McVey establishes property innovation council

Faisal Butt, founder and CEO of Pi Labs, the European early-stage venture capital firm, will be the first expert to sit on the minister’s new council.

Housing minister, Esther McVey, said: “We’re taking every advantage that new technology has to offer across the entire house building and house buying journey. Whether that’s finding a plot of land, getting planning permission, engaging the local community, getting the property built or selling or buying a house.”

The council members will provide expert advice to government on how to make the property market work better for everyone, whether it be helping homebuyers find their dream home or helping developers find the sites they need to build.

Faisal Butt said: “Being named the very first member of this innovation advisory council is humbling, and I look forward to working towards achieving our common objective of helping UK proptech start-ups thrive at an international level. In bringing together the best and brightest minds in proptech globally in a strategic and coordinated way, we can begin to make the UK the global epicentre of proptech excellence I know it can be.”

Earlier this month, McVey visited the Geovation offices in London to meet entrepreneurs to discuss how the government can help turbocharge the way in which technology is used to build and sell property across the country.

The government said the UK proptech sector was “growing” and could be worth £6bn. The industry receives 10% of all global proptech investment, the government added.

At the Conservative party conference McVey was ridiculed on social media for exclaiming that houses could now be designed in 3D, something that has been possible for a relatively long period in the development of property tech.