Transforming Land Acquisition and Value Generation for Keyland with LANDARNA
Client: Kelda Group
Delivered by: 3ADAPT
Case Study
“LANDARNA’s innovative approach is helping us streamline how we manage land acquisition and value generation. By providing access to critical data and enabling more efficient processes, it supports our mission to deliver for Kelda Group while addressing broader societal and environmental goals.”
Keyland, the sister company of Yorkshire Water and the part of the Kelda Group, plays a vital role in unlocking the potential of underutilised land to create financial, environmental, and social value. As a small team balancing priorities such as residential and commercial development, renewable energy, and biodiversity net gain (BNG), Keyland required a tool to support the delivery of its strategic objectives. By working closely with the 3ADAPT team and supporting the development of LANDARNA, a powerful land management and assessment platform, Keyland has increased both efficiency and effectiveness of its approaches. This is providing Keyland with the ability to not only achieve its goals but also contribute to wider societal priorities such as housing delivery, climate action, and job creation.
Kelda formed of Yorkshire Water and Sister Company Keyland Development own almost 28,000 hectares of land across 6715 land registry titles. All of this can be imported into Landarna in minutes through simple land registry look-up and their land characteristics instantly seen for their portfolio, their sites and any aggregation of sites of interest.
The Challenge
“Identifying viable sites for residential, commercial, and renewable energy projects is a complex task requiring careful consideration of environmental, financial, and operational criteria. LANDARNA has proven to be an invaluable tool in balancing these priorities and ensuring informed decision-making.”
Keyland’s mission requires navigating a complex landscape of opportunities and priorities:
Identifying suitable sites for residential and commercial development to support local housing and economic growth.
Advancing environmental outcomes through Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and low carbon interventions.
Unlocking opportunities for renewable energy projects, such as solar farms, wind turbines and battery storage.
Interrogating Yorkshire Water’s extensive landholdings (circa 30,000 hectares) efficiently, while minimising setup costs and resource expenditure.
Supporting Kelda Group’s objectives while addressing national and local priorities such as housing shortages, ecological recovery, and climate change mitigation.
The Solution
Landarna provided Keyland with the tools to meet these challenges head-on:
Accelerated Site Identification: By accessing land registry and property data Keyland could see their own land as well as their sister companies land instantly, along with a huge arrange of additional land information from external sources. Through customisable filters to search for sites with specific properties, Landarna enabled rapid site assessments with minimal setup costs. Tailored workflows allowed Keyland to target opportunities for residential and commercial development, renewable energy projects, and nature-based solutions simultaneously.
Integrated Data Insights: The platform streamlined decision-making by combining environmental, financial, and operational data into a single, user-friendly interface, giving a rapid assessment of the scale of the opportunity, even providing insights into financials as well as broader environmental, social and economic benefits, supporting strategic optioneering and the development of business cases in hours instead of weeks.
Landarna’s filtering capabilities used to identify and evaluate sites based on strategic criteria.
Key Successes
“One of the biggest successes of LANDARNA is its ability to integrate diverse datasets, from land registry information to environmental and operational insights. This has enabled Keyland to identify opportunities more quickly and with greater confidence, saving significant time and resources.”
LANDARNA is supporting Keyland to achieve significant milestones that align with its objectives and broader societal goals:
Delivery of Homes: LANDARNA has enabled the identification of surplus redundant former operational as well as planning promotion agreement (PPA) land suitable for residential developments, supporting the government’s recent commitment to delivering 1.5 million homes. Keyland are currently promoting ### homes.
Commercial Opportunities: The platform helped uncover land suitable for commercial development, driving local economic growth and job creation, often in areas of high unemployment.
Renewable Energy: LANDARNA facilitated the identification of battery storage and wind turbine sites, advancing renewable energy goals in line with national climate priorities.
Efficiency Gains: By streamlining workflows and providing immediate access to critical data, Landarna saved significant time, allowing the team to focus on strategic initiatives.
A new commercial opportunity on the site of a former Yorkshire Water Treatment works
1.1 Supporting Strategic Initiatives
LANDARNA has not only supported Keyland’s internal objectives but also contributed to wider societal and environmental goals:
National Growth Goals: Identifying land for residential and commercial development aligns with national priorities to address housing shortages and support economic growth.
Environmental Act Commitments: The platform supports biodiversity net gain (BNG) and nature-based solutions, directly contributing to the UK’s Environment Act goals of improving biodiversity and ecological resilience.
Climate and Ecological Emergency Response: By advancing renewable energy projects and promoting sustainable land use, Keyland is helping local authorities meet their climate and ecological emergency commitments.
Job Creation and Social Value: Unlocking land for development and renewable energy creates new jobs and delivers social value to communities, fostering sustainable growth.
“The ability to align our work with national and local priorities—such as addressing the housing shortage, supporting climate action, and delivering biodiversity net gain—is a testament to how LANDARNA supports not just Keyland, but the wider community and environment.”
An example of one of Keyland’s flagship development – Esholt Positive Living Demonstrating how they are delivering value from former redundant Yorkshire Water Land.
1.2 Expanding Impact
Keyland’s success, supported by Landarna has set the stage to support further streamlining of Yorkshire Water’s land release process to create more Value from Land. This will focus on:
Residential and Commercial Development: Further leveraging surplus land to address housing shortages and economic development goals.
Renewable Energy: Expanding the identification of wind, solar, and battery storage opportunities.
Biodiversity Net Gain and Nature-Based Solutions: Scaling Biodiversity Net Gain projects and other natural solutions like Tree Planting and Peatland Restoration to enhance environmental outcomes.
These efforts will not only deliver value for Kelda Group but also contribute to the efficient delivery of Yorkshire Water’s OFWAT’s performance commitments.
“Expanding LANDARNA’s use within Yorkshire Water’s Value from Land Board is a logical next step. It will enable more coordinated land management across nature-based solutions, renewable energy, and development opportunities, maximising value for both the organisation and its customers.”
Watch the video of how Keyland are using LANDARNA to deliver more for Yorkshire.
1.3 The Impact
“The flexibility of LANDARNA’s tools, like customisable filters, has been key to unlocking a range of opportunities—from renewable energy projects to residential and commercial developments. It’s about creating value while addressing critical environmental and societal challenges.”
LANDARNA is supporting Keyland’s ability to deliver on its mission while addressing broader societal and environmental challenges. Key achievements include:
Rapid site approval for residential and commercial development (Keyland’s planning success rate is 98%).
Accelerated progress on renewable energy and Biodiversity Net Gain initiatives.
Significant time and cost savings through streamlined workflows and integrated data.
Tangible contributions to housing delivery, job creation, and ecological recovery at local and national levels.
“LANDARNA is helping us achieve our objectives faster, smarter, and more sustainably. It’s not just a tool—it’s a key part of how we’re driving innovation, delivering value, and supporting the Kelda Group’s broader mission.”
LANDARNA Landarna is empowering Keyland and Yorkshire Water to unlock greater value from their landholdings while delivering wider societal benefits. By streamlining land management, supporting renewable energy, and enabling residential and commercial development, the platform is helping address the UK’s housing shortage, ecological recovery, and climate crisis.
Through these efforts, Keyland is driving innovation and creating value not only for Kelda Group but for communities and the environment, aligning with national and local priorities for a sustainable and prosperous future.
Want to Learn More?
If you're part of a local authority, community group or organisation interested in tracking and improving the impact of your own land-based projects, we’d love to hear from you.
Anthony Davies
Contact Anthony who has led this work at 3ADAPT, to explore how LANDARNA could support your goals.