A new environmental search platform has launched today (1st July) bringing together “industry-leading environmental, climate and property risk data” within single, streamlined reports.
Geocerta has been launched by former Groundsure CEO Dan Montagnani. Explaining the fundamentals of the business, Montagnai said its objective was not to “sell data” but to “deliver decisions, fast”.
The launch comes at a time when the sector faces a rise in both frequency and severity of climate change risks. Recent research from the British Geological Survey (BGS) suggests that up to 4.2 million UK properties could be affected by climate-related subsidence by 2070 as hotter, drier summers increase shrink-swell ground movement.
The Environment Agency’s latest National Flood Risk Assessment estimates that 6.3 million properties in England are already at risk from flooding, with the figure projected to rise to around eight million properties, around one in four, by the middle of the century.
As environmental risks become increasingly material to property transactions, access to accurate, up-to-date and clearly presented environmental intelligence has never been more important, Montagnani said.
He added: “We created GeoCerta because environmental searches should empower decision-making, not complicate it.
“The industry has access to more data than ever before, but more data alone isn’t enough. What professionals need is clarity. GeoCerta delivers comprehensive environmental intelligence in a format that is easy to understand, easy to communicate to clients and easy to act upon.”
A single report will deliver environmental and climate risk assessment and insight, while the design is focused on “usability and fast decision-making”, explained Montagnani. The reports use the most up-to-date data available and adhere to the Conveyancing Information Executive Standards, backed by £10 million professional indemnity insurance.
Montagnani concluded: “The UK property sector faces increasing challenges from climate change, flooding, subsidence, contaminated land and emerging environmental risks. Yet many professionals continue to spend valuable time navigating cumbersome reports of unnecessary complexity.
“GeoCerta has been built with a simple mission: using more data, giving more insight and more transparency, while making reports easier to understand and act upon.”
