Every land appraisal contains hidden value. We find it.
Residential land appraisals are built on assumptions — density, mix, phasing, infrastructure costs, sales rates. Each assumption is a lever. In practice, most appraisals are never stress-tested. The variables are accepted, not optimised.
Across an industry transacting billions annually, the cumulative value left unrealised is staggering.
The LVA Method treats a land appraisal as what it truly is: a multi-variable optimisation problem with real-world constraints. Planning policy, market conditions, build costs, infrastructure requirements — these are not fixed inputs. They are boundary conditions within which an optimal solution exists.
Drawing on equilibrium theory and constrained optimisation mathematics — the same disciplines that underpin quantitative finance and structural engineering — the method employs six proprietary algorithms that work in concert.
Each algorithm addresses a specific dimension of the appraisal: partial derivatives map the sensitivity of land value to each variable; multi-variable optimisation identifies the configuration that maximises value within planning and market constraints; equilibrium modelling ensures internal consistency across all assumptions.
The result is not a single number. It is a complete, internally consistent appraisal where every variable has been tested, adjusted, and proven to sit at its optimal point.
Mark Hewett has spent three decades in UK residential land — acquiring, appraising, and negotiating sites from 50 to 5,000 units. As Land Director at Taylor Woodrow, he oversaw a strategic land portfolio measured in billions.
That was the brief from a Land Manager, handed an appraisal that didn't quite work. The instinct to find value where others couldn't became a discipline. The discipline became a methodology. The methodology, refined across hundreds of sites and decades of market cycles, became six algorithms. The algorithms became the LVA Method.
Today, as CEO of Intelligent Land, Mark applies the same rigour — now encoded in mathematics — to every appraisal the firm touches.
A 270-unit consented scheme in southern England. Standard appraisal methodology applied by a reputable consultancy. Assumptions accepted at face value. Then, the LVA Method applied to the same site, the same planning framework, the same market conditions.