CoPSO Appoint Terrafirma CEO, Tom Backhouse as New Director

12^th May 2020

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO), the major trade association for the property search industry, has appointed Tom Backhouse, CEO of Terrafirma as a new Board Member and Director.

Tom is an award-winning geologist and entrepreneur, who founded and has successfully grown Terrafirma into an innovative and market-leading company. Terrafirma, which is based in Bristol and employs a team of geologists, engineers and data scientists, exists to help professionals and the consumer unravel the complexities of the ground and provide intelligent solutions in the form of GeoData and Reports to support robust and future-proof decision-making.

Chairman, James Sherwood-Rogers said: “We are delighted that Tom has joined the CoPSO Board and I am are sure that he will make a valued contribution in the changing world of property information. Tom has considerable knowledge and experience with Terrafirma becoming a market leader in the provision and innovation of ground risk reports, and by continuing to push the boundaries of what is commercially possible with geo-science and GeoData, he will bring much to the CoPSO Board”.

Since founding Terrafirma in 2015, Tom has promoted positive disruption in the industry and Terrafirma became a member of CoPSO in 2016. As a Director on the Board, Tom hopes to support CoPSO in their mission ‘to encourage a healthy, competitive industry’.

Tom commented: “For years, there has been a collective call for change; to move to digital signatures and ID checks, to progress from PDF reports to ‘data-up-front’, to digitally transform the valuation and mortgage origination process, and to continue pushing the Public Sector to engage more positively with business. As we settle into this strange new world (post-covid-19), CoPSO will have an integral role in bringing together these once disparate and slow-to-change parts of property purchase, ensuring the same standards of excellence and ultimately support its members to adapt and thrive”.