Award-winning chartered landscape architect David Moores has been appointed as Technical Director in our Placemaking team.

Based in our Bristol office and operating nationwide, David brings 30 years’ experience of public realm and street design.

Previously Design Director at Project Centre, his award-winning streetscape designs include London’s Oxford Street, Walthamstow High street, Walworth Road, Southall Broadway and Kensington High Street – which has received widespread recognition as an exemplar project.

He was also part of the Design team for Exhibition Road in London and managed the pedestrianisation of Reading Town Centre. He has undertaken similar schemes in Sydney and Adelaide in Australia.

David has also recently been appointed to the government’s High Streets Task Force and is a member of both the Landscape Institute and the Urban Design Group.

Director Jon Tricker, head of our Placemaking division, said “David’s talent for street and place-based design, as well as his ability to work through the project lifecycle from concept to detail, makes him a fantastic addition to our growing team.

“He will help deliver great solutions for the fast-growing number of private and public sector clients signing up for our people-friendly public realm design and placemaking services.”

David added: “The PJA team is industry-leading for its design-focused infrastructure solutions and I’m delighted to be joining.

“I’m passionate about delivering well-designed and attractive streets and places that encourage more walking and cycling and create a sense of place and community. They bring health, safety and environmental benefits while increasing dwell time that boosts local businesses.”

The increased demand for our placemaking and street design services has been fuelled by the Government’s announcement in May of a £2 billion package to ‘create a new era of cycling and walking’ in the UK.

More recently, No. 10 also announced the £2 billion ‘Gear Change’ plans proposing thousands of miles of higher standard, protected cycle routes in towns and cities, which drew on recommendations made by our very own Phil Jones and Adrian Lord in Local Transport Note 1/20 Cycling Infrastructure.

David’s appointment comes just weeks after we welcomed Dave Woolley as a Director in our Engineering division, with responsibility for growing our Land Development services.

David can be contacted at [email protected] / 07783 378934

PJA director Chris Sibthorpe, head of our new Manchester office, is one of the speakers at next month’s virtual Smart Transport Conference.

The high-profile conference runs from 20^th to 22^nd October in association with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), with PJA as a strategic headline sponsor. The theme is ‘integrated transport solutions for the key mobility challenges facing UK central and local government’.

Other speakers at the online event, described as ‘the UK’s most exclusive and important meeting driving progress in the UK’s intelligent transport sector’, include Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester; Chris Boardman, Cycling and Walking Commissioner at TFGM; Bridget Rosewell, Commissioner of the National Infrastructure Commission and Mark Dickens, Director at Groupe Renault.

Chris will speak on Wednesday 21^st October during Session 4, which takes place between 10.50am and 12.05pm and is called: ‘Strategic Placemaking – integrating place and mobility ‘levelling up’ towns & rural communities’. He will present on the hot topic of the application of GIS for successful Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs).

Each day Chris and PJA colleagues will also host a virtual exhibition stand and will be available for one-to-one chats with delegates. They will also join daily virtual ‘fireside chats’ for more informal discussions with attendees.

Chris, who is also head of our Active Travel division, said: “Since the emergence of Covid-19, LTNs are increasingly been used by local authorities to combat the negative effects of air pollution, poor health and obesity and improve community wellbeing by placing active travel and good public realm at the heart of neighbourhood renewal.

“Despite this, the design and implementation of LTNs can often be highly contentious because of their impact on parking and traffic movements. In my presentation I will explain the GIS techniques that PJA use to develop a robust evidence base and make the case for positive change.

“I’m really pleased to be speaking at this exciting conference, where the public and private sectors will work together to accelerate the de-carbonisation of transport and create a truly clean, integrated and multimodal future.

“It will be a great networking opportunity and I’m looking forward to making new connections.”

Other sessions during the conference will include: Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, the Decarbonisation of the Freight Industry, Public Transport & Shared Mobility, Tackling Transportation Challenges with Big Data and Future of Partnership: Public, Private & Academic to Drive Innovation.

Register for the free conference here.

Find out more about Chris and our new Manchester office here.

Contact Chris at [email protected]

We’re excited to welcome highly-regarded engineering and regeneration expert Dave Woolley as Director with responsibility for growing our Land Development division.

