Julie Cadwallader, Author at PJA

PJA People: Charlotte Smith

Our wonderful team are our greatest asset. Not only experts in transport, engineering and placemaking but also committed to delivering better places for people through high-level-service client experiences.

We’re very proud to continue to celebrate the faces behind the fast-growing international consultancy that we are today in our monthly feature ‘PJA People’.

Next up in our series is Ground Engineering and Contaminated Land Associate Charlotte Smith, based in our Bristol office:

Tell us what you do at PJA

I’m an Associate in the Ground Engineering and Contaminated Land team with responsibility for managing the team, work-winning, managing projects and delivering our technical input. I have a strong leaning towards contaminated land, however my broad understanding of a range of geo-environmental disciplines means I’m well placed for the developer-led projects we often work on.

What’s your career path so far?

I’ve always loved the outdoors and I graduated with a degree in Environmental Earth Science in 2006, joining Atkins in 2007. I worked there for thirteen years on a range of different projects and in a few locations before settling in Bristol. I joined PJA in November 2020 and haven’t looked back since.

What do you enjoy when you’re not working?

I love hiking and I try to get out into the hills most weekends. I’ve been enjoying climbing and cold-water swimming over the winter, and I’m a big fan of various types of motor racing so I have some exciting events in the calendar for this spring and summer.

Are you a dog or cat person?

A cat person without a doubt – I have a camera roll full of photos and videos that I took of the cats in my neighbourhood during lockdown walks!

What are you currently reading or listening to?

I have just finished The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, and I’m now reading Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff by Richard Carlson. I like to alternate fiction and non-fiction.

Claim to fame?

I was once interviewed by Jon Sopel for BBC News. Sadly I ended up on the cutting room floor…

Charlotte Smith, Associate

Charlotte has 15 years’ experience in the assessment, management, and remediation of land contamination, across a diverse range of public and private sector schemes including highway, rail, residential and commercial infrastructure projects. Charlotte’s main interest is in the reclamation and remediation of brownfield sites and she has proven abilities in engaging key stakeholders and regulators and navigating the planning process to deliver land ready for development.

Get in touch with Charlotte: [email protected]

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PJA an Outstanding Employer on Best Companies list

We couldn’t be prouder to be a two-star accredited outstanding company on the Best Companies list.

Our company are our people and we work hard to create a place that the best people want to be a part of. We’re proud to employ a wide range of people from diverse disciplines and backgrounds but if you cut any of us in half you’ll find the same core values all the way through – we are credible, engaging and creative and our mission is to create better places through great design.

We are:

4th Best Company in the UK to work for in the consultancy sector
12^th Best Company in the West Midlands
18th Best Mid-Sized Company to Work For in the UK

Thank you to our amazing team.

We have no intention of sitting back now. This is just our starting point and our aim is to continue to improve. Watch this space.

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Creating places to combat the climate emergency

Building better places for people that reduce greenhouse gas emissions is central to addressing the climate emergency. Here at PJA we are guiding our clients on how to create new places with the least amount of impact on the environment. But how are we doing that?

We believe placemaking is the holistic design of places, streets and spaces which are connected, meet climate and biodiversity needs and are characterful, healthy and inclusive for users. In response, we have developed the concept of ‘Biostreets’. These showcase how everyday infrastructure, can play a part in combating climate and biodiversity needs whilst harnessing best practice and innovation.

Biostreets are an essential part of our vision to ‘create better places through great design’. With our integrated approach to transport, engineering and placemaking, we have developed six initial scenarios that showcase our Biostreet thinking, read a snippet of our approach for each one below:

Neighbourhood Retrofit

A retrofit to an existing area responds to the changing needs of a local community and their desire for more active travel and green spaces and streets through landscape planting. We also consider the ongoing community care and stewardship for maintenance.

Main Streets

This highlights a more progressive design for new development spine streets or high street retrofit. Our vision is about maximising active travel through segregated cycleways and higher degrees of walkability Importantly a systems approach to cross sectional design is introduced to allow a wide variety of interchangeable cross sections, aimed at dealing with width and context constraints. Landscape planting and on-street SuDS support the design.

Greenways

Greenways aim to show how high-performance cycleways over bio-enriched open land can better integrate outlying settlements and offer real modal choice especially with the advent of ebikes.

Surface Car Parks

This typology shows how everyday tarmac car parks can be incrementally transformed into places serving a wider variety of uses such as new built form, public space and mobility hubs. Whilst a smaller retained car park is transitioned to incorporate landscape planting, raingardens, solar PV and the use of low carbon and recycled material, all considering maintenance needs.

