Monthly Archives: March 2022

News

Global Tech Academy Code Fellows Partners With Norwich based Tech Educators to Bridge UK’s Talent Gap

Global tech academy, Code Fellows, has partnered with Norwich based Tech Educators to bring industry-leading tech education to those looking to make their start in the ever-growing tech industry. Working together, they will provide a proven intensive training program for individuals from all backgrounds to become professional developers ready to contribute to the companies they join or start-up in as little as 9 weeks.

Tech Educators launched out of Norwich’s only city center incubator as a reaction to the ever-increasing demands of the buoyant East of England Tech market, one that without continued investment could stifle the UK startup eco-system and beyond. Their goal is to inspire individuals to pursue a long and fulfilling career in tech, to seed innovation, transform their lives and the communities that they live in.

Code Fellows finds strategic partners in markets all around the globe who are looking to help individuals transform their lives through education. They are a global company focused on global needs so that more people can discover their potential in tech, begin high-paying careers in tech, and add diversity to the tech industry. A strong global tech industry needs the diversity of thought that comes from all of us working together to find better solutions to difficult problems.

 

James Adams, Managing Director at Tech Educators highlighted why continued investment in training and education in the region is needed:

“Tech companies continue to flourish in the UK market, with 2.3 times increase in investment. totalling an estimated £29.4bn in 2021. Continuing to build a strong and sustainable economy requires both access to capital and the best talent.”

“At Tech Educators we want support in keeping the UK at the forefront of the global tech ecosystem, training and up-skilling members of the community to be part of our future economy. Partnering with CodeFellows means we can provide first class, up-to-date training, allowing us to concentrate on our core goals of finding, supporting and nurturing software developers of the future.”

 

Mitchell Robertson, VP at Code Fellows highlighted the role that utilising a proven, globally renowned program, has helped tech ecosystems around the world thrive.

“At Code Fellows, it is our mission to find like-minded partners in communities around the globe and support them with our proven curriculum, instructional methodologies, and industry-leading expertise. Working together we are able to leverage our collective strengths to provide the skills that lead to rewarding tech careers that are oftentimes relegated to a privileged few. It’s our honor to come alongside Tech Educators to provide them with the curriculum, training and support they need, to change lives, companies, and the greater economy of the greater East England area.”

 

News, Retail & E-commerce

Demand for autonomous retail accelerates: The overwhelming majority of Brits (70%) now want an autonomous shopping experience

A new study by Sensei finds that the majority of Brits want the convenience of an autonomous shopping experience

More than two thirds (70%) of Brits would welcome checkout-free shopping, according to a new survey from Sensei, the leading European provider of autonomous stores.

The report, ‘A New Beginning For Retail’, which examines consumer attitudes towards checkoutless stores, shows that 60% of UK shoppers want the option of a checkoutless experience via a hybrid model. A further 10% of Brits would favour a fully autonomous shopping experience.

The report, which was conducted in collaboration with Ben Marder, Director of Research at the University of Edinburgh Business School, also reveals the biggest ‘turn offs’ for consumers when it comes to returning to the high street post pandemic.

Almost a third (32%) of Brits admitted they are put off visiting the high street due to overcrowded stores, while a further fifth (20%) are deterred from physical retail spaces because of limited product options.

The findings illustrate the growing demand for autonomous stores in the UK, as almost half (47%) of those surveyed said they want to be able to shop without checkouts in the future.

Of the factors driving consumers towards autonomous retail, respondents cited a faster shopping experience (61%), not having to queue in order to pay for goods (60%), and the convenience of checkoutless stores to being open 24/7 (50%) as the top reasons for moving towards this new technology.

With two-thirds of respondents demanding stores to have a checkoutless experience in addition to the traditional checkout experience, it’s clear that inclusivity is key to the success of this emerging technology. As the retail industry accelerates towards an autonomous future, it is imperative that the less digitally-savvy in society are not left behind.

 

Vasco Portugal, CEO at Sensei said: “We are really proud to have facilitated this study for the retail industry. Our goal is to provide retailers with the practical insights about autonomous store technology, based on the opinions of their customers, to help them make strategic decisions about how to implement this technology that is now bursting onto UK high streets.”

