MacDonald Dettwiler has been selected by Local Government Information House (LGIH), on behalf of a partnership between Her Majesty's Land Registry and Improvement and Development Agency (IdeA) representing Local Government, to be awarded a licence for electronic delivery of land ownership information in England and Wales. MacDonald Dettwiler is an information company that provides essential information for decision making in the workplace

The English and Welsh population generate over 1.5m land ownership searches per annum at a cost of over £134m. Today, this process is mostly manual taking days to weeks to complete a single search. Over the next few years the process will be modernised and the searches will be available in near real time using the company’s e-commerce services.

Initially, MacDonald Dettwiler will obtain a 7-year licence to access the relevant land and property databases at the national and local level. The licence provides access to all Local Authorities representing about 80% of the ongoing revenue.

MacDonald Dettwiler's President and CEO, Daniel Friedmann, said: "This licence expands our reach into one of the largest land information markets in the world. This is a major accomplishment for MacDonald Dettwiler and we are excited to be working with British authorities on their ambitious modernisation plan."

The licensing negotiations fall under the auspices of the National Land Information Service (NLIS) project office and were initiated by the UK's Local Government Information House (LGIH), on behalf of Her Majesty's Land Registry and IDeA partnership. The NLIS program is part of a major initiative by the British government to modernise service delivery to its citizens. MacDonald Dettwiler's partners on the NLIS project include Halifax, The Law Society (of England and Wales), Hays plc, and Laser-Scan.

Anna Lagerkvist