London Tech Week 2025 delivered plenty of flash, but one quietly practical launch may matter most to anyone who builds: Extract, a government AI “co-pilot” for planning officers, developed with Google’s multimodal Gemini model. The promise is simple—turn mountains of paper plans and blurry maps into clean, searchable data, and do it fast enough to keep projects moving.
Why planning needs a digital turbo-boost
- Slow, manual processes. England still relies on scanned PDFs and hand-annotated drawings; officers spend an estimated 250,000 hours a year validating documents.
- Housing ambitions at stake. The government’s Plan for Change targets 1.5 million new homes in the next Parliament, but outdated workflows drag approvals out for months.
What Extract actually does
Extract acts like a digital co-pilot for planners: it first turns piles of paper into data by using Gemini to “read” blurry maps, typed text and even pencil notes, converting each file into structured, searchable information in roughly three minutes (early pilots handled about 100 records a day, a task that used to take hours).
Once the documents are digitised, the model automatically checks every line against national and local policy, flagging conflicts—whether a flood-zone constraint, a missing survey or a heritage issue—before an application is even submitted. It then drafts concise summaries and recommended next steps so planning officers can focus on judgment rather than paperwork.
Finally, the clean dataset it produces feeds directly into emerging PropTech platforms such as PlanX and city-scale digital twins, creating a virtuous circle in which better data drives faster, more transparent decisions.
“With Extract, we’re harnessing the power of AI to cut red tape, speed up decisions and unlock the new homes Britain needs… It’s a bold step towards a planning system fit for the 21st century.” — Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister
How Extract helps developers
- Weeks off the timeline – faster validation means earlier ground-break and lower finance carry.
- Smarter site bids – run archives through Extract during due diligence to spot deal-breakers before you buy.
- Leaner consultant bills – routine policy cross-checks handled in-house free up planners for strategy.
- Hidden plots unlocked – digitised local archives reveal opportunities once buried in paper.
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