Digital Planning: From pilots to scale – how PropTech partnerships are unlocking its potential   

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Through strategic partnerships with Geovation, the UK PropTech Association, and the Digital Task Force for Planning, the Digital Planning programme is evolving its approach to scale the adoption of PropTech. We're bridging public and private sectors with one shared goal: converting PropTech's proven potential into systematic change that can help deliver 1.5 million homes and …

Rapid Policy Insights: How user-centred approaches support improved policy design in MHCLG 

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a team member presenting something on a board with post-its to the rest of the team

The Rapid Policy Insight team in MHCLG is embedding user-centred design into policy by working closely with policy teams over focused 7-week sprints. Read about the value of this approach, and how it helps shape more effective, user-focused policy.

Standardising the planning application process: Progress and next steps

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Graphic to illustrate planning data

Our work continues to standardise the planning application process to build a more data-rich planning system. After inviting everyone to review the baseline specifications for submitting an application, we’re now focused on preparing them to become mandated national standards, through rigorous testing and active collaboration. Working in the open remains our priority and we’re particularly …

Common Tools: building a performance dashboard that meets user needs  

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A generic mockup of a dashboard without any detail or numbers, with the heading 'Departmental Performance Report'

Performance dashboards are a key tool to support leaders when assessing departmental performance. Read about the work the Common Tools as a Service team in MHCLG has been doing to make performance reports more fit for purpose, including the research they've done with their users, and the benefits of their approach.

Unlocking innovation in planning: Reflections on the PropTech Innovation Challenge 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Planning, PropTech, Technology
Two surveyors in high visibility jackets, overseeing a housing construction site

The PropTech Innovation Challenge has revealed the potential for technology to revolutionise planning and housing delivery. Attracting 84 applications, with 225 partners, it demonstrates industry-wide commitment to finding innovative solutions which can help us meet our ambitious target of 1.5 million new homes.

Creating a reusable Svelte component library to help developers build data-rich digital products faster 

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A title card with text: MHCLG Svelte component library

Developers across government often face the challenge of building hundreds of data-rich web pages that are both accessible and easy to understand. Without a standardised solution, this can lead to duplicated effort and inconsistent results. A team in MHCLG is tackling this by developing a flexible toolkit that combines GOV.UK design standards with powerful data …

Extract: Using AI to unlock historic planning data 

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Extract identifying Ground Control Points to georeference an old map

This week, the Prime Minister officially launched Extract, the AI tool which the Digital Planning programme in MHCLG and the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence are developing to transform decades of planning information trapped in paper maps and PDFs into usable digital data. This technology will significantly reduce the time required to digitise documents from hours …

Putting innovation at the heart of unlocking small sites

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A title card that says 'PropTech innovation challenge: opportunities to accelerate housing delivery. Apply now.'

The Deputy Prime Minister has unveiled a package of measures to empower SME housebuilders to build out smaller sites faster. The Digital Planning programme’s £1.2 million PropTech Innovation Challenge is one of the initiatives included – designed to accelerate housing delivery across England by inviting tech innovators to partner with local authorities and developers to …

Unlocking planning innovation: 150 brilliant minds collaborate in Leeds 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Planning, Ways of working
Teams collaborating at the hackathon

Innovation was sparked at the Local Government Innovation Hackathon, where 150 planners, technologists and digital leaders collaborated to solve real planning challenges. MHCLG proudly co-organised the event with Government Digital Service, Incubator for AI and Open Digital Planning, reimagining planning services through this hands-on approach.