Before you bid, exchange or release architect fees
The desktop pack screens planning policy, designations, flood, ground, ecology, heritage, access and high-level viability constraints against national datasets and the NPPF edition in force, then sets out the planning and constraint actions for your solicitor, architect and specialist team. Use it to cap your bid, pause the deal, renegotiate the price, or hold back design fees on a constrained site.
Request a Site Appraisal quote · See a sample report
Four packs sized to four decisions
SITE APPRAISAL Decision: is this site worth a closer look before I bid? From £295. Output: red/amber/green constraint map with bid-cap rationale. Upgrade when you move from bidding to committing capital.
FEASIBILITY INTELLIGENCE Decision: should I commit capital, deposit or option fee to this site? From £995. Output: constraint analysis, indicative GDV-impacting risks, specialist study schedule for IC papers. Upgrade when pre-app is booked.
PRE-APPLICATION PACK Decision: how do I walk into pre-app with the LPA prepared? From £2,250. Output: policy-tested scheme rationale, officer-facing risk register, suggested questions. Upgrade when you instruct the architect for submission drawings.
CONSULTANT HANDOVER PACK Decision: how do I hand my consultant team one reconciled evidence base? Price tailored. Output: the full evidence base filed by role, with named triggers for transport, drainage, ecology, heritage and energy specialists.
For the full constraint domains and traditional consultancy benchmark, see our development land due diligence guide.
Buying at auction? What the legal pack does not cover
Auction legal packs are typically published 2 to 4 weeks before the auction date. They confirm title, planning history, searches and special conditions of sale. They rarely include a flood risk read against the Environment Agency Flood Zones, a Coal Authority CMRA trigger, a BNG screening or a grey belt test under NPPF policies GB6 and GB7 (August 2026).
Request a quote as soon as the legal pack is out. We confirm the scope, the price and the delivery date before you pay, so you can check that date against the auction before you commit. Once the hammer falls, a 10% deposit is committed on the day with no diligence backstop. The sequential test under NPPF policy F5 (August 2026) applies to Flood Zone sites: see GOV.UK flood risk and planning guidance.
The layer between your solicitor and your architect
Your solicitor handles legal conveyancing diligence: title, easements, covenants and special conditions. Your architect handles drawings and massing. Neither is briefed to flag the planning and constraint risks that wreck small-developer margins.
Specific gaps the desktop pack covers:
- Grey belt and Green Belt tests under NPPF policies GB6 and GB7 (August 2026) and the policy weight of any draft Local Plan position.
- Flood Zone 2/3 designation and the sequential test trigger under NPPF policy F5(2) (August 2026), including functional floodplain.
- BNG 10% baseline trigger, priority habitats, and seasonal survey windows that can push a programme by 6 to 9 months.
- Coal Authority high-risk areas, radon, infiltration constraints, visibility splays at the access, and listed building or conservation area setting risk.
That is the layer most one-to-ten unit developers run without, then pay for in abortive architect fees, lost option deposits or a bridge loan ticking against a stalled scheme. See what is included in our desktop pack.
Send the boundary, receive the report
Three steps:
- Send postcode, red-line boundary, intended use and indicative dwelling count.
- An analyst screens the site against national datasets and the national policy tests in force.
- You receive a constraint-mapped PDF with risk register, NPPF tests and named specialist studies where triggered, cited by the policy codes used in the Framework in force.
We confirm the delivery date with the scope and the price, before you pay.
Price ladder. £295 to walk away from the wrong auction lot. £995 before you exchange or release an option fee. £2,250 to walk into pre-app. Tailored to submit alongside the architect drawings.
What this desktop report does not replace. The desktop pack is designed to commission specialist work well, not to imitate it. Where the law requires a chartered signature or a site attendance — Phase 2 ground investigation, hydraulic flood modelling, seasonal protected-species surveys, MRTPI representations, CMLI LVIA, chartered transport, drainage or RICS valuation — the report names the specialist study and, where the scope is standard enough to estimate, an indicative cost range and typical timeline.