Purpose and scope
The directory helps visitors discover planning consultants, architects, architectural technicians and businesses offering architectural services. It includes sole traders, micro-businesses and larger practices. Coverage does not mean we have identified every suitable business in an area.
A listing is informational. It is not an endorsement, accreditation, recommendation or assurance that a business is suitable for a visitor's project. Copla Ltd does not currently charge for inclusion or sell a higher search position.
Sources and business descriptions
Records may originate from a business's official website, RIBA, RTPI, CIAT and other relevant professional directories, public business listings, review-provider profiles and information supplied by the business. Wherever possible, the website link points to the business's own site rather than the source directory.
We prefer a short, factual description based on the business's own published homepage. Where that is unavailable, a clearly worded directory summary may identify the business type, source and area. We avoid presenting inferred specialties as verified claims. Search-card descriptions are shortened for display.
Logos, portfolio images and social links are included only where a source appears to identify the same business. Rights remain with their respective owners. A business or rights holder may ask for an image or mark to be removed.
How search results are ordered
When browsing by business name, authority or country, results are grouped in this order:
- businesses that identify planning consultation, planning consultancy, planning consultants or town planning and have both a logo and website;
- other businesses with a logo, website, a supported review link and a supported social-media link;
- other businesses with a logo, website and supported social-media link;
- all remaining businesses.
Within each group, an authority-area search gives priority to businesses that explicitly cover the selected authority, then broader country-wide coverage and then national coverage. Alphabetical order resolves a tie. Broken or suppressed links do not count towards a higher group.
A postcode distance search uses a different order: the nearest listed businesses appear first, regardless of the groups above. Distance is not a measure of quality or suitability.
Finding businesses near a postcode
The postcode search starts with a 25-mile radius, which you can change. It uses the postcode in each business's stored address, not the areas the business says it covers. Distances are approximate straight-line distances between postcode locations, not road distances or journey times. A nearby office does not guarantee that a business serves your address or is available for your project.
Where an address contains more than one postcode, the search uses the last one in the stored address. We do not claim to have mapped every branch. Businesses without a valid, locatable address postcode are left out of distance results but remain available through the other directory searches. Check the office address directly with the business.
If no businesses match within your chosen radius, the search widens automatically to 50 miles, then 100 miles if needed. It stops at the first distance with matches and tells you when the search has widened. A search starting at 50 miles widens to 100 miles; one starting at 100 miles does not widen further. Only if there are still no matching business addresses within 100 miles do we show listings marked as national or UK-wide instead. These are clearly labelled as national results, not nearby offices; confirm that they cover your location. This fallback does not mean there are no local businesses.
Distance searches currently cover England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland postcode data needs a separate commercial licence, so BT postcodes are not included in this feature. Northern Ireland listings can still be found by name, country or authority.
Postcode locations are supplied by Postcodes.io. Business locations are prepared before the static website is uploaded; your browser looks up the postcode you submit and calculates the distances. See our privacy policy and the postcode data licences.
Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2025. Contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2025. Contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2025. Contains NRS data © Crown copyright and database right 2025.
Reviews, social profiles and professional memberships
A review link opens an independent provider such as Google, Trustpilot or Reviews.io. We do not treat the existence of a link as proof of quality and do not currently reproduce review text or calculate our own rating. Visitors should read the provider's context and recent reviews.
Professional-body logos or directory badges indicate that the business was found in, or linked to, the named body's source at the time checked. Membership can change. Verify current status with the professional body. Social content is supplied by the platform and is optional to load.
Checks, updates and limitations
Automated and manual checks are used to match sources, remove duplicate profiles, identify broken links and avoid unrelated websites. Automated checks can be wrong, and a live link does not prove that every published contact or service detail is current.
Profiles display source links where useful. Visitors should confirm service area, availability, qualifications, insurance and contact details directly before appointing a business.
Corrections, additions, removals and complaints
A business can request a correction, provide a preferred description, add an official link or ask for removal. Please use the listing-amendment contact route and identify the listing and requested change. We may ask for reasonable evidence that the requester represents the business.
Privacy objections are handled under our privacy policy. Copyright or trademark concerns can be sent through the same contact route with details of the affected work and page.