It’s said that the first 100 days in a role are pivotal to your success.
We’re not sure how true that is, things can take a little longer after all, but in honour of his first 100 days at PJA we spoke to Alan Lewis, an Associate Director from our Reading office. He talks about his career so far, what’s changed, what the challenges are and what he’s looking forward to in his future with PJA.
What do you enjoy about your role?
I love movies; some have left a lasting effect. City Slickers includes friends debating the meaning of their lives. Through the film they conclude their lives are unfulfilling because they don’t value their contribution to the world. I was determined my career would not feel like that.
In our industry, we explore local needs, present proposals to the public and then help public and private sector clients refine development and infrastructure proposals that will shape the built environment for a generation or more. We also contribute to design solutions that help communities adopt healthier lifestyle choices and critically we help preserve and protect the natural environment, so we play a small part in making a more sustainable world.
What would you say has changed most in your career?
In the early days of my career, traffic growth was 1-3%/year and we couldn’t wait to widen roads or build bypasses. In 20 years since the Kyoto protocol and Road Traffic Reduction Act, we’ve delivered half the changes we need to achieve net zero so we now routinely look at every alternative before we improve road capacity.
Over the years, demand for infrastructure, offices, leisure, retail and housing has ebbed and flowed. Being experts at moving people is not enough anymore, changes in retail have driven value from ‘just-in-time’ deliveries to anticipating where goods need to be, before people buy them. As we look forward, we’re combining GIS with big data to better understand how travel choices are going to change and how we can support sustainable patterns.
Do you specialise in a particular sector?
I’ve worked in the public and private sector, supporting proposals for developments and infrastructure at all scales. All proposals begin by examining the physical, economic, and environmental constraints of a site, area or corridor and requires consultants like us to explore ways to deliver the best value for everyone when delivering something new.
These days sustainability is top of the lists for ALL clients. Anticipating barriers to and the way people respond to changes is key to reducing costs and/or adding value, particularly when clients and their customers don’t yet know what they want/need. I take the view that the evidence is the evidence, you can’t dispute facts. By acting in the best interests of clients, whether they are public or private, means that we deliver better for both.
What are the emerging challenges?
Most of us accept the need to change, but it’s taken 25 years to convince us. 5 out of 7 Councils have declared a climate emergency; higher for urban areas (who know why); and, lower amongst County Councils (who realise how hard it will be to deliver net zero).
We plan 10-15 years into the future and 2050 is not far now. Governments are exploring ways to decide and provide what our transport network needs to look like, so it is great to work for PJA are playing an active role for the public and private sector.
Fortunately, Millennials are entering the workforce and Generation X, most of whom are in the ‘peak car’ generation, will start to retire in coming years so there are some things that are going to make it easier.
Work, shopping and leisure patterns and school choices are still influenced by proximity / accessibility, but people have adapted their lifestyles, travel needs or shifted to buying on-line. PJA continue to innovate and develop tools to show past, present and future trends and anticipate change. Town centres continue to lose their (working) lunchtime spend, diversifying to leisure cannot offset the losses so the shift to internet sales seems worse than it already is; at the same time, rising energy costs drive demand for more efficient housing; and, evolving lifestyles continue to drive change.
As I see it, planning authorities have three core options:
- Deliver strategic urban extensions and new settlements, integrating land uses and infrastructure to support changing lifestyles
- Allocate employment land near transport corridors to meet demand, thereby enabling regeneration of more accessible urban sites.
- Facilitate large scale regeneration plans.
And for the UK to strive beyond Europe, we need some strategic planning to support rail, air and sea ports and refine regional mineral, waste and energy demands.
In my opinion, the biggest challenge is convincing those who can’t see the need. So, if we’re busy now, we’re going to get a whole lot busier, as we need to repurpose more streets to facilitate future vehicles and Mobility as a Service whilst preserving and delivering a sense of place.
What’s next?
I began my career with simple aspirations. In my early years I was thrown in the deep end because colleagues were seconded to Department for Transport. When these young professionals returned, they were invested in a training programme and wanted willing guinea pigs to practice presentations . The environment fed my natural curiosity to learn things, where a ‘pay-it-forward’ mentality encouraged me to build a portfolio of lunch and learn lesson plans that I am looking forward rolling out at PJA.
Over periods of economic uncertainty our industry has struggled to invest in training and future leaders, PJA are putting that right and wanted people to join who share their leadership vision. I learned to teach as a reservistwhere you realise we all have something to bring to the table. I enjoy teaching others because I’ve started to see their achievements, whether that is gaining their MSc, Chartered qualifications, advise Governments or set up and build a business. My career success came from those who taught me. If I can repay them by teaching others, we might get to see them achieve their potential.
Alan Lewis, Associate Director
Alan has over 30 years’ experience in transport, infrastructure, environment and planning. He has worked on many private and public sector projects at a variety of scales from a few dwellings to new settlements as well as a multi-billion entertainment complex. He has supported local authorities with their Local Plan evidence, delivered business cases and contributed to national and local design standards and policies.
Get in touch with Alan: [email protected]
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