers include homeowners, developers, estate agents, conveyancers and local planning authorities, all of whom face the challenge of navigating planning information spread across multiple sources. Since taking part in the Geovation Accelerator Programme, we have also been working with a number of local planning authorities, including Tower Hamlets, Enfield and Barking and Dagenham, in deploying digital technology and AI to improve planning processes. ### **What comes next** Looking ahead, we want buyers to be able to understand a property's development potential just as easily as they can check its energy rating or flood risk. We believe that giving people better planning intelligence earlier leads to better decisions, fewer surprises and a more transparent property market. * * * We welcome your comments about this blog in the comments below. Please note that we are unable to discuss individual cases through the comments section and would request that all such queries be directed to our Contact Us web form where you will receive a response as soon as possible.

The Digital Geographer

The Digital Geographer

Geomob London is just around the corner, taking place on Wednesday, September 16th at the Geovation Hub. If you follow the conversations here on edparsons.com, you know how deeply invested I am in …

Details for the upcoming September 2026 Geomob London at Geovation Hub, with an evening of geoinnovation talks and community networking.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has joined the next Geovation accelerator programme to boost innovation in land use. Defra The Department for Environment, Food and Rural...

**Kotini joined the** Geovation Accelerator Programme**in 2023. The programme, backed by HM Land Registry and Ordnance Survey, provides geospatial and PropTech start-ups with grant funding and 12 months’ support, encouraging the innovative use of our data to benefit the property market, society and the economy.** Kotini is an innovative PropTech company, founded in 2022, that builds onboarding software for UK estate agents. That description rarely generates much excitement - but the problem it addresses is one of the most persistent frustrations in the property market. Having had two homebuying experiences that felt stuck in the past, I decided to do something about it. I wanted to build a platform that helped estate agents deliver a better experience for their clients during one of the biggest moments in their life, while making compliance, onboarding and transaction preparation feel simple. ## **Solving the admin drag for estate agents** Every time an estate agent takes on a new seller or confirms a buyer, there's a stack of admin that needs to happen before any of the actual selling work can begin: * property information to collect * identities to verify * anti-money laundering checks to run * agency agreements to sign * payments to take Most agencies handle all of this across five or six disconnected systems - or still do a lot of it manually. They’re spending 30 minutes to two hours per person on work that has almost nothing to do with their core job - marketing a property! Kotini replaces all of that with a single platform, branded to the agency. From a seller's or buyer's perspective, it's a simple, guided digital journey. From the agency's side, it's their onboarding and compliance running on autopilot - contracts signed, identities verified, information collected, payments taken - without their team chasing anyone or jumping between tools. Hundreds of agencies across the UK use it now, and the feedback we hear most often is that it gives their people time back to focus on the work that really matters to grow their business. ## **Being a step ahead of property reform** The industry is moving in a clear direction: more upfront property information, digital sales packs before listing and a process that stops buyers discovering problems six weeks in that could have been caught on day one. The government's Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap sets out the policy framework behind that shift. For the agencies already running their compliance through Kotini, this is largely work they're already doing. For everyone else, it's where the market is heading. Material information (important details about property that a buyer needs to know) sits at the centre of this. When a seller starts on Kotini, they're guided through a comprehensive set of disclosures where the results are automatically translated into Law Society Protocol forms, ready for their conveyancer to use. Kotini holds a Law Society licence to produce those forms, which means information moves through the transaction without duplication or delay. Kotini was also the first company to achieve accreditation from the Open Property Data Association, reflecting a commitment to the open data standards that underpin the wider reform agenda. ## **How HM Land Registry data helps** HM Land Registry data is fundamental to how this works. Kotini uses title register data to pre-populate property details and surface anything that might need resolving early - ownership structures, boundaries, restrictions - the kind of things that, if they only emerge later in a transaction, tend to cause delays or even fall-throughs. ## **How Geovation helped us develop** Joining the Geovation Accelerator Programme was a genuine turning point, placing Kotini in the environment it needed at an early stage and at the centre of conversations shaping how property data moves through a transaction. That foundation is visible in the product today. ## **Recognition from the sector** The platform has been recognised by InnovateUK, and Kotini won Digital Start Up of the Year at the StartUp Awards in 2023. In 2025, Kotini was named a bronze supplier at the Estate Agents Masters Supplier Awards - recognition that carries particular weight with the judges being estate agents themselves. Customers have backed this up with consistent five-star reviews on both Google and Kerfuffle (a PropTech marketplace and review site for suppliers and estate agents). ## **Helping estate agents stay ahead** What's next is helping more agencies build digital sales packs ahead of the reforms making them mandatory. The direction of travel is clear - we'd rather agencies get ahead now rather than rushing when the deadline lands. Find out more: kotini.co.uk _Applications for the next Geovation Accelerator Programme open on 20 July 2026. You can register your interest here:_ Geovation Programme - Register Interest > We welcome your comments about this blog in the comments below. Please note that we are unable to discuss individual cases through the comments section and would request that all such queries be directed to our Contact Us web form where you will receive a response as soon as possible.