Mobility Hubs

Mobility hubs aim to reduce the need for independent car travel and increase the opportunity for more climate friendly travel. Here we showcase our scalable and modular approach to the design of Mobility Hubs and highlight a range of facilities suitable for different locational and catchment needs.

SuDS Networks

SuDS Networks draws on our inter-disciplinary skills to highlight the benefits of SuDS hierarchal systems from plot, to street to parcel to neighbourhood. Our principles highlight how biodiversity net gain can be realised whilst achieving functional storm water attenuation needs and meeting wider placemaking agendas. Finally, we showcase our wet ponds with aquatic and waterside planting.

We have is an inter-disciplinary team of movement planners, street engineers, urban designers, landscape architects, infrastructure engineers and graphic designers that provide a uniquely integrated approach to placemaking from concept through to technical design and delivery.

Contact Jon Tricker, our Placemaking Director to discuss your requirements:
E: [email protected] or T: 07917 436 933

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For more information please contact:

Jon Tricker Email 0117 203 2870

PJA helps to achieve outline planning approval for 250 homes in Banbury, Oxfordshire

We were commissioned by Bloor Homes to provide transport advice for a residential development of up to 250 homes on land south of Banbury Rise in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

We are familiar with the locality from our previous work supporting an earlier application on an adjacent parcel of land (Banbury Rise) as well as our ongoing involvement as Travel Plan coordinator at this site.

Our team prepared a Transport Assessment and Travel Plan to support the application, the scope and contents of which were agreed in close discussion with the local highway authority, Oxfordshire County Council.

We undertook a detailed modelling exercise to demonstrate impacts across the local network and through our discussions with OCC officers, we agreed a suitable approach to mitigation to offset the assessed effects and ensure the development is well connected and accessible by all modes.

Following planning submission, we continued to engage closely with OCC to provide additional evidence around local impacts and to agree the outline heads of terms which will feed into the s106 agreement.

We were pleased to be part of a multidisciplinary team which helped to secure outline consent for this development which will help to meet local housing needs.

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Image by Pegasus Design

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For more information please contact:

Kay Nicholls Email 0121 289 9206

Our commitment to urgent climate action

PJA is committed to taking urgent climate action and reducing our carbon footprint. In order to accelerate change within the business, PJA has signed up to the Pledge to Net Zero with the ambition of halving our carbon emissions by 2030.

In line with this pledge and the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI), PJA has been measuring its operational carbon (Scope 2 and 3 emissions) since 2019 in order to establish a baseline position and set a carbon reduction target. Following this, an annual carbon review will be published to monitor progress and review our initiatives.

No carbon offsets have been permitted as part of these measurements to ensure carbon reductions are accurate and in line with the Pledge to Net Zero.

PJA will be launching a number of initiatives within the business to progress our carbon reduction with further announcements coming soon.

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PJA People: Eugenio Toichoa

We’re very proud to continue to celebrate the faces behind the fast-growing international consultancy that we are today in our monthly feature ‘PJA People’.

Next up in our series is Civil Engineer Eugenio Toichoa, based in our Birmingham office:

Eugenio Toichoa, Civil Engineer

Eugenio has over 4 years’ experience in civil engineering consultancy and is based in our Birmingham office.

He has experience in drainage, earthworks, and highways design, and has worked on commercial and residential multidisciplinary schemes from strategic to detailed design and construction stages.

Eugenio is a graduate member of the ICE (GMICE) and is currently working towards Chartered Engineer status (CEng).

Get in touch with Eugenio: [email protected]

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The Census that isn’t

Over the last 200 years the census has enabled us to identify trends and formulate plans for the future, taken as snapshots every 10 years. For transport planners it gives an insight in to how demographic and lifestyle changes affect travel demands. We use these to plan infrastructure and services to meet needs in the built environment. But, what do you do when this planning tool has a chink in its otherwise tried and tested armour called Covid?

The 2021 Census came at a time when a large proportion of workers were working from home, when people were avoiding public transport and shoppers switched to e-commerce in greater numbers. It’s no surprise therefore that the data which has recently been released portrays a skewed version of what is now our reality, and a repeat of data collection would be cost prohibitive.

Prior to Covid, statistics suggested an ageing population of staunch drivers were planning or starting to retire changing travel demand as younger people were learning to drive later and living closer to their place of work. During Covid 8m people were on furlough, significant numbers worked from home and public transport demand broadly halved.

Post-Covid, working from home has become a lifestyle choice enabling some to work further away from their place of work and altering some of the pre-Covid trend. At the same time, hybrid working is being sustained for large swathes of the workforce, thus we can conclude these trends will take time to settle. So how can you predict and plan on a census that is clearly marked by its timing, and a present where people’s hybrid working patterns change travel demand like shifting sands?

