We are absolutely delighted to announce that our founder and Chairman – Phil Jones – has today been awarded a Fellowship of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Fellowship is the highest grade of membership awarded by the ICE and is a recognition of Phil’s contribution to the industry throughout his career.

For many years Phil has dedicated himself to challenging the commonly accepted ‘norms’ of street design and he is now widely recognised as expert in the field.  His work on revolutionising policy and design in relation to cycling infrastructure sets him apart as a true pioneer in the industry.

The whole team at PJA extends our congratulations to Phil and we are very proud to be a part of the business he created.

Well done Phil!

On the 1st October 2019, MHCLG issued the new National Design Guide – ‘Planning practice guidance for beautiful, enduring and successful places’.

The new guide builds on the NPPF and makes clear that creating high quality buildings and places is fundamental to what the planning and development process should achieve.

The focus of this guide is on good design in the planning system and is aimed at local authority planning officers, who prepare local planning policy and guidance and assess the quality of planning applications; councillors; applicants and their design teams, and people in local communities.

As well as helping to inform development proposals and their assessment by local planning authorities, it supports paragraph 130 of the NPPF which states that permission should be refused for development of poor design.

The guide applies to all scales of development and new infrastructure.  The new guide is likely to result in the restructuring and redrafting of Local Authority Design Manuals to include ten design characteristics reflecting the Government’s priorities and providing a common overarching framework.

The guide can be downloaded here.

If you have any questions on the implications of the guide for your scheme, please contact:

Jon Tricker
E: [email protected]
T: 07917 436933.

Yesterday was a momentous day for PJA, with the launch of our employee share ownership scheme.

It has been a long held aspiration of the Board to find a way for the team as a whole to share in the ongoing success of the firm.  After considering various options it was determined that offering share options to all staff through a government-backed EMI scheme was the most appropriate vehicle.

A launch event was held to brief all PJA employees on the features of the scheme, with expert advice on hand from specialist advisers at legal firm Wright Hassall.

Celebratory tipples followed the presentation and we look forward to welcoming as many team members as possible as shareholders very soon!

PJA’s Joint Managing Director Nigel Millington recently gave evidence on behalf of H2 Land in support of this proposed Crematorium.

Despite obtaining a clean bill of health from both Worcestershire County Council and Birmingham City Council highways teams at the application stage, permission was refused by Bromsgrove District Council on highway safety grounds.

The hearing session was well attended by local interested parties and the Inspector invited evidence on the capacity of the local highway network, the impact of slow moving hearses on highway safety, the implications for locally-based emergency vehicles and potential conflicts with local school traffic.

The Inspector concurred with Nigel’s evidence and the Appeal was allowed, with costs awarded to the Appellant.