“We are committed to supporting retailers as they start to adopt and expand their autonomous retail offering. This report spotlights the demand for this technology to be inclusive. The hybrid model allows retailers to transform a store into one that can support a checkoutless experience, whilst also offering a checkout desk for the few that can’t immediately switch to the autonomous experience.”

 

As with all new innovation, the report did highlight that there is a need to better educate consumers on autonomous retail technology. Respondents noted concerns around being incorrectly charged (54%) and data privacy (45%). It is clear that this information gap must be bridged, in order to bring all customers along on the autonomous retail journey.

Sensei has the technology to reinvigorate the high street and drive the retail industry into a faster and more convenient future, benefitting both customers and retailers alike. Autonomous technology can be seen powering fully-autonomous stores – like those recently opened by Aldi and Tesco – as well as “hybrid” environments such as the Continente Labs in Lisbon, that address the desire for retailers to accommodate some traditional retail elements into modern, autonomous stores.

 

News, Storage

Governments and public sector organizations spend millions globally each year destroying data storage devices despite sustainable alternatives

New Blancco report sparks conversations on SSD policy reform, revealing financial and environmental costs as well as security concerns for public sector organizations

AUSTIN and LONDON – March 9, 2022—New research launched today by Blancco Technology Group (LON: BLTG), the industry standard in data erasure and mobile lifecycle solutions, reveals current practices and policies for device sanitization within the public sector. For Blancco’s study, The Price of Destruction: Exploring the Financial & Environmental Costs of Public Sector Device Sanitization, researchers spoke to 596 government IT leaders across nine countries. The survey revealed that the governments and public sector organizations represented spend as much as USD$17M annually on the physical destruction of solid-state drives (SSDs), a data storage device widely used both independently and within laptops, desktops, and servers.

Additionally, replacement costs added another $40M, bringing expenses up to $57M for destroying public sector technology that is often still usable. For 70 organizations surveyed in each country, the costs for SSD destruction and replacement reached between $6.9M and $7.3M for the U.S. and between $6.4M and $6.9M for the U.K.

Environmental Costs

With global electronic (e-waste) called the “world’s fastest growing domestic waste stream,” the study also explores the environmental costs of physical destruction and the public sector’s current engagement with sustainable alternatives. Unnecessary destruction increases IT operations and materials costs for fiscally constrained public sector organizations. It also fosters increased e-waste creation during a global call for more prudent environmental stewardship.

Despite 54% of respondents agreeing that reuse of SSDs is better for the environment than physical destruction and almost all respondents (93%) saying their organization had defined plans to reduce the environmental impact caused by destroying IT equipment, less than a quarter (21%) are actively implementing those plans.

Security Concerns

For security reasons, physical destruction is still mandated if decommissioned drives were used to store classified or secret data. For unclassified data-bearing assets, other data sanitization solutions are available.

On the whole, respondents were well informed of their country’s or region’s respective data protection laws. However, some respondents’ processes for carrying out compliant SSD sanitization are concerning. For example, 78% of respondents globally said they reformat drives to sanitize them. Unfortunately, formatting alone can still leave drives vulnerable during transport or storage, and much of the data can be recovered with forensics tools easily available online.

“Governments and public sector organizations are responsible for handling some of the most sensitive information in the world. But several factors, including accelerated digital transformation, rising numbers of public sector data breaches and global sustainability initiatives, are changing the data management landscape,” said Alan Bentley, President of Global Strategy, Blancco. “With growing environmental and funding pressures, there is a need for these public sector operations to be more sustainable and efficient while maintaining robust security. Public sector organizations must explore SSD sanitization alternatives to demonstrate prudent use of agency funds and a greater contribution to national and international sustainability efforts.”

“We’ve seen several public sector departments benefit from moving away from destroying data bearing assets to reusing them or building up the circular economy. Our study highlights that there are significant opportunities for policy reform surrounding SSD data protection as national policymakers seek to steward financial, environmental, and data resources entrusted to their care,” added Bentley.

