The problem
At feasibility stage an architect has to find which policies apply to a site in a local plan of 300 pages or more, plus a design guide, parking standards and a conservation area appraisal. If a practice starts 4 new projects a month and this reading takes 4 hours each, that's 16 hours a month, often before a fee is agreed.
What the AI does
Claude reads PDFs of up to 1,000 pages and up to 20 files in one chat, on every plan. The architect uploads the local plan, the relevant supplementary planning documents and the conservation area appraisal, describes the site and the proposal, and asks for the policies that apply, with policy numbers, page references and the requirements that will shape the design, such as heights, materials, amenity space and parking. The architect reads each policy cited, checks the documents are the current adopted versions, and uses the list in the feasibility report. Planning documents are public, so the personal Pro plan is enough, and Projects keep each council's documents together for the next site there.
A worked example
A three-architect practice in Sheffield starts about 4 residential projects a month across several councils. One architect uses Claude Pro to build the policy list for each site before writing the feasibility report.
Before
4 hours finding the relevant policies for each of 4 sites: 16 hours a month
After
About 1.5 hours each, including reading every policy cited: 6 hours a month
What it's worth
About $599£450€536A$864C$846 a month in time saved, against about $17£13€15A$25C$24 to $20£15€18A$29C$28 for Claude Pro. 2.5 hours saved on each of 4 sites is 10 hours, at an assumed $60£45€54A$86C$85 an hour.
How to set it up
- Sign up for Claude Pro, $17 (about $17£13€15A$25C$24) a month billed annually or $20 (about $20£15€18A$29C$28) monthly, and create a Project for each council you work in.
- Download the current adopted local plan, relevant supplementary planning documents and any conservation area appraisal, and upload them to that council's Project.
- Describe the site and the proposal and ask for every policy that applies, with policy number, page and the requirements that shape the design.
- Read each policy cited in the document itself, and scan the plan's contents for any the list missed.
- Use the checked list in the feasibility report and raise doubtful points at pre-application advice.
What goes wrong
- Claude can miss a policy or misstate a standard such as a parking ratio. Read every policy cited; the plan, not the list, is what officers apply.
- In PDFs over 100 pages Claude reads text only, so policies maps and diagrams can be missed. Check the policies map for the site yourself.
- Emerging plans, appeal decisions and national policy also carry weight and aren't in the answer unless you upload them.
- The free plan has tighter usage limits and only 5 Projects. Keep clients' personal details out of personal plans, where training is opt-out.