A huge welcome to the 27 new members of staff who joined us over the last year and huge congratulations to those who received recent promotions.
Our new faces have taken up roles right across the business in all service areas: transport, engineering and placemaking and takes the PJA headcount up to over 100.
We are so pleased to have you all on board and part of Team PJA.
Promotions
Nikki Slack, Associate
James Warbey, Principal Consultant
Jack Gray, Principal Consultant
Charlotte Smith, Associate
Nick Spear, Principal Geo Environmental Engineer
Chris Johnson, Infrastructure Director
Dan McCrudden, Associate Director
John McQueen, Associate Director
New Starters
Alison Caldwell – Associate Director
Alison is a Chartered Civil Engineer, actively championing holistic water management to ensure long term resilience of future development. She brings over 10 years’ experience working on all elements of project delivery in both private and public sectors; providing technical advice to local authorities, developers, planners and others involved in the planning and design of the built environment at strategic, regional and local scales.
Alison has taken a lead role in delivery of multi-disciplinary projects, with extensive experience in flood risk and sustainable surface water management, drainage design, green-blue infrastructure, integrated water management, flood risk mitigation and flood modelling projects at both strategic and local scale in the UK and internationally.
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Andrew Nixon – Associate Director
Andrew leads our Birmingham Civil Engineering Team, primarily focussing on Section 278 access junctions and primary highway infrastructure. He advises developers, designers, planners and local authorities on local and national projects.
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Benjamin Mentha – Senior Associate
Ben leads the Melbourne transport team and has over 12 years experience as a transport engineering, design and planning consultant in Victoria.
He specialises on development planning for private and government clients, with extensive experience across a wide range of land uses. He has particular expertise in the greenfield land market, working on major subdivisions, as well as assisting the preparation of PSPs, ICPs and rezoning applications.
He has provided expert evidence for planning appeals at VCAT, Planning Scheme Amendments and land acquisition compensation claims.
Ben is a passionate believer in good design and aims to provide advice in a wholistic ‘total design’ approach in collaboration with other planning and design consultants.
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Brian Norman – GIS Manager
Brian is a senior data consultant with over 20 years’ experience in the capture, analysis and integration of spatial data within transport, water and environmental projects having worked for global engineering consultancies.
He has a successful track record as a technical manager with experience in the successful leadership and delivery of national data capture projects for public sector organisations, championing the use of location-based data to support the effective management of assets.
He has developed and led high performing teams, implemented efficient technical workflows and quality assurance procedures to maximise access to GIS systems and data, utilising new technology to analyse and share quality data across teams and organisations, improving collaboration and enabling more effective planning and decision making.
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Catriona Swanson – Associate
Catriona is an Associate in our Manchester office. She has over 12 years’ experience of delivering active travel, sustainable transport, regeneration and placemaking schemes in both the public and private sectors. Catriona’s experience includes network planning and concept design as well as overseeing the detailed design and delivery of schemes. She is particularly passionate about inclusive design and creating Healthy Streets.
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Charlotte Turner – Graduate Flood Risk & Drainage Engineer
Charlotte joined the PJA Graduate Development Programme after graduating from Coventry University with a BSc (Hons) in Geography where she gained knowledge surrounding Flood Risk Management and experience in GIS and Hydraulic Modelling. Using this, Charlotte’s dissertation investigated the use of Natural Flood Management in a local catchment to see whether the use of natural structures could reduce peak flood depths and extents.
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Claire Harrison – Associate
Claire has over 17 years’ experience in the transport planning sector with a varied portfolio that includes urban extensions, commercial, retail, education and residential developments. She has a successful track record working for private sector clients specialising in Transport Assessments, Transport Statements, Travel Plans and supporting projects through the local planning process.
She has vast experience in the implementation of Residential and Site Wide Travel Plans across various sites in the UK as part of a Travel Plan Co-ordinator role. She is the first in the Country to be awarded the Modeshift STARS Bronze Accreditation for sustainable travel initiatives for a Travel Plan site in Ipswich.
