How can we Balance growth expansion, infrastructure provision and environmental protection.
Challenge
The nation's built infrastructure is grappling with operational, environmental and financial pressures, irrespective of future demands for new housing. Yet the pace of change in the UK is set to accelerate. The new government has pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the current Parliament – a 50% rise on previous rates. Each new home comes with additional demands on the built infrastructure and implications for the natural environment.
For infrastructure providers, staying ahead of these changes will become an increasingly vital skill. Data and technology will play a crucial role in achieving this. However, the current data landscape remains fragmented, with private sector entities, local authorities, and central government generating data for their own purposes. This fragmentation does not necessarily further the overarching goals of resilient infrastructure and environmental protection.
Delivering the government’s ambitions will therefore require a concerted, coordinated effort. Central and local government, developers, infrastructure providers and data providers such as Ordnance Survey must come together to create an integrated approach that balances infrastructure growth and environmental sustainability.
Proposal
Building on the outcomes of Ordnance Survey’s Innovation Festival in March 2025 - where we identified who is interested in addressing this challenge, who is already making progress, and what has been achieved so far, we will be working with utilities, developers, and local authorities to assess capacity in infrastructure alongside environmental constraints. The collaboration aims to accelerate the deployment of new housing and economic growth. As a key outcome, we will also develop and deliver a prototype platform to streamline these efforts, the prototype platform will integrate data and insights, enabling smarter planning and faster decision-making across stakeholders.
Problem Statements
We’ll give thought and focus to a number of problem statements, such as these to help us determine our objectives and our outputs:
- How can we achieve strong growth and environmental protection?
- How can we support Local Authorities to make quick decisions on sustainable and feasible development?
- How can we support economic growth delivery in our regions?
- How can we use consistent, easily accessible planning data to maximise investment in the networks and improve services?
- How can we drive better asset planning in the near to medium term by fusing planning, geospatial and earth observation data?
- How can we quantify and analyse what is going to be built, where and when?
- How can we better use data to understand changes in the built and natural environment including accounting for climate change?
Target Audience
- Planners
- Developers and Home Builders
- Utilities
- Local Authorities
- Combined authorities
- Highways
- Regulators (OFWAT DEFRA EA, NE)
What will we do?
- Gain insights from a variety of experts on the current processes in place.
- Collaborate to develop a well-defined solution, organised into a prioritised action plan.
- Investigate and research existing work – who has already made progress in this area?Partner with solution providers to create a range of proposed solutions.
- Choose at least one solution for further development and build a prototype for a small-scale area to showcase the platform’s potential value.
- Incorporate sample data, including water, sewerage, gas, electricity, and telecommunications infrastructure. Include sample data for above-ground assets, such as hospitals, schools, roads, dental practices, GP surgeries, public transport links, and locations.
- Brainstorm future tools or attachments to enhance the next project phase.
- Form a stakeholder group to guide and support the initiative.
- Agree a timeline in which to take a project forward to the next stages in support of the government’s plans to deliver 1.5 million new homes and new targeted economic investment.
