Julie Cadwallader, Author at PJA

Two months in and it’s Perth-fection

It’s just 2 months since the launch of our new Perth office in Australia and already the work is flowing in.

Based in St Martins Tower with stunning views of the Perth skyline, our busy new base is headed up by directors Tanya Moran and Tim Judd, who are both buzzing about bringing the PJA brand to the West Coast of Australia.

“We have certainly hit the ground running, with a lot of redevelopment, urban regeneration and densification work coming through,” says Tanya. “We have also just won a best practice guidance update to pedestrian related treatments across Australia and New Zealand, embedding our focus on designing for people to enable great places. We are both so excited to be part of the PJA team and continue the decades of hard work invested into the business.”

Tim and Tanya’s role is to lead on the delivery of PJA’s transport planning, infrastructure and placemaking solutions to public and private sector clients, while growing PJA in Australia alongside our Melbourne office.

Both are transport planning specialists with stellar CVs. Between them they have managed transport planning for some of Australia’s biggest developments, worked on autonomous vehicle trials and successfully advocated for more active travel in the country to help boost physical and mental health.

They began working together in 2016 at Australian transportation planning and engineering consultancy GTA Consultants where they were awarded the ‘Significant Contribution to Planning’ title for their efforts in pushing the boundaries on safe street designs.

With Western Australia seeing significant population growth, Tim and Tanya’s priority is that new places and infrastructure are designed to be safe, healthy and comfortable enough for people to connect with and want to call ‘Home’.

“We are really excited to provide Australia with the combination of our transport skillset and PJA’s placemaking expertise. Our aim is that the Perth office will provide highly regarded, ‘go -to’ advice and technical assistance on projects geared to creating new homes and communities for people, and we want to build a team of like- minded, self- driven people to come on the journey with us.”

Meet the team

Tanya Moran

[email protected]

Tanya is a mum of two and a civil engineer with 20 years’ experience across the transport sector working on urban regeneration, built form, greenfield and major infrastructure projects for the public and private sector.

She is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and has been an active committee member for over a decade for Transport Australia, Student Engagement and the National Women Working Group of Engineers Australia.

Tim Judd

[email protected]

Tim is a father of three and worked at Staffordshire County Council before moving to Perth in 2010. He has over 20 years’ experience in transportation and land use planning, road safety, public transport and active travel. Tim’s main focus is providing advice on street design and its role within places.

He is a board member of Streets for People, a member of the Cycling Walking Australia and New Zealand Design Innovations Working Group and a panel member of Main Roads WA/IPWEA Road Safety Panel.

Tim has also been actively involved in developing the Healthy Streets framework and is an accredited Healthy Streets Assessor.

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PJA People: Amy Evans

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 Principal Flood Risk and Drainage Engineer Amy Evans, based in our Birmingham office:

Tell us what you do at PJA

I’m a Principal Flood Risk and Drainage Engineer providing advice to developers, stakeholders and statutory bodies on all things regarding flood risk from any source! Based at the Longbridge office, I also analyse potential flood risk and surface water management issues and provide innovative and sustainable solutions to provide multiple benefits in additional to a reduced risk of flooding.

What’s your career path so far?

I graduated achieving a first in Geography BSc from the University of Leeds. I then worked for a year assessing water quality consents from sewage treatment works through purpose built computer models. For the next 12 year I worked at a couple of environmental consultancies assessing flood risk and water management within historical landscapes and sites proposed for development. I have managed flood risk mapping and modelling projects for Natural Resources Wales and provided consultation advice to local authorities in light of potential new flood risk policy and the introduction of SuDS Approval in Wales. I started my role at PJA in March 2020 and work on a huge range of projects crossing multiple offices and teams from small assessments of failing drainage structures to larges scale flood mitigation schemes.

What do you enjoy when you’re not working?

I love spending with my husband and two daughters going camping, cycling and kayaking. I also play netball for a local team, teach ballet and tap dancing and am a Cub Scout Leader every Thursday evening.

Are you a dog or cat person?

I am definitely a dog person and enjoy walking my 6 year old Springador, Sophie!

What are you currently reading or listening to?

I have just finished reading Where the Crawdads Sing and absolutely loved it and would thoroughly recommend it.