As the report concludes, governments and public sector organizations are committing to sustainability improvements, but very few have pushed forward with their implementation. This is resulting in a high cost of SSD destruction and replacement.

With overnments and public sector organizations under the spotlight when it comes to spending, it is increasingly urgent that they consider sustainable alternatives that extend device life, maintain lock-tight data security on end-of-life SSDs and, ultimately, save public services millions of dollars.

According to Blancco’s global study of 596 public sector respondents:

  • 41% of respondents say physical destruction is mandated by law to physically destroy SSDs that contain classified data, so they destroy all SSDs “just in case.”
  • Almost a quarter (22%) are unaware of alternative methods of sanitization.
  • Between 23% to 52% of organizations within a country believed that physical destruction was cheaper than other sanitization solutions, including those that would facilitate reuse and longer device life.
  • 35% believe there is no certified or approved vendor or solution that provides another option for them.
  • Between 37% and 45% of our respondents’ devices, or the drives alone, are sent offsite for physical destruction.
  • 37% of respondents are “aware of only” the NIST SP 800-88 r1 and do not know guideline details.

For full analysis, read the report here: http://www.blancco.com/the-price-of-destruction.

 

News, Social Media

Salesforce and Sprout Social Partner to Manage Full Social Media Presence

Partnership enables Salesforce customers to leverage Sprout’s industry-leading social media suite

Sprout Social, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPT) and Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) has announced a global partnership to make it easy for Salesforce customers to manage their full social media presence – engagement, publishing & scheduling, analytics, listening, advocacy and platform integrations – through Sprout’s industry-leading social suite.

Sprout enables Salesforce customers to better connect with their audiences, streamline publishing workflows, deliver excellent social customer care, and turn social data into meaningful insights—at scale. To easily build a single view of the customer, Sprout integrates with Salesforce solutions integral to your business including Service Cloud, Sales Cloud and Slack.

“We’re honoured to work even more closely with Salesforce and to help our joint customers reimagine the role of social in their businesses,” said Ryan Barretto, President of Sprout Social. “Salesforce is the global CRM leader with a global footprint across sales, service, marketing, commerce and data intelligence. Powerful, elegant integrations from Sprout into Salesforce will give our joint customers an unprecedented ability to build closer connections with customers and operationalize social at scale.”

“Social media has become mission critical to the future evolution of business,” said Ryan Strynatka, SVP & COO, Salesforce Marketing Cloud. “We’re delighted to partner with Sprout. We’re on a journey to empower companies to create a 360° view of their customers, and Sprout’s industry leading social media management platform will help our customers harness the power of social.”

 

—

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social offers deep social media listening and analytics, social management, customer care, commerce and advocacy solutions to more than 31,000 brands and agencies worldwide. Sprout’s unified platform integrates the power of social throughout every aspect of a business and enables social leaders at every level to extract valuable data and insights that drive their business forward. Headquartered in Chicago, Sprout operates across major social media networks, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and LinkedIn. Learn more at sproutsocial.com.

 

About Salesforce

Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to digitally transform and create a 360° view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit www.salesforce.com.

News

Zngly Announces Partnership with Legerity to Transform Its Customer Engagement

DUBLIN, IRELAND, March 9th 2022– Zngly – the no-code media platform for the creation, management and measurement of content marketing and client engagement – today announces its partnership with Legerity, to transform and streamline the way content is used by its sales and marketing teams to drive higher levels of prospect and customer engagement.

The experience of remote work and the growth of hybrid sales tactics has forced marketing and sales teams to get creative with how they deliver consistent and personalised campaigns across numerous channels. McKinsey recently found B2B customers now defer to 10 distinct channels as part of their “decision journey”, which has doubled since 2016. B2B marketers have responded by ramping up complexity and commissioning more blogs, podcasts, webinars and thought leadership, with nowhere to house them.

Headquartered in London, Legerity provides FastPost, an ultra-high performance Accounting Rules Platform that is changing how Insurance, Banking, and Telco firms think about their back-office processes. With a wealth of content targeted towards different markets, Zngly has enabled Legerity to categorise sales and marketing collateral into easy-to-find and targeted campaigns. With in-built personalisation tools, salespeople can cut through the noise and communicate directly with their intended leads.

