Why this exists
British Holdings is a land promotion firm. We take landowners' sites through the planning system and to market, turning land with development potential into homes and into value, and we fund that work at our own cost and risk. We built the Land Value Calculator, and we give it away at no cost.
We should be straight about why. We are a commercial business, not a charity, and we built this tool because it serves landowners and serves us at the same time. It serves you by answering a question that is usually very hard to answer on your own: what might my land actually be worth if it were developed. It serves us because some of the people who use it, having understood their position, will choose to talk to us about working together.
That is the whole arrangement, and it is set out in full below, so that none of it has to be guessed at. If we are going to ask landowners to trust us, the least we can do is show our workings.
The problem we set out to address
Land is one of the few valuable things most people will ever own where the other side of the table almost always knows more than they do. When a developer or promoter approaches a landowner, they arrive having already done the sums: a view on what the land could be worth with planning, on how long they would want to tie it up, and on what share of the proceeds they consider reasonable. The landowner, very often, has none of this, yet is asked to make a decision worth millions of pounds, sometimes far more, with no independent way of sense-checking any of it.
Good independent advice exists, from solicitors, land agents and surveyors, and you should always take it. But it is not always obvious where to begin, or whether a conversation is even worth having. The calculator closes that first gap: a data-driven starting point that you control, before you speak to anyone, so that any conversation you do have, with us or with anyone else, begins on more equal terms.
What the calculator does, and what it does not
It works the way a developer's own appraisal works. It starts from what completed homes on a site like yours would sell for, then works backwards, deducting the cost of building them, the contributions required towards infrastructure and affordable housing, and the profit margin a builder needs. What is left is, in essence, what the land itself could be worth: the residual land value, the number most option and promotion offers are ultimately built on.
Alongside the valuation it draws on real market evidence, comparable sold prices near you verified against Energy Performance Certificate floor areas, and sets your land in its planning context: the designations mapped over it, its agricultural land grade, how well your council is delivering homes, and the schools and stations around it. You can download the whole thing as a written report and keep it, share it, or hand it to your own advisers.
It is just as important to be clear about what it is not. It is an indicative estimate built on data and reasonable assumptions. It is not a formal valuation, it is not an offer, and it is not a promise that planning permission would be granted, which can never be assumed. Treat it as a well-informed opinion that opens a conversation, not the final word on one.
Why this matters now
Two things have changed at roughly the same time. The first is tax. For decades, agricultural and business property could be passed down almost entirely free of inheritance tax. From April 2026 the full relief is capped at the first £2.5 million of combined agricultural and business property per person, an amount a married couple can in effect double to £5 million; above the threshold relief falls to 50%, an effective inheritance tax charge of 20%. The bill can be spread over ten years, interest free, but it still has to be found, and many landowning families are asking, some for the first time in a generation, what they want their land to do for them.
The second is planning. The government has set a target of 1.5 million new homes in England over this Parliament and has reshaped the system to bring more land forward, raising the housing numbers councils must meet and directing them to review lower-quality Green Belt land, now labelled grey belt, first. Building is running well behind the target, so demand for genuinely developable land is strong and unlikely to fade soon.
Neither of these is a reason to rush into anything. They are simply why the question of what your land is worth has become a live one for a lot of people. We would far rather you explored it from a position of knowledge than signed something without it.
A word on farmland
We do not advocate the loss of farmland. England's farms feed the country, shape its landscape, and hold generations of work and meaning; a promoter who treated all of that as merely an obstacle would not deserve a farmer's time, and we are not here to talk anyone out of farming.
What we recognise is that farmers are increasingly asked to make decisions about their land, often under real financial pressure, and that those decisions belong to them and to no one else. They should not have to make them blind. Many who use this tool will look at the numbers and decide to carry on farming, better informed than before. As far as we are concerned, that is just as good an outcome.
The exchange, in full
The calculator is free. There is no fee, no subscription, and no charge hidden further down the line. In return, by using it you allow us to get in touch about your land: if your appraisal suggests land we could genuinely help with, we may contact you once to ask whether you would like to talk. From that point you are in complete control. Ignore us, and we will not chase you. Tell us to stop, and we will not contact you again. Take your report to your own solicitor, agent or accountant and never speak to us at all. Or talk to us, to understand how these agreements work and whether there is a sensible deal to be done.
We only earn anything if a landowner chooses to work with us and a development actually goes ahead, which is typically years of patient work away. That should tell you something about our incentives. We are not chasing a quick signature; we are trying to build a reputation that makes landowners want to work with us, and you do not build that by behaving badly at the start.
What we would be discussing
Promotion agreement
We fund and manage the entire planning process at our own cost and risk. If we fail to win permission, that is our loss, not yours. If we succeed, your land is sold on the open market to the highest bidder and we take an agreed share of the proceeds. Because we are paid out of the sale price, our interests and yours point the same way: we both want the land to sell for as much as possible.
Option agreement
We secure the right to buy your land within an agreed period, usually once planning permission is in place, at a price set by a formula written into the agreement. This can offer more certainty and is sometimes the better fit, but it ties your land to us for a time, and the land is not openly marketed when it is sold.
We will not tell you that one of these is always right and the other always wrong; which suits you depends on your land, your timescale and what matters most to you. What we will say plainly is this: whatever route you consider, and whoever you consider it with, take independent legal and professional advice before you sign anything, and look hard at three things in particular. How long the agreement lasts. Who pays the costs. And how it guarantees your land achieves its full value. Those are the questions a good adviser will ask, and we would much rather you asked them of us than skipped them.
Our commitments to you
- We will contact you sparingly, and not again the moment you tell us to stop.
- We will never pressure you to decide quickly. A good decision about land is rarely a fast one.
- We will always encourage you to take independent legal, planning and tax advice, and we will never ask you to sign anything without it.
- We will be honest about the limits of the calculator's estimate, and about the risks as much as the rewards.
- We will not sell, rent or pass your details to anyone else for their marketing.
- If we look at your land and do not believe it has real development potential, we will tell you so. Sometimes the honest answer is no, and you deserve to hear it.
Who we are
British Holdings is a Mayfair-based land promotion firm specialising in structured land agreements between landowners and the development market. Its track record includes securing planning consents on some of the largest development projects in Britain. The firm funds and runs the planning process at its own cost and risk, and is paid only from a successful outcome. The Land Value Calculator is operated by Land Value Calculator Ltd, a private limited company registered in England and Wales, company number 17319569, registered office 20 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU. Real people stand behind this tool and behind any conversation you have with us: reach us at land@britishholdings.com, at britishholdings.com, or through landvaluecalculator.co.uk; our working address is 12 Old Bond Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4PW.
How we handle your information
When you use the calculator you give us some details about yourself and your land. We use them to produce your report and, as described above, to make contact about your land. We do not sell them, and you can ask us to stop contacting you, and to delete your details, at any time. Our full Privacy Policy explains how we handle your data and your rights under UK data protection law.
The careful bit. The figures produced by the calculator are indicative estimates based on data and assumptions. They are not a formal valuation, an offer to buy, or a guarantee of value, and they do not mean that planning permission would be granted, which can never be assumed. Nothing in this statement or in your report is financial, legal or tax advice; the summary of tax and planning rules given here is general and correct to the best of our understanding at the date of issue, and your own position depends on your circumstances. Always take your own professional advice before making decisions about your land.
We built the Land Value Calculator because landowners should be able to understand what they are sitting on before anyone asks them to sign it away. Knowing the number costs you nothing and takes nothing away from you. Use it, keep your report, take advice, and talk to whoever you like, ourselves included. And if not, there are genuinely no hard feelings.