An innovative new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, designed to revolutionise housebuilding by making it quicker and more cost effective to secure planning permission, is to be used to help deliver affordable housing for award-winning Prisoners Building Homes (PBH).

LANDCLAN, in partnership with PBH, has been awarded £100,000 from the government’s PropTech Innovation Challenge Fund to support the development of an AI Pre-Development Tool to help public and third-sector landowners identify and appraise sites, manage site reports, generate conceptual site designs, and prepare planning applications.

The PBH project team is collaborating with local authorities and PBH housebuilders to test and refine the tool, which is scheduled for launch in February 2026. It is hoped that it will result in a 50 per cent reduction in planning costs and be 15 per cent faster to secure planning.

A bespoke procurement route is also being developed to streamline the commissioning of site reports and the appointment of housebuilders.

By automating these critical steps, the project aims to deliver affordable and social housing at a greater pace and for less cost. The project was one of only 12 nationally selected for funding, chosen for its potential to unlock sites and accelerate housing delivery while providing significant social value.

PBH is a pioneering home building scheme that helps rehabilitate people in prison or on probation by providing employment and skills in construction, enabling them to turn their lives around. It was the brainchild of the five Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in the South West of England.

Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez said: “This is a fantastic scheme which was started and driven by my office.

“I was proud to support the first home delivered for Torbay Council in 2021 and subsequent successful projects in Devon have included in Tiverton and Cullompton.

“The ambition for 2026-29 is to expand the scheme which launched nationally in September 2024 to scale up housing delivery across the country to ease the housing crisis and reduce offending which is of critical importance with prisons full and early release schemes.”

PBH has already evolved into an award-winning cross-government programme which unlocks land to deliver affordable, quality, sustainable modular homes, while also reducing reoffending.

Sophie Baker, PBH Programme Delivery Manager, said: “This tool will allow the PBH programme to work with more local authorities and landowners across the country, delivering high-quality, low carbon homes to the communities that need it the most.

“It will also help us to support more prisoners to turn their lives around by providing them with valuable construction skills, helping them to gain employment when they are released which reduces reoffending.”

Marcus Hanke, founder of LANDCLAN, added: “We are in a housing crisis and one of the key blockers to delivering more homes is the time it takes to secure planning permission. Projects like this show how the public and private sectors can come together to directly accelerate housing delivery using the latest AI technology.”

The initiative builds upon LANDCLAN’s existing site identification platform, its partnerships with Microsoft and global mapping software specialist ESRI, and the PBH programme’s experience of working with housebuilders and landowners.