Address Lifecycle

The lifecycle of an address from planning to demolition

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Where does Address data come from?

Background

Since 2011, addressing information has been managed by  GeoPlace LLPG  under a joint venture partnership between  Local Government Association  and  Ordnance Survey (OS). 

GeoPlace has a central hub that collates and processes large volumes of data on a daily basis from over 350 data source providers including:

Local Authorities

Local Authorities have custodians that manage their Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and the Local Highways Authority create and manage their Local Street Gazetteer (LSG)

Royal Mail

Royal Mail create and manage their own Postcode Address Database, that holds and individual Postcode Address File (PAF) for each Delivery Point Address (DPA)

Valuation Office Agency

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) holds data on properties that are non-domestic/business claiming business rate taxes, this data is matched with the property's address from the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG)

Improvement Service

The Improvement Service manage the One Scotland Gazetteer (OSG) which is updated by 32 Scottish Authorities

Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey provides OS MasterMap Topography Layer, OS MasterMap Highways Layer data locates additional non-postal addresses

Once GeoPlace has received the LLPG data and the LSG data maintained by local authorities, they can compile the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG), National Street Gazetteer (NSG), and One Scotland Gazetteer (OSG).

They also enrich the data using various data sets to populate product attributes including improving the coordinates, classifications, and lifecycle information to enhance the overall quality of the data.

 GeoPlace  Infographic showing the lifecycle from data submission to published data (2023)

Once all data submissions have been extracted, transformed, validated, and loaded, everything is brought together to produce the National Address Gazetteer, the single definitive source of accurate addressing and street data for the UK.

Data from the National Address Gazetteer is transformed into AdressBase products for Ordnance Survey to publish to the Public Sector and Partners.


Lifecycle

The addressing information is used to verify the chronological timeline of the lifecycle of every single property in the UK.

Land Enquiry

Data Source: HM Land Registry

Land Transaction

Data Source: HM Land Registry

Outline Planning

Data Source: Local Authority

Application Approved

Data Source: Local Authority

Street Naming & Numbering (SNN)

Data Source: Local Authority

Allocate Postcode

Data Source: Royal Mail

Building Starts

Data source: Local Authority

Survey

Data source: Ordnance Survey

Occupancy

Data source: Local Authority

Change

Data source: Local Authority This can be a change of name, number, use, classification, owner, position, or occupant

Demolition

Data source: Local Authority

Archive

Data source: Local Authority


So what does Address data look like during the lifecycle?

Application Approved

At this stage, the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) has been assigned. The SNN Custodian has created an official address for the property and has requested a postcode for the address from Royal Mail.


AddressBase Premium

In the Basic Land and Property Unit (BLPU) table, the current property cycle stage is recorded with a combination of the Logical Status to identify if it is 'Provisional' (value = 6) or 'Approved' (1) and BLPU State Code to identify if it has 'Planning Permission Granted' (6).

Change Type will be 'Insert' (I) to indicate that a new feature has been added to the database.

OS NGD Address

The Pre-Build Address Feature Type can represent a property that is yet to be built but has been granted planning permission. The Address Status Value will identify if it is 'Approved' or 'Provisional' and/or the Build Status Value will be 'Prebuild'.

Change Type will indicate whether there has been a 'New' feature added or 'Modified Attributes' and/or 'Modified Geometry'.

Under Construction

At this stage, the LLPG Custodian will gather information about the address from Address Change Intelligence (ACI) sources, update, and send the address to GeoPlace for validation and inclusion in the database.

Surveyors from the Valuation Office Agency and Ordnance Survey may record information about the address, eg. Non-Domestic Rates codes and provisional building footprint.


AddressBase Premium

In the BLPU table, the current property cycle stage is recorded with a combination of the Logical Status to identify if it is 'Provisional' (value = 6) or 'Approved' (1) and BLPU State code to identify if it is 'Under Construction' (1).

OS NGD Address

The Pre-Build Address Feature Type can also represent a property that is under construction. The Address Status Value will identify if it is 'Approved' or 'Provisional' and the Build Status Value will be 'Prebuild'.

Postally Addressable & Occupancy

At this stage, Royal Mail has published its Postcode Address File (PAF) containing the property address.

GeoPlace matches the PAF Unique Identifier (UDPRN) with the Addressbase UPRN and creates a Delivery Point Address Record Identifier containing the PAF address for AddressBase


AddressBase Premium

In the BLPU table, the current property cycle stage is recorded with AddressBase Postal Code to identify if there is 'A record which is linked to PAF' (D), 'A record which is identified as postal based on Local Authority information' (L) or 'A record which is postal and has a parent record linked to PAF' (C).

For occupancy, the BLPU State Code can be used to identify if a property is 'In Use' (2) or 'Unoccupied' (3).

OS NGD Address

The Built Address Feature Type represents addresses that are currently built and can receive mail. The Postcode Source will identify if there is 'A record which is linked to PAF', 'A record which is identified as postal based on Local Authority information', or 'A record which is postal and has a parent record linked to PAF'.

For occupancy, the Build Status Value can identify whether a property is 'Built In Use' or 'Built Vacant'.

Change

At this stage, the LLPG Custodian receives notification from their Planning Service or via the candidate records process informing of a change of classification.

The LLPG Custodian will make the necessary enquiries, amend the classification, and send the address to GeoPlace for validation and inclusion in the database.

For example, when a residential property splits into flats, the LLPG Custodian creates new UPRNs with associated BLPUs and LPIs allocated to uniquely identify each of the new flats. These are child records. The UPRN of the residential building shell becomes a parent record.


AddressBase Premium

In the BLPU table, the current property cycle stage is recorded with AddressBase Postal Code to identify if there is 'A record which is linked to PAF' (D), 'A record which is identified as postal based on Local Authority information' (L) or 'A record which is postal and has a parent record linked to PAF' (C).

For a Parent-Child relationship, the Parent UPRN could also be populated.

OS NGD Address

Within the Built Address or Historic Address Feature Type, the Postcode Source will identify if there is 'A record which is linked to PAF', 'A record which is identified as postal based on Local Authority information', or 'A record which is postal and has a parent record linked to PAF'.

For a Parent-Child relationship, the Parent UPRN would be populated and the Hierarchy Level would indicate where the given UPRN sits in a hierarchy. For example, FLAT 1 is a child UPRN at the lowest level (1) and the parent UPRN, BLOCK H, will be at a higher level (2).

Demolition

At this stage, the LLPG Custodian receives notification from their Planning Service or via the candidate records process informing of the demolition.

The LLPG Custodian will change the attribution to reflect demolition and send the address to GeoPlace for validation and inclusion in the database.


AddressBase Premium

In the BLPU table, the current property cycle stage is recorded with a combination of the Logical Status to identify if it is 'Historical' (8) and BLPU State Code to identify if it is 'Demolished' (4).

OS NGD Address

The Historic Address Feature Type represents addresses that are no longer in existence. The Address Status Value will identify if it is 'Historical' and the Build Status Value will be 'Historic'.

 GeoPlace  Infographic showing the lifecycle from data submission to published data (2023)