On this partnership Mike Richardson, Marketing Manager, Legerity says: “A core focus for Legerity is to continuously improve the experience we offer our potential customers. As an early-adopter and user of Zngly, we have been able to complete, streamline, and transform the way our content is used by both the sales and marketing teams. The ability to curate existing and newer content has allowed us to personalise our outreach to individual prospects directly. Our new resources section has seen a 200% increase in a dwell time and a pleasing decrease in our bounce rate.”

On this announcement, Mike Wilson, CEO & Founder of Zngly comments: “In a world where B2B buyers are so overwhelmed with content, Zngly allows businesses to cut through this noise and reduce the complexity of traditional content marketing. As a fast-growth business, with a wealth of content, such as explainer videos, webinars, videos etc., Legerity required a way to bring this content to life. The intuitive curation tools that are built into the Zngly platform, have given Legerity the power to supercharge its content marketing efforts in a simple yet powerful way.”

Click here to see Legerity in action with Zngly: https://platform.zngly.com/content/legerity-tv/?content=clients-partners, or to find out how Zngly can solve the challenges for your business, visit https://www.zngly.com.

Business

Newsflare Hires Nyasha Bass as US Head of Sales

Newsflare, the world’s leading licensing platform and marketplace for user-generated video (UGV), has today announced it has hired Nyasha Bass, former Director of Business Development at Hearst Newspapers, as its new US Head of Editorial Sales. Incredibly well connected, Nyasha’s deep experience in building relationships with publishers will be a boon for Newsflare as it seeks to build awareness of its unique capabilities and accelerate growth in the US.

Nyasha’s appointment follows Newsflare’s recent Series B accelerator funding announcement and rebrand. With an investment-led expansion strategy in place, attracting new talent is a top growth priority for Newsflare as it seeks to dominate the user-generated video market.

Prior to her role at Hearst, Nyasha held senior sales and business development roles at Naviga, Accelerate Consulting, and Storyful. Bringing her 15 years of digital media experience to the fore, she will be tasked with targeting growth through new customer acquisition forming key relationships with publishers and finding creative opportunities to help them engage more effectively with audiences using Newsflare’s vast vault of emotionally powerful, authentic, quirky, and even downright brutal UGV content.

Speaking about the appointment, Neil Rampe, CCO at Newsflare, commented: “We’re excited to welcome Nyasha to the team, she brings a tremendous wealth of experience and will play an instrumental role in leading our next phase of growth in the US, the single biggest UGV market in the world. Publisher’s need ‘raw and authentic’ content to connect with audiences who are devoting an increasing proportion of their attention to UGV. We have more exciting announcements to come as we grow awareness of our bustling marketplace of storytellers and establish our brand as the global leader for the monetisation of UGV.”

Nyasha commented: “I’ve joined Newsflare because I am incredibly excited by its differentiated proposition, and the passion it has to help publishers capture the moment and share life’s spectacle with audiences everywhere. Newsflare offers me the unique opportunity to marry my professional experience and skills in sales, licensing, and syndication, with my personal love of all things video. I cannot wait to get started.”

CEO & Founder Stories, News

Jamie Graves appointed as CEO of Uleska to accelerate growth and expansion plans

Belfast, UK – March 9, 2022 – Uleska, a leading DevSecOps platform that helps organisations effectively reduce software security risks and IT costs, today announced it has appointed ex-ZoneFox chief, Jamie Graves, as CEO to help support the company’s growth and expansion plans.

The DevSecOps market is estimated to reach over $23 billion by 2028, which has been driven by the significant security benefits organisations are seeing in addressing vulnerabilities in code and software before it is publicly released. However, a key challenge organisations face when transitioning to DevSecOps is a lack of security integration tools, which can seamlessly fit into the Software Development Lifecycle, without slowing down the development process or overburdening DevOps teams with false positives.

Uleska plays a critical role in tackling this challenge, by offering organisations an orchestration platform designed to help software and development teams work together efficiently, to remediate vulnerabilities and implement effective security measures with ease and speed, while minimising false positives.

