openLocal Integrator
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About openLocal Integrator

openLocal Integrator is the data pipeline that powers openLocal, a comprehensive database of UK commercial property. It automates the ingestion, validation, and transformation of local authority datasets and delivers integrated, analysis-ready data to subscribers on a regular schedule.

What we do

The Valuation Office Agency publishes rating lists and change updates for every billing authority in England and Wales. Local authorities submit ratepayer and relief data under varying formats and schedules. The Integrator normalises these into a single consistent schema, resolves postcodes to coordinates, tracks occupation timelines, and maintains a complete revision history so that every change is traceable to its source.

Data sources

The Integrator draws from three primary sources:

  • Valuation Office Agency (VOA) — rating list hereditaments, rateable values, descriptions, floor areas, and sub-valuation detail for every commercial property in England and Wales.
  • Local billing authorities — ratepayer occupancy records, billing references, and business rates relief data acquired under FOI.
  • Office for National Statistics (ONS) — postcode lookup tables (NSPL/ONSPD), local authority district boundaries, ward and constituency geographies.

How it works

The Integrator runs a monthly build chain that processes data in sequence: postcode geographies first, then valuations, ratepayer records, and finally subscriber reports. Each step validates its inputs against the previous stage's outputs, catches import errors for manual review, and logs a complete audit trail.

Subscriber reports are delivered as time-series extracts: monthly, quarterly, or annual snapshots of the data for a chosen set of billing authorities and fields. Reports are built in the background and made available for download when complete.

Built by Whythawk

openLocal Integrator is developed and operated by Whythawk, a data science consultancy specialising in open data infrastructure and research tools for the UK commercial property market.