The Searchland Story – How We’re Changing Site Sourcing

From data frustration to data revolution: the Searchland story

Searchland has a clear mission: to transform the way property professionals source sites.

It might sound simple, but my background has shown me that site sourcing is yet to undergo the same ‘digital transformation’ that the wider property industry has experienced.

For me, a degree in planning and real estate was followed by time as a land and planning graduate, a geographic information system (GIS) consultant, and a planning policy officer. One theme stood out throughout the years I applied myself in these various roles: there was an abundance of data, but it was not being used effectively.

Bringing land and property data into one place

Data is gold – a cliché, yes, but undeniably true when it comes to site sourcing.

There is a huge amount of data available throughout the planning and development sector – from who owns what land and how much they paid for it, through to the number of planning applications submitted to a local council and how many were approved. However, there are several challenges when trying to mine this data for nuggets of valuable information.

1. You have to access data from many disparate sources.
2. You have to analyse it and make sense of it.
3. You have to bring it all together to create a data-driven site sourcing strategy.

I saw first-hand that, for the most part, overcoming these three challenges was too complicated, time-consuming and expensive for many individuals and businesses trying to source sites, be they agents, architects or developers.

Searchland enters the market in 2020

In 2020, myself and Arthur Goodhart came together to co-found Searchland, with Archie Kennedy-Dyson joining in 2021. The three of us had very different professional backgrounds – spanning site sourcing, planning, technology, computer science, software development and data analytics.

It meant we struck a balance of skills and knowledge that allowed us to bring a complete platform to market. One that, as mentioned above, began to drag site sourcing into the 21st Century.

At its heart, Searchland was – and still is – an easy-to-use platform that enables users to access and visualise all the data they need to make informed decisions about potential sites. From day one, our promise was fair and transparent pricing.

Our early adopters included SME developers, architects, estate agents and property investors – anyone trying to navigate the challenges of generating or researching a site.

Building momentum: the early features

The first version of Searchland gave users the power to:

• Layer datasets like OS OpenZoomstack, AddressBase, Land Registry and council planning information.
• Filter down thousands of potential sites into just a select handful in a few clicks.
• Contact landowners directly with our automated letter-sending feature, removing the bottleneck of sourcing sites but never reaching out.

This was a huge step forward. For the first time, property professionals could not only discover sites but also engage with owners quickly and systematically.

Searchland today: 2025 and beyond

Fast forward to today, and the platform has evolved far beyond those early days. Searchland now offers a suite of cutting-edge tools that make site sourcing faster, smarter and more creative than ever.

Here’s what’s new:

A richer data palette

• Commercial real estate insights - with our partnership with Rightmove and bespoke reserach model, users can now access real-time sales, lettings and leasehold data.
• Industry leading energy data - grid capacity, connection opportunities and the embedded capacity register .
• Land values & title reports - instant insights into land sale history and the ability to create bespoke branded land reports in seconds..
• Demographics - understand population trends and community makeup to guide strategy.

Smarter sourcing tools

• AI-powered sourcing assistant - tell the AI your criteria and it will surface the best opportunities.
• Upgraded ownership insights - instantly view company ownership trees and land portfolios.

Deeper planning intelligence

• 30 years of planning data - with advanced filters, document text search, NSIP overlays and live tracking.
• Strategic land layers - SHLAA, settlement boundaries, housing supply, brownfield registers, Green Belt reviews all in one place.

Outreach, fully automated

• Enhanced letter-sending - with automated follow-ups and campaign tracking inside the dashboard.

Business growth

• £2.3m in Seed funding secured to scale the platform.
• Recognition in the Cloud Challengers Top 100, cementing Searchland as one of the UK’s leading prop-tech innovators.
• Over 1500 top UK companies now use Searchland

The mission remains the same

Despite all this growth, our mission hasn’t changed: to make land sourcing smarter, faster, and more accessible.

We’ve gone from solving the frustrations I felt as a planner years ago to equipping thousands of property professionals with the data and tools they need to stay ahead of the curve.

Today, with Searchland, you’re not just browsing land - you’re building pipelines, uncovering hidden opportunities, and gaining the edge in a competitive market.