Before you bid, exchange or release architect fees
Fourteen days from auction with the legal pack already published. An exclusivity period running down. An option fee quote on the desk. An architect waiting on a concept brief. This is the moment a 10% auction deposit, a forfeited reservation fee or £15k of abortive design fees turns on whether the site can actually carry the scheme you priced.
The 48-hour desktop pack screens planning policy, designations, flood, ground, ecology, heritage, access and high-level viability constraints against national datasets and the December 2024 NPPF, 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.
Order a Site Appraisal · See a sample report
Four packs sized to four decisions
SITE SCREENING Decision: is this site worth a closer look before I bid? From £199, 48 hours. 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 £895, 48 hours. 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 £1,995, 48 hours. Output: policy-tested scheme rationale, officer-facing risk register, suggested questions. Upgrade when you instruct the architect for submission drawings.
PLANNING INTELLIGENCE PACK Decision: how do I get to validation alongside the architect? Price tailored, 48 hours. Output: planning statement inputs, validation checklist mapping, 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? The Site Appraisal fits the legal pack window
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 paragraphs 154 to 155 (December 2024).
The 48-hour Site Appraisal fits inside that window. Order on Day 1, receive the screen on Day 3, set your bid cap by Day 4. Once the hammer falls, a 10% deposit is committed on the day with no diligence backstop. The sequential test under NPPF paragraph 174 (December 2024) 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 paragraphs 154 to 155 (December 2024) and the policy weight of any draft Local Plan position.
- Flood Zone 2/3 designation and the sequential test trigger under NPPF paragraph 174 (December 2024), 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 48-hour desktop pack.
Send the boundary today, receive the report in 48 hours
Three steps:
- Send postcode, red-line boundary, intended use and indicative dwelling count.
- An analyst screens the site against national datasets and December 2024 NPPF tests.
- You receive a constraint-mapped PDF with risk register, NPPF tests and named specialist studies where triggered, including paragraph numbers under the December 2024 framework.
Turnaround is 48 hours from accepted instruction and a usable boundary.
Price ladder. £199 to walk away from the wrong auction lot. £895 before you exchange or release an option fee. £1,995 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.