Where to look
1. Commercial property agents
Register with both national agents (Savills, CBRE, Knight Frank, JLL, Cushman & Wakefield) and local/regional commercial agents in your target area. Tell them what you're looking for: location, size, budget, and type of opportunity. The best deals often go to developers who agents know are serious buyers with finance in place.
2. Online portals
- Rightmove Commercial: Development land and opportunities section. Set up alerts for your target areas.
- LoopNet / CoStar: Commercial property database with development opportunities.
- EIG (Estates Gazette): Commercial property listings and market intelligence.
- PlotFinder: Specifically for self-build and development plots.
- On The Market / Zoopla: Sometimes list development opportunities in their commercial sections.
3. Property auctions
Auctions are an excellent source of development opportunities — particularly properties that need work, failed developments, and sites with planning permission. Major auction houses include Allsop, Savills Auctions, Barnard Marcus, Acuitus, and regional firms. Review catalogues 3–4 weeks before the auction, do your due diligence, and set a maximum bid based on your development appraisal.
4. Planning portals
Search your local authority's planning portal for approved applications that haven't been built. Sites with planning permission that haven't started may be available — the owner may have got planning to increase the land value but doesn't intend to build. Contact the applicant directly to discuss purchasing.
5. Direct-to-vendor
Write to owners of properties you've identified as potential development sites — derelict buildings, large gardens, underused commercial premises, car parks. Many owners haven't considered selling until they receive a direct approach. This is time-intensive but can uncover off-market opportunities with less competition.
6. Council land disposals
Local authorities regularly dispose of surplus land and buildings. Check your council's asset disposal programme and Homes England's land disposals. Council-owned sites sometimes come with favourable terms or planning support.
7. Networking
Some of the best deals come through word of mouth. Build relationships with local solicitors (who handle probate sales and landowner disputes), accountants (who advise business owners selling premises), planning consultants (who know what's coming through the system), and other developers (who may pass on deals that don't fit their criteria).
How to assess a site quickly
- Planning check (10 minutes): Search the local authority planning portal. Check planning history, local plan allocation, and whether similar schemes have been approved nearby.
- Quick appraisal (30 minutes): Estimate GDV from comparable sales, estimate build costs from benchmarks, add land price + fees + finance. Does it show 20%+ profit on cost? If not, move on.
- Constraints check (15 minutes): Check flood risk (gov.uk flood map), contamination (environmental data), access, services, and any designations (Listed Building, Conservation Area, TPOs).
- Market demand (15 minutes): Check Rightmove for how quickly similar properties sell in the area. Strong demand = lower exit risk.
From site to finance
Once you've found a viable site and secured it (or have it under offer), upload your documents to Assesr. The AI generates a credit paper from your planning permission, cost schedule, and comparable evidence — and matches to 50+ lenders in 60 seconds. Having finance ready quickly gives you a competitive advantage when negotiating site purchases.