"There is an urgent need to coordinate efforts to realise the full potential of PropTech and support companies to scale"
- Sammy Pahal - UK PropTech Association
The PropTech sector has a critical role to play in digitally transforming the planning system, aiding town centre regeneration, unlocking new homes, and delivering its AI strategy.
Through the formation of a new grant-funded partnership with MHCLG’s Digital Planning programme, the UK PropTech Association aims to build awareness of the sector with key partners and foster greater collaboration to increase economic growth and productivity.
The partnership follows the recent launch of The Opportunity for PropTech: Leveraging technology for the UK’s built environment, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to support its Digital Planning Programme.
The report highlighted the significant increase in investment opportunities for the sector, given its projected growth potential of 19.7% by 2032, and contained a number of measures designed to deliver growth and drive investment.
The new partnership is designed to translate some of these into deliverable outcomes and comes at a crucial time for the Government as it seeks to reform the planning system and implement its AI Opportunities Action Plan. Specifically, the new partnership will seek to drive enhanced outcomes in the following areas:
Enhanced Collaboration: Greater connectivity between PropTech suppliers, private sector companies, and public sector organisations, resulting in a collaborative approach to achieving digital transformation. By hosting regional events, strategic roundtables, and working groups, the partnership will be used to create a collaborative ecosystem that drives innovation and ensures stakeholders are aligned in addressing systemic challenges.
Increased Awareness: Broader industry awareness of PropTech solutions and the role of PropTech across the UK, highlighting successful implementations and identifying opportunities to tackle specific industry (and local) challenges. By addressing market barriers and facilitating greater awareness of PropTech solutions, the programme will accelerate adoption across regions and sectors. Regional roadshows and the curation of resources for PropTech companies to help them grow and scale in the UK.
Policy Recommendations: A set of actionable policy recommendations to support government interventions aimed at accelerating PropTech adoption across the property sector. Through strategic roundtables and working groups, the programme will identify regulatory and market challenges and co-develop actionable policy recommendations. These recommendations will support the government in creating an environment conducive to PropTech innovation, including streamlined regulations, procurement reforms, and incentives for early adoption.
PropTech Growth: Enhanced support for PropTech companies, including access to more resources, support and market integration opportunities, enabling them to scale and innovate within the UK property market. By enabling the scaling of PropTech companies and encouraging widespread adoption of technology, the programme will contribute to economic growth and position the UK as a global leader in PropTech innovation, enhancing its competitive edge.
“The UK PropTech sector is rightly acknowledged to play a crucial role in driving growth, enhancing productivity, and delivering long-term benefits for the UK economy and society," comments UK PropTech Association managing director, Sammy Pahal.
"However," he adds, "There is an urgent need to coordinate efforts to realise the full potential of PropTech and support companies to scale. While the sector has demonstrated value and there has been an increase in willingness to adopt PropTech – with a potential spend of £600m in the public sector alone, in order for the full value to be realised solutions need to be scaled at a faster pace and more widely adopted across both public and private sectors.
"This is why this grant funding partnership approach is so important. As it will enable the sector to grow by drawing on the association’s industry influence and diverse membership base to deliver key workstreams and better utilise the knowledge and experience they have to drive digital transformation and thus economic growth in the UK.”
