Client Case Study
HM Land Registry (HMLR)
Designing a Digital Service for Complex Land Agreement Disclosure
HM Land Registry (HMLR) needed to modernise how complex land agreements were disclosed and managed across the property and development sector.
The organisation was exploring a new digital platform that would enable lawyers, land developers and grantees to securely disclose agreements such as options, pre-emption rights, conditional contracts and promotion agreements to HMLR.
The programme aimed to improve transparency, consistency and operational efficiency while reducing reliance on fragmented manual processes and inconsistent submissions.
The Challenge
The disclosure of complex land agreements involved multiple stakeholders, varying legal processes and inconsistent operational practices across the property sector.
Users often relied on manual documentation, disconnected systems and email-based communication, creating inefficiencies and increasing the risk of incomplete or inconsistent information being submitted.
HMLR needed to better understand:
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How legal and development professionals currently managed disclosures
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Where operational pain points and inefficiencies existed
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What information users needed to provide and when
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How different organisations interacted throughout the process
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What governance, risk and capability considerations needed to be addressed
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How a future digital service could support adoption across diverse user groups
The challenge extended beyond creating a digital form. The organisation needed a service that could support complex legal workflows while remaining usable, scalable and aligned with wider operational and regulatory needs.
Our Approach
We led a user-centred Discovery focused on understanding the wider ecosystem surrounding land agreement disclosure.
Working closely with legal professionals, developers, HMLR stakeholders and operational teams, we adopted a collaborative and evidence-led approach to uncover how processes operated in practice.
Our work focused on:
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Mapping current-state workflows and operational dependencies
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Understanding the needs of lawyers, developers and grantees
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Identifying risks, governance considerations and capability gaps
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Exploring opportunities for simplification and standardisation
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Defining future-state service concepts and customer journeys
The approach ensured that service design decisions were grounded in operational reality and informed by real user needs.
What We Delivered
Service Blueprinting & Workflow Mapping
We developed detailed service blueprints mapping how land agreements moved across organisations, stakeholders and operational processes.
This helped identify:
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Manual handoffs and duplication
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Areas of operational complexity
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Risk points within disclosure processes
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Dependencies between legal, operational and regulatory activities
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Opportunities for service simplification and digitisation
The work provided HMLR with a clearer understanding of the end-to-end customer and operational journey.
Ecosystem & capability analysis
We conducted ecosystem mapping and capability analysis to understand the wider landscape surrounding disclosure activity.
This included:
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Stakeholder relationships and responsibilities
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Organisational dependencies
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Governance and compliance considerations
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Existing technology constraints
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Risks associated with future implementation
The analysis helped surface critical considerations that would influence both product direction and operational delivery.
Participatory workshops & collaborative discovery
We facilitated workshops with internal stakeholders and external user groups to validate findings, explore future-state concepts and align priorities across the programme.
Workshops focused on:
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Future service models
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User needs and pain points
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Operational feasibility
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Risk and assurance considerations
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Customer engagement opportunities
This collaborative approach helped build alignment across teams while ensuring proposed solutions reflected real-world usage scenarios.
User journey definition & strategic recommendations
Insights from Discovery were synthesised into actionable recommendations that informed product strategy, customer engagement and future delivery planning.
We defined:
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Future-state customer journeys
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High-level service concepts
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Operational and governance considerations
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Priority capability requirements
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Recommendations for phased delivery and engagement
This provided HMLR with a stronger foundation for shaping the future service and supporting stakeholder adoption.
The Outcome
The Discovery helped HMLR better understand the operational, legal and user challenges surrounding complex land agreement disclosure.
Key outcomes included:
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Defined future-state service concepts and user journeys
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Improved understanding of customer and operational needs
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Identification of capability gaps, risks and dependencies
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Evidence-based recommendations informing product direction
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Stronger alignment between operational, policy and delivery teams
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Improved foundations for future customer engagement and adoption
The work helped shape a more informed and user-centred approach to designing a complex regulatory service within the property sector.
Why this matters
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Discovery Research
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Service Blueprinting
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Ecosystem Mapping
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Capability Analysis
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Risk Analysis
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Workflow Mapping
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Participatory Workshops
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User Journey Design
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Strategic Recommendations
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Stakeholder Engagement & Facilitatio
Services Provided
Property and land services often involve multiple stakeholders, complex legal processes and significant operational risk.
This work demonstrated how user-centred discovery and service design can help organisations better understand complex ecosystems, reduce operational friction and design services that improve transparency, consistency and customer experience.
Services Provided
User Research
Accessibility Auditing
Secure Cloud Infrastructure
Digital Strategy
Service Design
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