Get office to residential planning applications first

In England, permitted development under class MA lets an owner turn commercial floorspace into homes without a full planning application. They still apply to the council for prior approval, and the council checks a fixed list of matters: flooding, contamination, noise, natural light to every habitable room and, for taller buildings, fire safety. For you, a prior approval application is a fast-moving job. The principle is settled, so the developer is ready to appoint and wants prices now.

Full planning permission brings bigger schemes to your door

Where permitted development rights are removed, where the building is listed, or where the owner wants to extend, add storeys or rework the elevations, the conversion goes in as a full change of use application. Across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, this is the route for every office conversion. These schemes carry more design work, more external change and bigger packages for builders, façade specialists and consultants.

Listed building consent and conditions show you where the detail is decided

Conversions of historic offices come with listed building consent applications, and approved schemes return to the council to discharge conditions on materials, windows, noise insulation and drainage. Each one tells you exactly which package is being specified next, and who to call to land it.

Flats above working ground floors are your quick wins

Upper floors turned into flats over shops, cafés or retained offices count too. Smaller sites, quicker starts and a client who wants a local team on the job.

Office to residential work feeds a long supply chain. Every business in it wins by reaching the developer before the decisions are made.

Builders and main contractors win the whole conversion

You read the description, see the number of homes, walk past the building and put a priced programme in front of the developer while the application is live. Strip-out, compartmentation, new services and fit-out: you take the full job, and you earn the repeat client who owns the next building.

Specialist contractors land the packages that make offices liveable

Fire stopping, dry lining, acoustic separation, mechanical and electrical services, lifts, roofing and façade work. Every conversion buys these packages. You call the agent or the main contractor with a method and a price, and your name is on the drawings before the package goes out.

Manufacturers and suppliers get specified, not substituted

Windows, fire doors, kitchens, bathroom pods, heating systems and flooring go into every home in the block. Get your product into the specification at application stage and the order follows the scheme to site. Multiply one product by every flat in the building and the order speaks for itself.

Architects and consultants win the appointment that shapes the scheme

Architects, planning consultants, daylight and noise specialists, fire engineers, surveyors and building control teams all earn their fee on conversions. A prior approval needs reports to pass, and an approved scheme needs full technical design to build. You reach the owner with the answer to the question they are asking right now.

Leads emails you every new planning application that matches your keywords the day councils publish it, in one email a day. Choose the whole country, or set up to 5 areas, each a radius of up to 75 miles centred on a postcode or town, or a whole council. Planning Signal covers 400+ councils across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so your patch is covered wherever you work.

Every lead gives you what you need to make the call

• The planning reference, site address and council.
• The description of the work and the application type, so you spot a class MA prior approval at a glance.
• Key dates and the decision status.
• A link to the council's own record.
• The applicant, agent firm and business contact, wherever the council publishes them.

Track every conversion from first call to signed contract

The lead pipeline records who you contacted, who you quoted and which jobs you won. Leads also includes everything in Research: search across 2.3 million planning applications, advanced filters and CSV export, so you build target lists of the developers and agents who convert offices again and again.

Leads costs £49 + VAT a month. Win one conversion and the subscription has paid for itself.

Watch your own street for free

Anyone can set up free email alerts for planning applications near an address, postcode, town or council. Owners, landlords and neighbours see every conversion proposed on their doorstep.