Claim to fame?

I sat at the next table to Peter Andre in a restaurant in Australia, this was post his ‘Mysterious Girl’ fame but pre his ‘I’m a Celebrity’ Fame!

Amy Evans, Principal Flood Risk and Drainage Engineer

Amy is a Chartered Environmental Consultant, Hydraulic Modeller and Project Manager with over 12 years’ experience in the water and flood risk industry. Amy’s career focus has been on project and client management in the area of hydraulic modelling and mapping, development and flood risk and surface water management. She has managed a range of hydraulic modelling projects for private and public sector clients.

Get in touch with Amy: [email protected]

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PJA helps see plans for 223 new homes through to approval in Coventry

PJA was part of a team of consultants who have assisted Persimmon Homes achieve the planning permission on a brownfield site in Holbrooks, Coventry.

The site off Holbrook Lane will accommodate 189 houses and 34 flats following the successful application. The mix of two, three and four-bed homes between two and four storeys high will include over 55 affordable units.

We provided transport planning and engineering support for the planning application including a Transport Assessment, Travel Plan, review of the internal geometry and provision of layout design advice, vehicle tracking across the onsite layout for refuse and emergency vehicles, and design compliance against Coventry City Council Design Guide.

We also engaged with the Local Highway Authority post application to agree the terms of the S106 agreement. A planned £49k cycle hire station and £141.6k worth of sustainable transport incentives were negotiated with Coventry City Council with the aim to encourage the uptake of active travel and shared transport over private car use.

The new homes will be adjacent to the Whitmore Park development which was given consent last year.

PJA provided transport planning and engineering support through the planning process and secured S278 and S38 approval for Swallow Road, Beak Avenue and Holbrook Lane which connected all these sites.

Our highways and engineering teams worked together to provide a truly integrated and combined offering for the client on both stages of the project for a seamless service.

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Engineering

PJA helps see plans for 223 new homes through to approval in Coventry Email

Transport

Kay Nicholls Email 0121 289 9206

PJA People: Maximilian Li

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 Graduate Consultant Maximilian Li, based in our Manchester office:

Tell us what you do at PJA

Having Joined PJA last year, I am now a graduate transport planner that primarily works on active travel projects including LCWIPs, LTN 1/20 reviews, LTNs and active travel to school projects; as well as providing GIS support to various projects. Being in the Graduate Development Programme also means being exposed to other fields within transport planning, for example modelling and developmental planning works.

What’s your career path so far?

I kickstarted my interest in transport planning when I did my summer exchange in UC Berkeley. I happened to take a transport planning course and found it very inspiring to be able to improve people’s lives through transport improvements. To gain more experience, I applied to do a summer internship in the Airport Authority Hong Kong in landside road traffic management. After I completed my undergraduate degree in Geography at CUHK, I stayed on at the university as a research assistant steering a high-level urban and transport planning study for a local district council in Hong Kong. Then I continued my studies, finishing a MSc Transport Planning degree in University of Leeds ITS and joined PJA!

What do you enjoy when you’re not working?

I enjoy travelling – be it local or abroad – with friends and finding hidden gems for food. I once planned to travel around South America including Peru, Chile and Bolivia but it was cancelled because of the pandemic but I’d very much like to be there some day!

Are you a dog or cat person?

Can’t resist both but if I have to pick – cat for sure! They are just irresistibly cute when they lay on the ground and chill… My site photos always include at least one picture of a cat – usually several!

What are you currently reading or listening to?

I listen to a mix of pop and K-pop from the 00s to now but recently more inclined to Cantopop back in Hong Kong – many upcoming artists like Serrini, Tyson Yoshi, Terence Lam to name a few! I sometimes listen to podcasts around technology and like “The Wan Show” or lifestyle podcasts like “Illy and Lean” from Taiwan as well.

Claim to fame?

I once got Lady Gaga’s autograph by myself – like 10 years ago… I was a fan of her a while ago!

Maximilian Li, Graduate Consultant

Maximilian is a Graduate Transport Planner in our Manchester office. He joined PJA’s Graduate Development Programme in November 2021 shortly after completing his MSc Transport Planning degree at the University of Leeds. Prior to this, he was a research assistant at the Chinese University of Hong Kong steering a planning study for a local District Council in Hong Kong, where he also gained his BSSc in Geography and Resource Management.

