Build It! The Data Strikes Back
Stronger. Smarter. More connected than ever.
We’re trying to deliver more homes faster, but the system is still planning growth around land, not infrastructure. The result is predictable; sites that look viable on paper stall in reality because utilities capacity wasn’t visible early enough.
Today, planning and infrastructure operate out of sync. Evidence is fragmented across organisations, shared through emails, static extracts, and one-off requests. There’s no single, trusted view, just disconnected snapshots.
This isn’t a process failure; it’s an evidence failure. And it’s holding back housing delivery, investment planning, and sustainable growth.
All Systems Growth set out the big idea; bring planning, utilities, environment, and infrastructure into a single shared evidence base so decisions can be made with full system awareness.
But it remained conceptual; strong vision, limited proof.
Build It! is the next step.
It turns that vision into something real, testable, and scalable:
- Focused, not broad (starting with water & wastewater).
- Grounded in live workflows (Local Plan site allocation).
- Built into existing tools (PlaceMaker).
- Using real data, not theory.
- Designed to generate evidence, not just ideas.
In short, Build It! can be the operational bridge between ambition and delivery.
This sprint is about defining what it actually takes to make infrastructure-led planning work in practice, not in theory.
We will:
- Define who Build It! is for
(planners, utilities, developers, regulators) and what success looks like for each. - Identify the critical decisions it needs to support
(e.g. site selection, investment planning, spatial strategies). - Agree the minimum viable data ecosystem
(what data is essential, where it lives, and what’s usable now). - Surface constraints early not as an afterthought
(licensing, governance, trust, incentives). - Shape a practical, testable model
that can move straight into a live proof of concept.
If Build It! is working:
- Planners can see infrastructure capacity at the point of site selection.
- Utilities can anticipate growth and plan investment proactively, not reactively.
- Data requests move from weeks to instant, shared evidence.
- Fewer sites fail late in the process.
- Decisions are faster, more confident, and more defensible.
Ultimately, this becomes a shared, live, version-controlled evidence layer between planning and infrastructure.
- What decisions need better evidence, and where do they break today?
- What is the minimum data required to make a real difference?
- Who needs to contribute data, and what do they need in return?
- How do we create trust, governance, and accountability across organisations?
- What does a usable, adoptable MVP actually look like - not an ideal future state?
- What proof do we need to unlock national scale and funding?
To make this work, we need active participation not just ideas:
- Planners (LPAs / Combined Authorities)
Bring real workflows, real constraints, and real decision points. - Utilities
Bring capacity data, planning cycles insight, and investment context. - Policy & regulatory voices
Ensure alignment with where the system is heading. - Developers & practitioners
Ground this in delivery reality.
By the end of the sprint, we will have:
- A shared understanding of the problem (and why it really exists).
- A clear definition of who Build It! is for and what it must deliver.
- A prioritised set of real-world use cases and decisions.
- A minimum viable data and governance model.
- A practical roadmap from sprint to proof of concept, to scalable adoption.