Public Practice | Associates

Associates

We believe that working in local government is the place to be if you want to use your built environment skills to influence every aspect of our everyday environment and to work for society as a whole, not just those who can afford it.

PROFESSIONAL PLACEMENT PROGRAMME

Public Practice recruits a diverse range of experienced built environment practitioners who are interested in working in the public sector.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

After a multi-stage selection process, Associates are matched to a placement working in a local authority, with a salary of £30,000 – £70,000 depending on the Authority and role. 90% of your time is spent working for the host Authority, with the remaining 10% dedicated to attending the Public Practice R&D Programme. This programme is designed to help support Associates transition into their new roles within local government as well as co-produce resources to help share and develop good practice within the industry.

WHO CAN BECOME AN ASSOCIATE?

We accept applications from candidates with a wide range of skills and abilities across the built environment and beyond. We ask that all Associates have a minimum of three years’ experience in practice, a passion to work for the public good and a desire to develop a career within public planning.

WHY JOIN THE PROGRAMME?

You may be looking for: a new career challenge, an alternative route into the public sector, a temporary secondment to experience working in the built environment from a different perspective, a return to work after a career break, or to give something back towards the end of your career.

WHAT TYPE OF PLACEMENTS DO YOU OFFER?

Public Practice offers placements that help build the public sector’s capacity for proactive planning - in its broadest sense. The range of roles covers the full spectrum of built environment expertise, from design to development and delivery. Every placement is different - but what they have in common is that they create additionality for the Authority, make a positive impact for society, and fit with our mission as a social enterprise. Types of placements include:

Architecture & Design

Arts, Culture & Curation

Civil & Structural Engineering

Community Engagement & Participation

Conservation & Heritage

Digital, Data & Plantech

Development, Property, Surveying & Viability

Ecology & Biodiversity

Environmental Sustainability & Decarbonisation

Infrastructure & Utilities

Landscape Architecture & Public Realm

Masterplanning & New Communities

Planning & Policy

Project & Programme Management

Regeneration & Economic Development

Transport & Mobility

Urban Design & Placemaking

Urban Health & Wellbeing

Community Engagement & Participation

ABOUT

Authorities increasingly recognise that public planning works best when the public are involved in the planning. They are working hard to build trust by engaging citizens earlier upstream in the planning process, involving residents and businesses more collaboratively in co-design processes, and taking a broader community wealth building approach to rethink how all of their activities can support and strengthen existing communities.

Download placement type summary.

Digital, Data & Plantech

ABOUT

The planning system has historically been slow to adopt new technologies, but the digital transformation of public planning is now accelerating fast. Authorities are embarking on projects to explore the potential of digital innovation, urban data and user-centred design to improve the efficiency and experience of public planning, often in collaboration with the Connected Places Catapult and each other. As a result, there is an urgent need to expand digital literacy, skills and capabilities within Authorities.

Download placement type summary.

Development, Property, Surveying & Viability

ABOUT

Authorities are looking to make the most of their land and assets to generate sustainable income and create social value over the long-term. Rather than dispose of public land, far-sighted Authorities are holding on to or even expanding their portfolios. Over two-thirds of Authorities are now directly engaged in housing delivery, with many building social housing at scale for the first time in decades. This demands socially-minded and commercially astute property expertise in house.

Download placement type summary.

Environmental Sustainability & Decarbonisation

ABOUT

More than two-thirds of councils across the UK have declared a climate emergency. They are now building their internal expertise around environmental sustainability to translate these political commitments into real action, and real reductions in carbon emissions. Roles range from cross-cutting strategies coordinating climate action across an Authority, to more technical work delivering specific projects or programmes.

Download placement type summary.

Infrastructure & Utilities

ABOUT

Well planned and delivered infrastructure plays a fundamental role of sustaining the way we live and improving our quality of life. But inadequate infrastructure can obstruct growth, and exacerbate existing inequalities. Following new programmes such as the GLA’s Infrastructure Coordination Service, Authorities are taking a more proactive and collaborative approach to infrastructure delivery. They are facilitating collaboration between public bodies, utility providers and developers to deliver more inclusive and sustainable infrastructure.