With his proficiency in GIS, he has been involved in various active travel projects including several LCWIPs and school active travel projects. Maximilian has also undertaken a number of LTN 1/20 reviews. He has a wider interest in sustainable mobility including public transport.

Get in touch with Maxi: [email protected]

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Environment Agency update Flood Risk Planning Practice Guidance (PPG)

The Environment Agency have updated the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) in relation to flood risk and coastal change, but what do the changes mean?

The Environment Agency published a major refresh of the PPG guidance on the 25^th August 2022, bringing it in line with the changes introduced to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in 2021.

What are the key changes and what do they mean?

There are clearer requirements for multifunctional Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS)

While SuDS should already be considered the ‘norm’ on new development, further weight has been placed on use of above-ground, multifunctional SuDS. These are SuDS that offer biodiversity, amenity and water quality enhancements as well as the typical water quantity management element.

The Sequential and Exception Tests have been updated to consider surface water.

Greater focus has been given to surface water flood risk so surface water flood risk should be considered earlier and more holistically than before.

The definition of a functional floodplain (Flood Zone 3b) has changed from an annual probability of 1 in 20 (5%) or greater in any year to 1 in 30 (3.3%) or greater in any year.

With this change more land is likely to be defined as a ‘functional floodplain’ and no development is typically considered to be appropriate on land with this definition.

Increased promotion of Natural Flood Management (NFM) in new developments.

The guidance now provides details on how natural flood management (NFM) techniques can be delivered, specifically encouraging the de-culverting and re-naturalisation of watercourses.

The call-in process is set out:

Where you are proposing major development in:

Flood Zone 2 or 3; or,
On land within Flood Zone 1 but identified in a critical drainage area;

and,

On land subject to a sustained objection from the Environment Agency.

but the Local Planning Authority (LPA) want to grant planning permission, this should be referred to the Secretary of State.

How can I check my surface water flood risk?

To find out if your Site is at surface water flood risk via the Long-Term Flood Risk Information mapping here: https://www.gov.uk/check-long-term-flood-risk

Where can I find the updated guidance?

The updated guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/flood-risk-and-coastal-change

Want to find out how your development may be impacted by these updates?

To find out more about how your site might be impacted, contact us:

Jerry Muscroft, Director
M: 07732 601 245
E: [email protected]

Alison Caldwell, Associate Director
M: 07976 482 210
E: [email protected]

Phoebe Ryding, Senior Flood Risk and Drainage Engineer
M: 07872 858 452
E: [email protected]

Made up of some of the UK’s leading transport planners, engineers and place makers we work together to create better places through great design.

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Alison Caldwell Email 0121 289 9239

Jerry Muscroft Email 0118 359 2761

Phoebe Ryding Email 0121 289 9236

PJA People: Catherine Phillips

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 Associate Director Catherine Phillips, based in our Birmingham office:

Tell us what you do at PJA

I’m a Chartered Landscape Architect and work as an Associate Director in the Birmingham office and I’m going to be growing the landscape team in the Midlands. I’m keen to develop our landscape offering and can provide advice on all landscape issues relating to projects including masterplanning through to on site implementation.

What’s your career path so far?

I worked for 21 years in an engineering firm called Halcrow that was subsequently taken over by an American firm now known as Jacobs.

I worked on a great variety of projects in the time I was there including overseas, and it has given me lots of different project type experience. Those that spring to mind for the overseas work include: designing an outside space for a New York after school club housed in recycled shipping containers in a Brooklyn port; a landscape and visual impact assessment of a new hotel complex in Gibraltar; and, designing the hard and soft landscape for under and beside a new 1.5 km long viaduct in Doha, Qatar.

Projects closer to home have sent me all over the country on highway infrastructure projects, flood risk management and public realm schemes and before I left, I’d been on site for three years as a Landscape Clerk of Works advising client and contractor of environmental site management and soft landscape implementation.

I’ve worked for public and private sector clients and in multi-disciplinary teams. I enjoy working in this environment, communicating landscape issues with the wider project team and working collaboratively with them to protect the landscape. I am really looking forward to working with others in PJA doing just that and sharing my knowledge with new recruits as we grow the team.

