DoAnythingNow Ltd
Parent company and technology
DoAnythingNow Ltd owns HeritageAI: the product, the website, and the software that generates the automated Preliminary Planning and Heritage Appraisal (PPHA).
About
HeritageAI, and who is behind it
HeritageAI is a product of DoAnythingNow Ltd that produces heritage research and planning documents for listed buildings in England, using AI to generate a first read automatically and, at later stages, an architect to produce a document under professional appointment. It was built by SOANE Architects Ltd, a conservation practice, for its own use, then made available more widely.
Who does what
Three names appear across this site. Here is what each one is responsible for.
SOANE Architects Ltd
Heritage, policy and compliance expertise
SOANE Architects Ltd is a conservation architecture practice. It supplies the heritage, planning-policy and compliance expertise HeritageAI’s automated tools are built on, and produces the documents that carry its own name under its own professional appointment.
Giles Paul Shorter
Founder
RIBA Chartered Architect · ARB Registered · RIBA Conservation Registrant · 17+ years specialising in listed and historic buildings
Giles founded HeritageAI after seventeen years running SOANE Architects’ own listed-building projects and repeatedly rebuilding the same research from scratch for each one.
Vision to Value™ — the four stages
Every project moves through the same four stages, in sequence. You are never committed beyond the stage you’ve paid for.
- READY?Preliminary Planning and Heritage Appraisal (PPHA)An automated first read: designations, likely consents, policy and risks.
- READ…Statement of Heritage Significance (SoHS)What makes the asset significant, researched and written by an architect.
- …RESPONDHeritage Impact Assessment (HIA)How a confirmed design affects that significance, and what needs to change.
- RESOLVE!Planning and Heritage Statement (P&HS)The submission document, packaged and ready for your council.
How the AI works, in brief
The PPHA is generated automatically by HeritageAI’s AI from the details you provide, and sent to you by email. Where you give a list entry number, the listing is checked against the National Heritage List for England. It is a first read to help you plan, not professional advice, and is not individually reviewed by a person before it is sent.
Read the full explanation of what is and isn’t checked →What HeritageAI is not
HeritageAI itself is not an architectural practice. Documents produced through the self-serve system are authored by the practice that downloads them. Documents produced by SOANE Architects are produced under its own professional appointment. All outputs should be reviewed by a qualified professional before submission.
Where HeritageAI works
Reports are currently written to planning policy in England — the National Planning Policy Framework does not apply in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, which have their own planning systems. Enquiries from elsewhere in the UK and internationally are welcome.
UK Planning Gateway
HeritageAI has agreed a partnership with UK Planning Gateway (UKPG), the online planning-submission platform. Direct submission from HeritageAI to UKPG is being connected.
Learn more about UKPG →More from DoAnythingNow
[GPS TO SUPPLY: press mentions, and links to RenAIssance and the DoAnythingNow site, once they exist]
Built with SOANE Architects ↗
- RIBA Chartered ArchitectRoyal Institute of British Architects
- ARB RegisteredArchitects Registration Board
- RIBA Conservation RegistrantRoyal Institute of British Architects
- 17+ yrsSpecialising in listed and historic buildings
These are the credentials of the practice that built HeritageAI. The product outputs are AI-generated and should be reviewed before submission.