Welcome to Step 2 of the Find and Assess phase: Finding Opportunities.
If you already have a list of sites you want to look at, head back to Guide: Adding Opportunities.
If you're starting fresh and want to uncover brand new opportunities, you're in the right place. There are four ways to find new opportunities in LandInsight:
The Site Sourcing Tool
Planning Search
Ownership Search
Explorer Layers
💡 LandTech Tip: When you save a site found through any of these methods, it will be added to the Workspace you currently have selected. Make sure you have the right Workspace active before saving so your new opportunities land in the correct place.
1. The Site Sourcing Tool
Use the Site Sourcing Tool to generate a highly targeted list of sites based on specific criteria. It's the fastest way to find sites that match your strategy when you know what you're looking for.
How to use it:
Open The Explorer on the left of your screen
Select Site Sourcing to open the tool
Choose your preferred search area (Map, Draw, Radius, or Council)
Click Add Filters to refine your criteria
Hit Search
Results matching your criteria will appear on screen. Click on any result to zoom to its location on the map and open the Assessor, where you'll find all the data we hold on that site. You can save your search to reuse it later, or export your results as a CSV.
LandTech Tip: Not sure which filters to apply? Just type what you're looking for into the search box in plain English and our AI will automatically apply the most relevant filters for you. For example: "Show me privately owned brownfield sites larger than 2 acres with no flood risk."
Read more:
2. Planning Search
Use the Planning Search tool to find sites based on their planning history. It's ideal when you're looking for sites with a specific type of planning activity, like approved residential schemes or prior approval conversions.
How to use it:
Open The Explorer on the left of your screen
Scroll down and tick Planning Applications to see them appear on the map
Click into the Planning Applications tab and hit Search Planning Applications at the top
Type keywords into the free text box (for example: residential, affordable, or an applicant name) or choose from the popular searches
Refine your results using the additional filters
Results update dynamically at the bottom of the panel
Click any result to zoom to its location on the map, view the original application on the local authority's website, or save the site directly to your pipeline.
💡 LandTech Tip: The free text search uses an AND search, not OR. This means it only returns applications that include all of your search terms, so keep your keywords focused and avoid using contradictory terms.
Read more:
3. Ownership Search
Use the Ownership Search tool to find specific landowners and view their full portfolios. It's particularly useful when you're targeting sites owned by a specific company, a particular type of owner, or an owner whose financial situation suggests they may be open to a sale.
How to use it:
Open The Explorer on the left of your screen
Click Ownership Search
Type a company name into the search bar, or select from the list of commonly searched proprietor types (such as Housing Association or Local Authority)
Narrow your results using the additional filters
Choose whether to include Child companies in your results
Review your results at the bottom of the panel
Click any result to view the owner's name and address, zoom to the location on the map, and save the site to your pipeline.
💡LandTech Tip: When viewing a result, look out for the Ultimate Owner field. Click the magnifying glass next to it to run a new search showing every site owned by that entity. This lets you see an owner's entire portfolio, which can reveal whether they might be open to selling other assets too.
Read more:
4. Explorer Layers
If you prefer to find opportunities visually, use the Explorer to toggle data layers on and off. It's ideal when you know the type of land you're looking for but don't have a specific location in mind.
How to use it:
Open The Explorer on the left of your screen
Use the search bar to find a specific layer, or browse through the bundles (Policy Constraints, Strategic, Environmental, People & Places, Traffic & Connectivity, Power & Energy)
Tick the box next to any layer to activate it. You can mix and match layers from different bundles depending on your strategy. For example, you might turn on Brownfield Land (found in Strategic) alongside Flood Zones (found in Environmental)
Click into a layer to see colour keys and more granular filtering options
Pan and zoom to spot promising opportunities on the map
Click any parcel of land that interests you to open the Assessor on the right-hand side
💡 LandTech Tip: While you're browsing layers, turn on Ownership Boundaries to see the exact physical outlines of individual parcels on the map. It makes it much easier to spot opportunity boundaries at a glance.
Read more:
What's next?
Now that you know how to find sites that match your strategy, it's time to see whether they are actually worth pursuing.
Next step: Move on to Guide: Assessing Opportunities to learn how to quickly check a site for red flags and save it to your pipeline.