What do you enjoy when you’re not working?

I love to sew and make my own clothes or things for the house. I also love to cook. I qualified as a yoga teacher in 2018 and whilst I’m not teaching any classes at the moment, I really enjoyed training in a new skill and building a small business of my own. I try to practice as often as I can, as I know it’s really good for me when I do. As a family we share a common interest in riding bikes, so we do that as much as we can. We also love to travel and we’re fortunate that my sister lives in the alps in France so we get to do lots of trips out both for skiing and for summer breaks.

Are you a dog or cat person?

Definitely a cat person. We have two black cats (which my husband still can’t tell apart even after 9 years!)

What are you currently reading or listening to?

I listen to the Maisie Hill podcast weekly and I’m trying to read Captain Corelli’s Mandolin having been to Kefalonia in May half term.

Claim to fame?

I was once on TV for a British kitchen show having watched it being filmed all day – I went there on one of my first days away having had my first baby which was a while ago now…and I can’t remember what it was called! I also was a ball girl for the Dow Classic at Edgbaston which used to be the ladies tournament to be at the week before Wimbledon. I was on court when Martina Navratilova was playing.

Catherine Phillips, Associate Director

Catherine has over 20 years’ experience in landscape architecture. She has worked on a range of development projects including highway and flood defence schemes, public realm and infrastructure projects and residential and commercial developments on brownfield and greenfield sites.

In recent years, she has acted as lead landscape architect on several projects for the Environment Agency including site based work, acting as Landscape Clerk of Works. This builds on a wider range of landscape experience including green and blue infrastructure, infrastructure landscaping and town centre public realm.

Get in touch with Catherine: [email protected]

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Catherine Phillips Email 0121 289 9231

PJA continues expansion with office in Perth

We’ve opened a new office in Perth and welcomed two new people to the team.

Tanya Moran and Tim Judd have been appointed to lead the new base, which is located at St Martins Tower in the heart of the Central Business District.

The new Perth branch follows the success of our Melbourne office which launched in 2019 and has seen continued growth despite recent lockdowns.

Melbourne director Sam Williams said: “This is an exciting time for PJA’s growth in Australia, with Perth being a significant growth area for us in transport, sustainable infrastructure and placemaking.

“We can’t think of a better leadership team than Tanya and Tim to expand our expertise and influence their respective markets bringing together PJA’s vision of creating better places through great design. We look forward to providing exceptional results for our clients.”

Tanya and Tim have a combined 40 years in the transport planning industry bringing the expertise, stakeholder relationships and capability needed to deliver design-led, people-friendly places.

Tanya and Tim said: “We have worked closely together in Western Australia for the past seven years and share a passion for creating places that people and families can call “Home”.

“A “Home” is more than just a building or a space, it is a safe neighbourhood, a safe street and a safe gathering place that allows for playful exploration and social interaction, encouraging a more active lifestyle and improving our mental health. Whatever shape or form a home maybe, each and every one of us should be able to call somewhere a home, where we feel comfortable and have easy access to basic goods and services.

“We are very excited about working with such an agile and ambitious company and contributing to its previous 20 years of success. We look forward to working with our clients, and alongside the Melbourne team, to continue to introduce PJA throughout Australia and to create new or to enhance existing places and neighbourhoods we call “Home” for people in all states and territories.”

This latest office launch comes just weeks after PJA relocated its Birmingham headquarters and Manchester office, both in the UK, to accommodate its growing workforce.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Full address: Level 27, St Martins Tower, 44 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA 6000, Australia

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Launch of Placemaking Charter in West of England

The West of England Combined Authority (WECA), in partnership with Design West, has published a new Placemaking Charter.

The Placemaking Charter provides a framework for developers, communities and public sector partners to create better places that are: future-ready; connected; biodiverse; characterful; healthy and inclusive.

These key principles touch every aspect of PJA’s work across transport, engineering and placemaking and tie in with our company vision to create better places through great design.

During the Charter’s development we were pleased to be invited to join a number of workshops which were held with stakeholders and communities across the West of England to respond to key challenges and help shape the outcomes.