“One of the biggest challenges organisations face when implementing DevSecOps is that it adds cumbersome security checks, which generate false positives and slows down agile development. This costs organisations both time and money and often results in friction between development and security teams. Uleska is tackling this challenge by streamlining the process and enabling security and development to work together effectively and collaboratively. I am delighted to be appointed as CEO of Uleska as I believe the platform offers major benefits to organisations that are looking to reduce their risk exposure by adopting DevSecOps,” said Jamie Graves, CEO of Uleska.

In addition to the appointment of Graves, Uleska’s founder Gary Robinson has taken on the role of Chief Security Officer, while the company has also appointed Raquel Soares as Chief Marketing Officer and Martin Hewitt as Chief Product Officer. The newly instated leadership team will play a key role in helping Uleska meet its growth and expansion targets, while making valuable updates to the platform to better serve their customers’ growing and evolving security needs.

“I believe there is a huge opportunity for Uleska to help organisations improve their defences against cybercriminals by working to remediate vulnerabilities in code, before software is released. This offers organisations significant security and cost savings and will ultimately play a critical role in building a safer and more secure digital future,” continued Graves.

Uleska’s automation and collaboration platform allows security teams and developers to work together to solve security vulnerabilities in software quickly, before it’s released. The platform allows its customers to automatically scan their software with a wide range of application security tools, without the manual overhead, which results in a 20 times faster time-to-value in terms of set-up, training and running the tools, and results in an 80 percent cost reduction in the ongoing running and operation of these tools. Through the reduction in costs and speeding up the AppSec process, Uleska is allowing organisations to achieve more with fewer resources, thus allowing teams to focus resources on the issues and metrics that matter.

News, Security

WSO2 Renews Long-Term Contract with Securitas Direct – Leading European Security Provider in Spain

WSO2’s API Manager enables Securitas Direct to expand its digital offering and better connect with its partner ecosystem

London – 9th March 2022, – WSO2, the leader in digital transformation technology, today announced that a long-term contract with a key customer, Securitas Direct in Spain, a subsidiary of Verisure Group, the leading European provider of professionally monitored security systems, has been renewed and expanded. Securitas Direct SA has been able to adopt an API-first strategy thanks to WSO2 API Manager, which has been architected and deployed in two locations within the organisation to ensure optimum availability. The platform now serves as the foundation for Securitas Direct to further expand its digital offerings by better connecting with its partner ecosystem. Additionally, utilising WSO2 solutions, Securitas Direct has built a simple, scalable architecture. The platform uses a microservices-driven approach, allowing developers to reuse individual components to quickly build new applications and troubleshoot issues.

Securitas Direct SA was founded in 1992 as part of the Verisure group of companies in Sweden. With 24/7 response services, Verisure accounts for over 4 million customers in 16 countries in Europe and Latin America. Today, Verisure boasts some of the strongest growth and retention rates globally in consumer-facing services, demonstrating its exceptional service levels and strong value proposition to its customers.

Initially, Securitas Direct SA required to transition from a traditional service-oriented architecture model to an API-based self-service model. The main goals were to improve autonomy in terms of integration needs and improve integration governance and security while dealing with high traffic on IoT APIs, customer apps, and business systems.

Luis Vásconez, head of platform services and solutions at Securitas Direct states, “WSO2 API Manager has been a critical component in our transition to an API-first approach as it provides improved governance, security and autonomy to our development teams with ongoing integration requirements. The solution has been deployed in multiple regions to avoid any downtime that could jeopardise our customers’ experience and the services we provide. WSO2 support has allowed us to provide a secure, seamless experience to our customers which is a key priority for us and one of the reasons we have now renewed and expanded our contract.”

Since implementing WSO2 API Manager, Securitas Direct has seen numerous advantages. This includes increased service availability, improved development efficiency through improved dependency mapping and handling. Teams that integrate beyond team domain services are more autonomous, allowing for team growth and velocity of 10% in the last year and an estimated 10-15% growth in the coming years, all this while maintaining governance for the APIs’ entire lifecycle.