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Daniel Flello – Senior Engineer
Daniel is an engineer with 6 years’ experience working in the civil engineering industry. He specialises in drainage from viability assessments through to on plot design for both residential, commercial developments and major highways. In addition to this he has experience with residential highways and earthworks.
He has spent much of his career working alongside lead local flood authorities and helping to educate others on best practice.
Daniels is a Chartered member of the ICE (MICE) and is working towards becoming a Supervising Civil Engineer.
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Emily Daffern – Graduate Consultant
Emily joined the PJA Graduate Development Programme in 2021 and is based in the Reading office. She graduated from Newcastle University with a BA (Hons) in Geography where she gained knowledge surrounding sustainable development and experience in data analysis. Using this, Emily’s dissertation investigated whether forms of sustainable energy will bring energy justice or further fuel poverty.
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Emma O’Kane – Senior Accounts Assistant
Emma has over 17 years’ experience within the finance industry and assists with the preparation of accounts.
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Gavin Coupe – Associate Director
Gavin is an Associate Director with over 18 years’ experience working across the UK and beyond. His primary area of expertise is as a Local and Microscopic Simulation modelling expert although he also has extensive experience in strategic and development planning, masterplanning, public realm & urban regeneration, and public transport led schemes.
Gavin understands how to deliver modelling work that supports and optimises designs for the betterment of our clients, and he leads PJA’s national modelling offering.
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George Long – Engineer
George has three years experience as a Setting Out Engineer, working on site to implement highways, drainage, and earthworks projects. He has experience producing Traffic Management drawings and site phasing and logistics plans, as well as some elements of highway design through design and build projects.
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Greg Dobbins – Associate Director
With over 18 years’ consultancy experience, Greg has worked in both the public and private sectors to develop residential, commercial and industrial sites of various shapes, sizes and difficulty.
Over the past 10 years, Greg has specialised in providing holistic development advice for large, strategic residential developments, focusing on the coordination of large multi-disciplinary delivery teams delivering successful planning applications.
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Harriet Haldenby – Consultant
Harriet is an urban designer based in our Manchester Officer. She has 3 years’ experience working in planning and design, most recently working as part of a collaborative design team on health and travel-focussed projects.
Having been particularly focussed on the role of the community in design projects, Harriet has developed an interest in how the spaces and places we design interlink with the way we travel, and its impact on our quality of life.
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John Myatt – Associate Director
John is an experienced transport planner who has led a wide range of public sector transport and development projects, including the development and management of local authority capital programmes and transport strategies. He has also worked closely with developers and other stakeholders to bring forward large and complex sustainable urban extensions, and been part of the team delivering the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Having worked in senior roles within local authority transport teams, John understands how to deliver projects in a public sector political environment, and has extensive experience of working with partners and stakeholders across the public and private sectors.
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Julia Coonan – Transport Consultant
Julia is a Transport Planner with nearly 3 years’ experience in developing Transport Assessments and Travel Plans, all of which focus on delivering high-quality, sustainable and low car developments. Julia also has experience working on planning applications and masterplans for larger scale public transport projects, including contributing to business cases, public realm improvements and active travel planning.
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Justine Seager – Graduate Consultant
Justine joined the Graduate Development Program in 2021, having initially started in the Transport Policy division at Surrey County Council where she was part of a team strategising the delivery of an EV chargepoint network. Prior to this, Justine gained an MA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Glasgow and then an MSc in Planning from the University of Manchester, winning the RTPI prize for her dissertation on walkable urban design and town centre regeneration. Following this she studied briefly towards a PhD in smart transport and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) before leaving academia to pursue a career as a transport planner.
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Kayleigh McGeoch – Geo Environmental Consultant
Kayleigh is a geo-environmental consultant with nearly 6 years of experience in geo-environmental consultancy and ground investigation and has worked on a wide range of geo-environmental and geotechnical projects across the UK.