Matt McFeat represented PJA at the in-person launch last week and we were delighted to see Design West’s work come together to support the aims of WECA and the region’s local authorities to bring forward clean, inclusive growth and to create healthy, happy places that contribute to addressing the climate and ecological emergencies.

This Charter is, of course, right down our well-designed street and we’re all signed up.

WECA are welcoming organisations, community groups and other stakeholders with an interest in development, regeneration and the built and natural environment to sign up to the Placemaking Charter and demonstrate commitment to embedding the Charter principles in their work across the region. Find out more here: https://www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning-housing/planning-policy/placemaking-charter/

Made up of some of the UK’s leading transport planners, engineers and place makers we work together to create better places through great design.

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Matt McFeat Email 0117 203 2873

Phil Jones at 10 Downing Street

PJA’s Chairman, Phil Jones, was at 10 Downing Street last week for the first in-person meeting of Active Travel England since the creation of the body.

Phil was invited to attend by Transport Advisor to the Prime Minister Andrew Gilligan, alongside Isabelle Clement, in their roles as interim Non-Executive Directors of Active Travel England.

Phil said: “Being invited to 10 Downing Street for this first in-person Board meeting of Active Travel England, a place where the country’s most significant decisions are made, shows the importance of the work it’s doing. ATE has been set up to enable more people to get around on foot and by cycle, which is better for them and the environment. I very much look forward to working with the ATE team to help them achieve this aim.”

PJA is part of the consultancy team assisting Active Travel England and understand the challenges faced by developers: helping them shape their approach to active travel in order to navigate the UK’s planning process.

Made up of some of the UK’s leading transport planners, engineers and placemakers, we work together to create better places through great design.

For more information, contact [email protected]

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Phil Jones Email 0121 475 0234

Spotlight: John Tsui

We pride ourselves on being innovative and forward-thinking, and offer a supportive environment with space to learn here at PJA. This combined with having some of the industries finest transport planners, engineers and place makers to be influenced by and we’re in the best place to offer opportunities to those at the beginning of their careers.

We spoke with John Tsui, a student studying development studies at the University of Cambridge who completed a placement with our team in Cambridge. We asked him about his time at PJA:

What is your background and what led you to a placement at PJA?
The path that has led me to my placement at PJA has been quite an unconventional one. I have a background in the humanities and social sciences, studying Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths for my undergraduate degree and subsequent MPhil in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, so transport had never been something I thought actively about in my academic studies. However, it was during my undergraduate studies that I was exposed to ideas about how the physical shape we inhabit both reflects and shapes the quality of our social relations. After picking up cycling in 2019 to commute in London, these ideas started to resonate with me in a more powerful way. Through passionate conversations about the relationship between space, belonging, and ecology with friends in and around the industry and discipline, I was gently nudged towards learning more about transport planning and decided to contact Mike and Jack at the Cambridge office.

What do you feel you’ve gained from your time at PJA?
Whether it has been conducting a desktop assessment of the baseline transport conditions for a Transport Statement or researching for a proposal on a walking and cycling trail in the Lake District, it has been very rewarding to work collaboratively with this team of different skillsets and experience towards holistic solutions to different transport issues.

What has been the highlight of your time at PJA?
To be part of this team dynamic has been the highlight of my time at PJA, as they have been accommodating in guiding me through different stages of the planning process and the industry in general. Of the many things I’ve learnt in my time at PJA, the most valuable takeaway has been the importance of working together and collaborating as a team. Despite just being the four of us, I’ve been continually impressed by how Julia, Mike, and Jack have been so open to discuss ideas together, offer advice and help one another.

What’s next for you?
After leaving Cambridge I will be headed to Taiwan where I’ve been accepted as a Huayu Enrichment Scholar to study Mandarin.

What would you say to someone else who might be thinking about doing a placement?
Do it! Reach out to someone even if you are only interested in something and want to find out more about the industry. The team at PJA are so knowledgeable, welcoming and supportive that you’ll thank yourself that you did!

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Sound like somewhere you’d like to work? We’re particularly interested to hear from transport planners from senior to associate director level based in Cambridge. We have a wide range of interesting and challenging projects, working with a variety of clients. If you are interested in a career with us, please get in touch: [email protected]

Find out more about us and view all of our current vacancies here

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