Ricardo Diniz, VP & GM UKI and Southern Europe added, “Securitas Direct is a long-time user of our products and services. The organisation appreciates the simplicity of the solution as well as the considerable support we provide, particularly in important architectural and decision-making areas. WSO2 is well-known as one of the leading solutions in the market, enabling easy and secure API exposure to both internal and external consumers, as well as design and runtime governance for the APIs’ entire lifecycle. We also provide flexible deployment models that adapt to the customer’s infrastructure, while maintaining seamless service discovery for developers, which is one of the reasons that Securitas Direct continues to work with us.”

News

Prym Group pivots to talent with global HR and payroll services from Alight Solutions

Invests in people strategy and HR technology transformation to support international expansion and revenue growth

Alight Solutions (NYSE: ALIT), a leading cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions, today announced it will work with Prym Group to transform its HR technology landscape and HR operations as part of a company-wide focus on digital transformation.

In business for almost 500 years, Prym Group develops, manufactures, and distributes high-quality metal products across a host of categories from clothing to electronic components.

The key to Prym’s longevity and success is its continuous ability to innovate. The Group is now on a mission to further grow, with a continued focus on international expansion. Digital transformation is a key element of this plan and Prym turned to Alight to help transform its HR operations, making it fit for the future.

Malcolm Louth, CHRO at Prym Group said:

“Throughout our successful history, we have continued to focus on innovation. As we look to grow our business even further, we recognize the need to digitally transform – and to focus on the growth of our people through a reinvented HR proposition globally. Having the right strategy and platform in place is a critical element of this initiative.”

At the heart of this program is the need to take a more digitally enabled employee-centric approach to HR technology, HR service delivery, and payroll operations, incorporating all four business units across the Prym Group – Prym Consumer, Prym Fashion, Prym Intimates, and Inovan. Alight will deliver an end-to-end global HR and payroll platform, based on technology from SAP®SuccessFactors® solutions, and provide global payroll services covering the entire workforce of 3,200 employees across 18 countries, as well as 1,200 pensioners.

The approach and technology solution, designed by Alight consultants, will give Prym increased visibility across its HR operations and investment in human capital, enabling it to deliver on its talent strategy, be cost-effective, and attract and retain the brightest and best talent required to drive its ambitious international expansion plans.

Malcolm Louth, CHRO at Prym Group continued:

“Working with Alight we will be able to deliver a more efficient approach to our employee proposition and embark upon the evolution of the people agenda across the business. With better workforce analytics and a greater capacity to pivot to talent, my team will be able to make better decisions that will influence the plans and direction of the business. Our HR teams will have much greater transparency into our people data, and current and future skills requirements, ensuring we have the right skills in the right place, to drive our international operations.”

“This transformation program will also improve the experience of our current employees by giving them access to modern and intuitive HR tools to access onboarding information, update personal details, participate in performance reviews, submit absence requests, and check their payslips – generally making life much easier all around. At the same time, our managers will be better equipped to engage and enable their teams to drive growth – personally and for the business as a whole.”

Luca Saracino, Growth Leader, International at Alight said:

“Prym is not alone in the challenges it is facing to drive digital transformation to support its growth ambitions. With multiple business units and a dispersed global workforce, having visibility into HR data and a consistent approach around the world is key to effective decision making related to business goals and direction.”

Alight is implementing the SAP SuccessFactors platform covering core HR operations. These include:

  • onboarding/offboarding
  • recruitment
  • performance/goals management
  • succession/development management
  • compensation management
  • employee file management.

Alight will also deliver global payroll services to Prym’s 3,200 active employees and 1,200 pensioners. The eight-year partnership covers Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United States, and Vietnam.

About Prym Group

For almost 500 years, Prym has been driving innovation. Our ability to solve challenges using smart thinking and in overcoming barriers is embedded in our DNA. Our 3,200 employees worldwide are enablers for products made to meet the needs of tomorrow. With our compelling solutions for creative products for hobbies and crafts, highly fashionable fastening systems and accessories, as well as high-precision electromechanical components we are every day, everywhere.