YouTube video by opengeospatial

Ed and Aba talk about how Geovation helps startups and innovators unlock the value.

Register Interest: Geovation Accelerator Coming Soon We connect industry challenges with startup solutions to solve local and global problems through the in ...

Details for the upcoming September 2026 Geomob London at Geovation Hub, with an evening of geoinnovation talks and community networking.

Block Manager Technology is part of the Geovation Accelerator Programme - encouraging the innovative use of data to benefit the property market, society and the economy.

**Block Manager Technology joined the** Geovation Accelerator Programme**in 2025. The programme, backed by HM Land Registry and Ordnance Survey, provides geospatial and PropTech start-ups with grant funding and 12 months’ support, encouraging the innovative use of our data to benefit the property market, society and the economy.** I'm Robert Elliott, founder and CEO of Block Manager Technology. Throughout my adult life living in flats and helping on resident committees, I've dealt with poor workmanship, financial mismanagement, and complex legal systems when trying to get things under control, including through enfranchisement. All these experiences inspired Block Manager because, for Britain's more than 4.8 million leaseholders, there has to be a different way! I knew I wanted to build a product for the people who actually pay the bills – the leaseholders – by harnessing the rapidly evolving benefits of AI and automation. Block Manager systematises and where possible automates everything related to residential building management. This allows property managers to focus on providing the leaseholders with a better service and lower service charges. ## **The excitement of a start-up** In March 2025 I applied to the Geovation Accelerator Programme and was thrilled to be accepted. Early on, one of the mentors gave me some tough love: "You need to build a business, not a product, and you have no customers. Prove they'll pay or this could all be for nothing. Don't give up your day job, Robert!" I hit the phones immediately and got my first paid client who agreed to let me audit their building and its systems. That was the beginning of a major learning curve. After pulling apart every facet of their building’s management processes and systems, I put all the data back together through an accessible ten-systems framework, from health and safety to compliance to financial management and more. Then I designed features for everyone living in or involved in managing leasehold flats, including: * the Digital Vault, where residents can access their Land Registry title deeds and leases alongside insurance policies, service charge statements, and more – available to all leaseholders and directors; * a timeline tracking every upcoming important task for property managers, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks; * AI-powered issue reporting via the app, enabling residents to log and track maintenance issues quickly and accurately; * a directory of vetted, reliable tradespeople; * live finance dashboards so that leaseholders can scrutinise service charge spending in real time; and * communications tools for keeping all residents informed and engaged. ## **The hurdles** Running a start-up is both daunting and full of surprises. Property management sits at the confluence of different legal systems – property law, company law, health and safety acts, consumer law as well as data protection. Finding a law firm that covers everything? Really hard but essential. Finding staff who want to work for a startup? Really hard too. But slowly, we're getting there, we’ve found our law firm and are building a team who believe in resident empowerment. ## **The next frontier** We've just closed our first fundraising round of £500,000 at a £5 million valuation and have signed up our first 117 units. We've got real customers and real backing. So here we go! The dream will be watching volunteer directors at Resident Management Companies, Right to Manage companies and freeholders go from drowning in paperwork to confidently running their buildings with human support when they need it. That's why we've built Block Manager. * * * > We welcome your comments about this blog in the comments below. Please note that we are unable to discuss individual cases through the comments section and would request that all such queries be directed to our Contact Us web form where you will receive a response as soon as possible.