Hot on the heels of our new Manchester office launch, Dave’s appointment is in response to increased client demand for our site assessments and value-driven infrastructure solutions.

Dave will be based at our Longbridge office.  The £1 billion regeneration project is close to Dave’s heart as he worked there with developer St. Modwen for several years, and PJA continues to support them today.

Nigel Millington, Joint Managing Director at PJA, said: “Land development is an exciting growth area for us and we can’t think of anyone better to have on board than Dave thanks to his knowledge, expertise and reputation. We look forward to him developing our service offer further and expanding our client base nationwide.

“Despite the challenges of the past few months, business remains strong at PJA with demand coming from both private and public sector clients. The addition of Dave further bolsters our positive outlook and ambition to grow in order to support our clients and partners.”

Dave added: “PJA has a clear focus to create better places through design, with an agile client-focused team of industry leading professionals.

“I’m looking forward to delivering exceptional results for our existing and new land development clients including landowners, land promoters, developers and local authorities.

“Our role is to assess sites for development risks including access, contamination and flooding, and design infrastructure solutions that will help secure planning consent and facilitate placemaking.”

Dave can be contacted at [email protected] / 07739 190990

Find out more about our Land Development services here

Our Chairman Phil Jones is one of over 150 experienced professionals appointed to work with towns in England over the next four years, supporting their transformation efforts and helping to tackle complex barriers to change.

Local authorities will receive free expert advice, mentoring and other help, funded by government, that can help them to revitalise their town centres, progress local plans, bid for investment, and respond to the impact of COVID-19.

The High Street Task Force ‘experts register’ is the first of its kind in the UK – bringing together experienced professionals across a broad range of specialisms, from architecture to planning, sustainable design, place leadership and civic engagement.

The ‘experts’ have been recruited from leading national bodies: Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), Landscape Institute, Design Council, and the Institute of Place Management.

Phil has been recruited through the Design Council and will provide advice on transport, street design and placemaking.

Phil said: “Internet shopping and out of town retail parks have had a major impact on high streets and town centres, and the onset of COVID-19 has sadly made the situation worse for many of them.

“As a High Street Task Force Expert, I’m looking forward to helping local authorities create more appealing high street experiences that encourage people to visit town centres, to the benefit of local communities.

“Options to explore include reducing traffic while maintaining good access, creating more walking space and maximising cultural and leisure assets to help create an attractive and unique offering.”

Simon Quin, Executive Director of the High Streets Task Force, added: “Our Experts will work with places in greatest need. They bring deep insight into town centre change and experience of working with communities to build capacity.

“This will support the development of the collaborative and challenging visions our town centres require. The Experts have a broad range of experience and knowledge specialisms that will enable local partnerships to move forward. “

Last year Phil was appointed to the Regional Town Centre Task Force set up by Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street to help breathe new life into struggling high streets and town centres across the West Midlands.

For more information visit www.highstreetstaskforce.org.uk

We’re delighted to have made a series of staff promotions across our Transport Planning and Engineering departments:

Transport Planning
Ben Coleman – Associate (Reading)
Joe Wooldridge – Principal Consultant (Birmingham)
Lucy Smith  – Senior Consultant (Reading)
Beth Street – Senior Consultant (Birmingham)
Jane Overton – Senior Consultant (Birmingham)
Dan Bowditch – Consultant (Birmingham)

Engineering
Richard Brommell – Associate Director (Reading)
Callum Angell – Principal Engineer (Birmingham)
Steph Allcock – Senior Geo-Environmental Consultant (Birmingham)
Harry Ollerton  – Senior Consultant (Birmingham)

Tricia Williams has been promoted to Personal Assistant to our Chairman Phil Jones and Joint Managing Directors Nigel Millington and Mark Nettleton, in our Birmingham office.

Nigel Millington said: “2020 is certainly proving to be challenging but these team members have helped us ride the storm with their hard work and excellent customer service. I would like to congratulate them on their well-earned promotions.

“Beth and Lucy joined PJA on our Graduate Development Programme so I’m particularly pleased to see them climb the ranks.

“Thanks to the commitment and dedication of the whole team, PJA is adjusting well to the challenges of Covid-19 and responding to growing client demand.