About Alight Solutions

With an unwavering belief that a company’s success starts with its people, Alight Solutions is a leading cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions. Leveraging proprietary AI and data analytics, Alight optimizes business process as a service (BPaaS) to deliver superior outcomes for employees and employers across a comprehensive portfolio of services. Alight allows employees to enrich their health, wealth and work while enabling global organizations to achieve a high-performance culture. Alight’s more than 16,000 dedicated colleagues serve more than 30 million employees and family members. Learn how Alight helps organizations of all sizes, including over 70% of the Fortune 100 at alight.com.

Construction, News, Property

How small-scale developers can navigate the planning system

By Ritchie Clapson CEng MIStructE, propertyCEO

The planning system is in need of a thorough overhaul. The government has taken up the challenge and some significant changes have been introduced, with more to follow.

For example, to change the use of a building there are now Permitted Development Rights (PDRs) to help you. These permit certain changes of use without the need to apply for full planning permission. Most homeowners currently have PDRs to extend their own homes. But if you want to convert an office to apartments, change the upper floors of a shop into flats, or turn an old farm building into a house, there are PDRs that can allow you to do it, plus many others besides. New PDRs came into effect on 1st August 2021.

Most PDRs require you to apply to the council to obtain what’s known as Prior Approval, but this differs significantly from the full planning permission process. For starters, the planning authority can only assess the application against a relatively small number of criteria, plus in many cases they are obliged to respond within a fixed period, typically 56 days (although the council can request an extension).

Inevitably, there will be situations where you will have to apply for full planning permission. This can be tricky process. Let’s look at what you can do to increase your chance of avoiding a planning refusal notice and being able to move forward with your project.

Review your local Town Plan

All local authorities have one, and it gives details of their local planning policy. It always amazes me how many developers fail to do their basic research and submit plans for something expressly forbidden within the local Town Plan. It’s like asking the police if it’s ok to rob a bank. Make sure you know yours inside and out and that your proposed project stays within the rules.

Take a detailed approach

Planning departments are massively under-resourced, yet they’re required to assess planning applications within eight weeks (13 weeks for larger projects). What happens if your application has reached week seven and it’s still languishing in the planning department’s in-tray? Does the planning department rally the troops, and miraculously turn around your application within a week? Or will they write to you on day fifty-five asking for a parking survey or contamination survey, or any one of about a hundred different surveys they could ask for, which effectively stops the eight-week countdown and puts the ball back in your court? You can probably guess the most likely outcome.

So, give some thought to which surveys the planning authority could reasonably request for your project. Enclosing this with your original application could save you time later on.  Also triple-check that your application is 100% complete before submitting it.

  1. Have a well-written planning application

Planning officers are not particularly sympathetic to applications that are poorly written, badly constructed, or difficult to understand. So, make sure that yours is the exact opposite. It may seem overkill, but planning is a people business, and we all know how rational they can be.

  1. Take privacy, access, and light into account in your planning

You must consider the privacy of both existing neighbouring properties and the units you intend to build. Make sure your new homes don’t overlook your neighbours or each other. This can be challenging when trying to get in as much natural light as possible, so consider using high-level windows or light wells to avoid overlooking. Also, think about how people will access their new homes. Will they have to walk right past someone’s living room window or down a narrow walkway? Make sure you factor these things into your thinking right from the start.

  1. Build in keeping with the surroundings

The planners will judge how your proposed development fits within the context of other buildings in the immediate vicinity and the street scene overall. Does it add to or detract from the street’s character? If your proposed building is three storeys tall and the neighbouring houses are two storeys, expect to be called out on it. You need to build ‘in keeping’ with what is already in situ.

The planning system is tricky to navigate but with care you can be successful.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ritchie Clapson CEng MIStructE is a veteran property developer of almost 40 years and co-founder of propertyCEO, a nationwide property development and training company that helps people create a successful property development business in their spare time. It makes use of students’ existing life skills while teaching them the property, business, and mindset knowledge they need to undertake small scale developments successfully, with the emphasis on utilising existing permitted development rights to minimize risk and maximize returns.

https://propertyceo.co.uk/