As the UK’s largest land referencing and land assembly organisations, with over 200 specialist experts, we pride ourselves on providing the level of diligent inquiry needed for the successful acceptance of planning submissions.

Our land referencing and land assembly team follow a proven methodology, backed by robust data and technology capabilities, to reduce the risk of legal challenges during the planning process. This includes desktop methods, questionnaire analysis, site visits, data management and archival investigations.

We understand that topics like land acquisition can be complicated, and our land referencing and land assembly teams can simplify the process for clients and their stakeholders. 
Our land referencing team are specialists in identifying and securing land rights and land acquisition, including through compulsory purchase and can provide advice and produce the necessary plans, land schedules (including Books of Reference), mailouts and notices for:

• Compulsory purchase orders (CPOs),
• Side roads orders (SROs),
• Development consent orders (DCOs),
• Transport and Works Act Orders (TWAOs),
• Vesting Orders,
• Hybrid Bills.

Our expertise and experience are central to our track record. This includes leading land referencing on high-profile projects like High Speed Two, Crossrail, Thameslink Programme, Thames Tideway Tunnel, HyNet North West, Heathrow Expansion, A303 and National Grid’s transmission network.

Working with landowners and communities

More often than not, we are the first point of contact that affected parties have with a proposed project. We build rapport with landowners and act as a conduit for all communications relating to the development, ensuring that there is a single point of contact. 

This can include negotiating access to the land so that surveys can be carried out, undertaking property valuation, acquisition or disposal, and management of any existing estate assets as part of a land assembly process.

WSP is the UK’s leading planning and consenting consultant with over 500 specialists in planning, environmental assessment, land services and stakeholder engagement.
This comprehensive set of services gives us the insight and experience to help develop, negotiate and deliver our clients’ consenting needs. Find out about our core services: 

Modern land referencing involves collecting and managing vast quantities of data. We routinely manage projects with thousands of interested parties and millions of pieces of information from a variety of sources. Our in-house data repository is GDPR compliant and has received ISO27001 information security accreditation specifically for use in supporting infrastructure projects – an industry first. 

We also have a wide team of specialists in GIS, 3D visualisation, software development and database management. This means we can collect, manage and analyse all project-related data, present it in a way that informs our clients’ projects, and ensure a lasting digital record for the future.