The latest 21c Leaders blog explores a growing trend for the construction indursty, how to use data to drive efiiciencies in the building process. The blog argues that Open Data from government, combined with crowdsourcing the responses of citizens to the built environment, offers huge potential savings in planning, executing and promoting new projects. One example of this is Planning Data, which many local authorities are now releasing online. A construction company with access to this information could build a system for identifying where in the country similar projects have been successful and what the common characteristics of their applications have been. They can also do all this while slashing the overheads on lawyers and consultants needed to vet, shape and hone each application. The data provides a clear, evidence-based jumping off point for making smart planning applications. To read the full article, click to 21c Leaders Blog here.