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Maximilian Li – Graduate Consultant
Maximilian joined PJA’s Graduate Development Programme shortly after completing his MSc Transport Planning degree at the University of Leeds in late 2021. Prior to this, he was a research assistant at the Chinese University of Hong Kong working on a planning study for a local District Council in Hong Kong, where he also gained his BSSc in Geography and Resource Management there. His previous works have been related to public transport – the undergrad thesis was on spatial mismatch, public transport satisfaction and well-being in Hong Kong, while the Master dissertation was on the impact of COVID-19 on public transport use worldwide.
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Mike Salter – Director
Mike is a Director based in our Cambridge office.
He has more than 25 years’ experience in transport planning including development-related transport assessments, business case production, strategy development, modelling and traffic engineering. He has appeared as expert witness at a number of inquiries.
BSc (Hons) MSc (Dist)
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Nathan Mace – Apprentice Technician
As Nathan begins his career as an apprentice, he is learning valuable skills in software such as CAD and Site3D. He is currently studying for a level 3 Civil Engineering Technician at Solihull College and aims to improve his skills and knowledge at PJA in the different aspects of road design and overall to become a good engineer.
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Owen Brice – Technician
Owen started his career as an apprentice where he gained knowledge in software such CAD, Microdrainage and Site3D. He now uses these skills in his role as a technician, where he offers support to both the engineering and transport teams. His past experience has been largely within highways, but his skills are quickly expanding into residential works as well.
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Phoebe Ryding – Senior Flood Risk & Drainage Engineer
Phoebe is a Senior Flood Risk and Drainage Engineer with over 4 years’ experience.
She has worked on a variety of private sector projects including the design of drainage strategies, comprising sustainable drainage (SuDS) and the production of flood risk assessments.
Alongside this she has undertaken work with local authorities reviewing planning applications for Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs) and has also worked with SuDS Approval Bodies (SABs), reviewing SAB applications and working on internal council housing schemes to ensure they comply with the Statutory SuDS Standards.
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Rebecca Jones – Principal Consultant
Rebecca is a highway engineer and transport planner based in our London office. She has over ten years’ experience in the sustainable transport industry, and has worked within the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
Her technical expertise includes concept and detailed design of cycling and walking infrastructure, as well GIS mapping, network planning, data analysis and project management. She has extensive experience of community engagement and co-design, and has worked on projects both in London and across the UK.
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Rob Howe – Associate
Rob is an Associate with 32 years of experience in development infrastructure and 3D modelling. He has a track record of the design and modelling of highways works, including simple and complex junction geometry along with the 3D design of complex surface modelling. He has delivered numerous retail and residential development layouts both for Section 278 and Section 38 works in 2D and 3D and has provided 3D modelling for the redevelopment of sites as diverse as colliery spoil heaps to former MOD munitions sites. Rob also has experience of a wide range of design and modelling software.
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Ryan Walters – Consultant
Ryan is a consultant based in our Birmingham office. He graduated from University of Birmingham in 2019 with a First Class Honours Degree in Geography and has since gained two years’ experience. Most recently, Ryan led on the procurement of Birmingham’s first fleet of e-cargo bikes as well as assisting in the creation of the parameters for Birmingham e-scooter trial.
Ryan also has experience in corporate policy and delivering funding bids.
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Shannon Connolly – Consultant
Shannon is a Transport Planning Consultant based in our Birmingham office. She graduated from Newcastle University in 2018 with a degree in Geography and Planning and has 2 years’ experience in the industry based mainly in transport development planning for both public and private sector clients. She has prepared Transport Assessments and Statements, Travel Plans, junction modelling and access design for a range of developments including residential, commercial, education and religious sites as well as regeneration schemes.
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Suzanne Lang – Office Manager
Suzanne manages the day-to-day running of the Birmingham office, welcomes our visitors and is the first welcoming voice you will hear on the telephone.
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