The recent census data release confirmed many of the long-term trends we’ve seen and forecast, accelerating some and altering others. Car ownership levels are stabilising, with variations consistent with household demographics and accessibility. The data gaps and uncertainties affect travel demands, mode choice and distribution. This may increase reliance on strategic transport models but will also serve to accelerate the ‘Decide and Provide’ approach to forecasting transport needs in line with recent Local Transport Plans and climate action plans.

We’ve been leading the way on active travel; generating a toolkit of measures as we work towards 20-minute neighbourhoods. Building on evidence and experience we continue to create better places through great design. At this stage we anticipate that data gaps will require the industry to combine data sets like the National Travel Survey to play our part in the creation of sustainable development. We are already analysing available data sources to address the census uncertainty, working with public and private partners to deliver bespoke solutions for sustainable communities.

We firmly believe that census uncertainty will accelerate the adoption of ‘Decide & Provide’ forecasts as we work towards Net-Zero. This will enable us to deliver sustainable development and healthier lifestyles, by aligning green-infrastructure as part of local transport networks.

To help you understand issues and options for your project, contact [email protected] or [email protected]

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For more information please contact:

The Census that isn’t Email

Lee White Email 0121 475 0234

PJA on Best Companies list

We couldn’t be prouder to be listed in three categories in the Best Companies Q1 2023 League Tables.

Joint Managing Director Mark said:

“When we started PJA we wanted to create a company that we would want to work for, a place where people could be the best they can be. We think that we are achieving that, but we recognise this is a journey of improvement rather than a destination.

We are always seeking to improve, and we encourage all 126 of our staff to play their part in that. The Best Companies listing helps us to understand this to a greater level so that we keep moving to better things.”

We have been listed in:

Best Mid-Sized Company to Work For (top 100)
Best Companies to Work For in the West Midlands
Best Companies To Work For In The Consultancy Sector

The results of which company comes top will be announced during the Best Companies Live Event on Friday February 3rd 2023.

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Transport Engineer Richard Spencer joins Perth team

Transport Engineer Richard Spencer joins our Perth office this month to support the growing workload of placemaking and transport projects with the team in Perth.

Richard has returned from a short hiatus from the transport industry to join us as a Senior Associate. He said:

“I took some time out of the industry this year to balance my work and family life.

“I’m refreshed and I feel now is the right time for me to join the team at PJA to support their fantastic work in creating great places in Perth and our Regions. I can’t wait to get started on the exciting projects that the Perth office are already working on.

“I know Tanya and Tim very well and they have been so welcoming and understanding of my need to balance my work and family life. They have an exciting vision for the future which I am looking forward to being a part of.”

Richard will join Directors, Tanya Moran and Tim Judd, who have been creating an impact in the transport and placemaking world introducing PJA to Western Australia.

Tim and Tanya said:

“We are excited to have Richard on board. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in transport engineering and will be supporting us in enabling great places and delivering great outcomes for our valued clients.”

We can’t wait to see the super duo turn into a super trio!

For more information, contact Richard: [email protected]

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Kicking off 2023 with new starters and promotions

We’re excited to be kicking off 2023 with a raft of promotions and appointments across our offices.

In Birmingham, transport planning specialists Joe Wooldridge and Beth Street have been promoted to Associate and Principal Consultant respectively, while Phoebe Ryding has been promoted to Principal Flood Risk and Drainage Engineer and Jack Lynk to Engineer.

Civil engineer Andrew Pearce, formerly of WSP, has joined the Birmingham office as Associate, and Amy Bennett has started as Graduate Flood Risk & Drainage Engineer after completing a degree in Geography at the University of Nottingham.

In Manchester, Tara Aisha has started a new role as Active Travel & Placemaking Consultant and transport planner Alex Painting, formerly of ADL Traffic and Highways Engineering Ltd, has joined the Bristol office as Consultant.

At our Cambridge office, transport planners Jack Gray and Julia Coonan have been promoted to Associate and Senior Consultant respectively, while Justin Yim has been promoted to Senior Consultant in the transport planning department of our London office.

In Reading, transport planners Lucy King and Emily Daffern have been promoted to Principal Consultant and Consultant respectively. Annys Fearon has been appointed GIS Consultant, after previously working at Nicholsons Lockhart Garratt.

Nigel Millington, Joint Managing Director, said: “It’s a pleasure to kick off the year by announcing these new promotions and appointments which are all well deserved.

“2023 is set to be a busy year and our talented people ensure that we deliver a first class and increasingly extensive offering to all our new and existing clients.”

Get in touch for more information: [email protected]

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