Planning data is public.
Most people aren't doing anything with it.

Most brokers find out about a development scheme when the developer calls them. That's fine, except three other brokers got the same call.

A planning application is filed months before anyone arranges finance. It's public, it has the developer's name on it, and almost nobody acts on it. Set MetisOS to alert you on new build and commercial applications above a value threshold — say, £500k — across whichever councils you care about. You get the developer's name the morning the application lands.

That call is a different conversation. You're not responding to an RFP. You're the only broker who knew to call.

When a planning decision lands on an application you've saved, MetisOS tells you. Approved decisions are the other moment developers need to move — site starts, drawdown timelines, valuations. Another reason to call.

A planning application is often the first public record that something is happening with a property. The owner has decided to do something — build, convert, sell after adding value. Most of the time, this precedes any estate agent involvement by months.

Monitor for change of use, HMO conversions, and permitted development applications in the areas where your investor clients want to buy. The applicant's name and address are on every record. That's the person to write to.

A single-dwelling house applying for Class C4 HMO licence in an Article 4 area is genuinely interesting. Someone applying for a commercial-to-residential conversion in a postcode with tight supply is genuinely interesting. These are needle-in-a-haystack opportunities that surface daily if you have a monitor set up for them.

The pipeline view in MetisOS means you can brief investor clients with a shared, live list of everything worth looking at. No spreadsheets, no forwarded emails.

Most architects wait for referrals. Which is fine until it isn't. MetisOS gives you a different option: a daily list of homeowners in your target area who've just applied for planning — and haven't hired anyone yet.

Filter to householder applications — extensions, loft conversions, garden rooms — in the specific postcodes where you want to work. Set a minimum value if you want to filter out the small stuff. You get the applicant name and address every morning. That's who to write to.

For planning consultants: track your own applications across every council without logging in to each portal separately. MetisOS notifies you the moment a decision lands — conditional approval, refusal, appeal — and saves the status update to your feed.

Agent tracking works cross-council. Type a practice or individual name once. MetisOS backfills a year of their submissions and watches for new ones. Useful for understanding what a competitor is doing, or for tracking referral sources.

There's a 3–6 month gap between planning permission and a site start. That's your window. The developer hasn't committed to a supply chain, the main contractor hasn't tendered, and nobody else is calling yet.

Set a value threshold — say, £500k — filter to new build residential and commercial schemes, and set the geography to your delivery radius. MetisOS sends you the applications that match at 7am. The applicant name and agent are on every record.

The status update is the other trigger. When a pending application gets approved, that decision is usually when developers start making calls in earnest. MetisOS notifies you the moment a status changes on any application you've saved. That's when to move.

For plant hire specifically: monitor for applications with basement, excavation, or piling in the description. Those schemes have groundwork requirements before anything else starts. You can be in the conversation months before the main contractor is appointed.

Word of mouth is fine. It's also uncontrollable, inconsistent, and entirely dependent on other people thinking of you at the right moment.

Every extension, loft conversion, and new build in your area is a planning application before it's a job. Set a monitor for the project types you want — extensions, lofts, new builds — in the specific councils where you work. MetisOS emails you the new applications every morning at 7am.

The applicant name and property address are on every lead. They've just decided to build something. They don't have a builder. Write to them, knock on the door, call if you can find them. You got there before the leaflet companies, before anyone else, because nobody else was looking.

Save the leads you want to follow up, move them through the pipeline as you make contact, and get notified when a pending application gets approved. That's the moment homeowners go from "thinking about it" to "right, let's get quotes in."

Planning applications are the best leading indicator of where capital is moving. They show you who's developing what, at what scale, and at what stage — weeks before it shows up in any market report.

For BTL and HMO investors: monitor for HMO licence applications, Article 4 changes, and conversion applications in your target boroughs. A 12-unit HMO three streets away from a property you own is something you should know about before your next remortgage valuation.

For developers: track the planning agents acting on large residential schemes in your target area. You can watch a competitor's pipeline in real time — what's in planning, what's been approved, what's been refused. Set an agent monitor and MetisOS backfills a year of their submissions automatically.

Householder applications are also off-market acquisition signals. Permitted development applications on residential properties often precede a sale. The applicant address is public. If you want to write to someone who's about to sell, the planning portal has been telling you for months.

Large schemes go through planning before they go out to tender. That gap — between permission and procurement — is when cost consultants should be in the room. Most aren't, because most don't find out about the project until the client calls.

Set MetisOS to monitor for major residential, commercial, healthcare, education, and mixed-use applications above a value threshold across your target regions. Every new match comes in at 7am with the applicant name, agent, scheme scale, and estimated value. That's the conversation to start now, not when the developer has already shortlisted their consultants.

Once you're appointed, the Project Workspace gives enterprise teams a live view of the full planning lifecycle — parent permission, discharge of conditions applications, amendments, and the council's decision record. When a discharge of conditions application lands on a scheme you're tracking, you know before your client does. That's when to pick up the phone.

Council performance data gives you the benchmarking to set realistic programme expectations from day one — decision timelines, approval rates on comparable schemes, and conditions patterns on major applications.

For practices working across multiple regions on NHS, education, and infrastructure frameworks — one feed replaces the patchwork of portal bookmarks your team currently maintains.