Council housing pipeline tool saves 89% assessment time per site

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Summary

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council used Vestega, a 31ten initiative, to accelerate the identification of sites for their affordable housing development programme.

The digital platform transformed their capacity enabling them to evaluate 40 new sites in 2024, up from fewer than one in the previous year. Time savings in total amounted to 89% per site, including 50% reduction in data uploads, 80% in cashflow modelling and 95% in council member reporting processes. The pilot established an initial development pipeline of priority sites with above-policy affordable housing percentages, supporting the council’s Corporate Plan objectives to tackle homelessness and provide genuinely affordable homes for vulnerable populations.

Challenge

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council identified affordable housing delivery as a key Corporate Plan priority, aiming to develop council-owned affordable and social housing to tackle the need for genuinely affordable rented homes for local people, particularly those on low incomes and for families.  However, traditional site assessment processes were prohibitively slow and resource-intensive, with the council historically evaluating fewer than one site per year over five years.

Approach

The central focus of the project was to accelerate the preparation of a development programme by speeding up the first stage of the process using a site assessment process and modelling tool.

The council wanted to identify and prioritise sites to form a pipeline, complete development appraisals and modelling for shortlisted sites and form a financially sustainable development programme.

Using PropTech Innovation funding, the council partnered with 31ten to implement their Vestega platform for site assessment and financial modelling. The collaborative approach involved close working between the supplier and council officers.

The process began with an officer-led desktop review of 80 potential sites. Site information was migrated to the supplier’s platform with baseline appraisal metrics established including standard industry assumptions (professional fees, build costs) and bespoke local parameters (Local Housing Allowance rents, payback periods). The platform enabled testing of multiple development options (housing, mixed-use, community use), tenure mixes (policy compliant, 100% affordable), and delivery routes (direct delivery, disposal, joint venture).

Results

The project has delivered strong results for the council:

• Moved from assessing an average of one site per year to completing site assessments for 40 sites during 2024 – representing a 400% increase in capacity.
• Established a target pipeline of sites delivering homes with above-policy affordable housing percentages, supplemented by medium and long-term programmes.
• Delivered 89% total time savings per site through the PropTech tool, with specific improvements including 50% reduction in data uploads, 80% reduction in cashflow modelling and scenario testing time, and 95% time saving in reporting (from 20 hours to 1 hour per site). This has enabled the council to move forward with financially sustainable development options, subject to grant funding and member approval.
• The coordinated approach pooled all potential sites into a single platform using standardised assumptions, enabling programme-level financial modelling and strategic decision-making.
• Officers gained enhanced appraisal skills, reducing reliance on external consultants and building internal capacity for future projects.
• Formed new relationships with other local authorities through the Open Digital Planning community, facilitating knowledge sharing and best practice development across the sector.

Catherine Radziwonik, Principal Development Manager, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, said: “The project has been a positive experience for Reigate & Banstead that provided us with the opportunity to trial a new software tool and approach to assessing the viability of our potential housing delivery sites. This has enabled us to speed up our site assessment process and pipeline for housing delivery.”

Next steps

If you’re a Local Planning Authority looking to modernise planning processes and enhance digital skills and capabilities, explore joining the Open Digital Planning community to gain access to resources, peer support, and digital expertise.