“Just weeks ago, we opened a new Manchester office and we will be announcing some exciting new senior appointments in the coming weeks.”

We will launch 2021 Graduate Development Programme in January.

#thebusinessdesk

We are pleased to be a part of the team that secured planning permission for Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer, a new national landmark profiling a million answered prayers.

Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer (@eternalwalluk), which will eclipse the size of the Angel of the North, will stand at 169 feet and is expected to attract 300,000 visitors each year, contributing £9.3 million to the local economy. Construction is expected to begin in Spring 2021 with completion in Autumn 2022.

It is anticipated that Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer will create 60 new jobs during its two year construction phase from 2021, thereafter providing 20 full-time positions for employees to work for the charity in the visitor centre, café, bookstore and a 24 hour on-site chaplaincy support service. It is also estimated that the monument will generate an additional gross social value of £1.4 billion, including £430 million in charitable donations.
PJA supported the planning submission with technical inputs including Transport and Flood Risk.
Kay Nicholls, Principal Transport Planner and project manager for PJA said “We are extremely proud to be a part of a monument of national significance, that will be seen by thousands of people every day”. A particular challenge was to ensure that the site is accessible for all users, including those less mobile, and funding was provided to Warwickshire County Council to improve cycle access to the scheme.
PJA’s Water team provided an assessment of flood risk for the landmark, and we were pleased to confirm that the proposals would not be at risk from flooding and would not create an increased flood risk elsewhere. A surface water drainage strategy was developed in consultation with the local flood authority to incorporate innovative Sustainable Drainage Systems.

Image credit: Renderloft, designed by Snug Architects

Our Chairman Phil Jones discusses bringing forward the planned changes to the Highway Code in a webinar hosted by All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling & Walking.

Co-chaired by Ruth Cadbury MP for Brentford and Isleworth, and Selaine Saxby MP North Devon, the webinar reviews the proposals announced in the government’s recent £2bn ‘Gear Change’ cycling and revolution consultation.

These include a rule that drivers must give way when turning to cyclists moving straight ahead at junctions, as well as the introduction of the Hierarchy of Road Users. This states that vehicle drivers that can do the most harm have the most responsibility to take care, thereby making roads safer for people with disabilities, cyclists and pedestrians.

Also on the webinar panel are Joe Irvin OBE, former CEO, Living Streets; Roger Geffen MBE, Policy Director, Cycling UK and Steve Gooding, Director, RAC Foundation.

Phil, Roger and Joe initially drafted the Highway Code changes on behalf of the Walking and Cycling Alliance (WACA) of campaign groups.

Watch the webinar here.

For the second year running the CIHT has ranked us amongst the UK’s top 20 companies working on cycle and pedestrian schemes.

This reflects the surge in our work for public and private sector clients who are incorporating more cycling and walking into their developments, underpinned by government strategies including Manual for Streets 1 and 2, Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans and more recently Gear Change and the Local Transport Note 1/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design.

We are also ranked 23^rd in terms of transport planning fee income.

The results are in the CIHT’s newly published Transportation Consultants Directory 2020. 

Thanks to our committed and customer-focussed team for driving our success and growth from our network of local offices in Birmingham, London, Manchester, Bristol and Reading.

Our Informatics team has been helping parents and children in Reading travel to school safely and sustainably by creating a series of interactive web maps and infographics.

The tools have been produced for Reading Borough Council in response to the need for social distancing on school journeys – which has also created an opportunity to encourage healthier, greener travel methods including cycling and walking.

Built in a StoryMap, the continuously evolving Interactive Maps allow parents and students to explore and understand different travel options and routes to every single educational establishment across the town – including nurseries, primary and secondary schools and colleges.

The school-specific infographics provide tailored advice for pupils and parents to encourage safe and active travel wherever possible.  See the Secondary School infographics here.

For more information please contact Brian Norman: [email protected]

We’re delighted to offer free download of the images and diagrams from the Government’s Gear Change: a bold vision for cycling and walking

The high-resolution images are suitable for use in presentations and projects.

Upon use please credit DfT and the relevant sources, which can be found in Appendix D of LTN 1/20.

You can download the images here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NhDvSp6eUSAVEGxi6

For more information please contact [email protected]