Download placement type summary.

Regeneration & Economic Development

ABOUT

COVID-19 has accelerated the challenges already facing high streets and town centres, and heightened existing needs for economic development and regeneration. Authorities have a critical role to support local businesses and organisations, collaboratively develop new visions for town centres, and ultimately build more resilient local economies and communities. This requires agile, place-based and entrepreneurial approaches that bridge between socio-economic and physical regeneration.

Download placement type summary.

APPLY TO BECOME AN ASSOCIATE

Our application period for our Autumn 2020 cohort has closed. Recruitment for our Spring 2021 cohort will open at the beginning of October.

THE APPLICATION PROCESS

The first stage of the application process is completing an online form. Those successful at the online stage will be taken through to stage two of the application process, a day-long placement workshop.

We strongly recommend candidates read through our guidance materials before applying.

During our last recruitment campaign, we hosted an online Open Evening where we gave a presentation on the programme (which you can watch here) and we heard from current and previous Associates talk about their experiences of being on the programme (which you can watch here).

ACCESSIBILITY

If, for accessibility reasons, you are unable to submit the initial application using the online form, we are happy for you to submit your application in an alternative format. Please email info@publicpractice.org.uk or call 020 3858 7447 to discuss your requirements.

STAY IN TOUCH

To stay in touch with Public Practice, subscribe to our newsletter here and our public events calendar here, where we share events which may be of interest to built environment practitioners, public planners, or those interested in public planning across the wider built environment.

Read our Prospectus for Associates (PDF)

Read our FAQs for Associates (PDF)

Watch our film for Associates (VIMEO)

ASSOCIATES & ALUMNI

To find out more about our Associates and Alumni click on their portraits below.

ABRE ETTEH

ADAM SUMMERFIELD

AKIL SCAFE-SMITH

ALASTAIR CROCKETT

ALPA DEPANI

AMANDA GREGOR

AMANDA RASHID

AMY LINFORD

ANDREA JUNG

ANDREW CATCHESIDE

ANNA ROWELL

ANNA-LISA POLLOCK

ARANZAZU FERNANDEZ RANGEL

ARCHIE BASHFORD

ARMAN NOURI

ASHLEIGH WATKINS

BALDEEP HEER

BELINDA GREENWELL

BEN SMITH

BLAZEJ CZUBA

CARMEL KEREN

CATHERINE MOLLETT

CIARA HANSON

CLARISSA YEE

CLAUDIA NICOLINI

DAN DALEY

DOROTHEE WOOLLARD

EI-LYN CHIA

ELENI KATRINI

ELIZABETH RAPOPORT

ELLEN HADDEN

FRASER MCQUADE

GEORGIE DAY

GWENAËL JERRETT

HANA LOFTUS

HANNAH LAMBERT

HELEN EVANS

HELEN MARKIDES

HOLLY HAYWARD

HUW TREVORROW

IBRAHIM BUHARI

IONE BRADDICK

JAN ACKENHAUSEN

JENNIFER GUTTERIDGE

JESSICA CARGILL THOMPSON

JOANNE PRESTON

JOHN STILES

JONATHAN BRODERICK

JONATHAN KEEN

LB Croydon

JONATHAN WATSON

JORGE ROMAN RODRIGUEZ

JOSHUA DOYLE

KAROLINE DE MENDONCA

KATHERINE SPENCE

KATHY MACEWEN

KAVITA TAILOR

KENDRA INMAN

KRISHAN NATHANIEL

KWAME LOWE

LAETITIA PANCRAZI

LAURA HART

LAURA HAWKER

LAUREN KEHOE

LAURENCE NEAL

LEONIE FITZGERALD

LOUISA FACCHINO-STACK

LUCIA CERRADA MORATO

LUCILA SAMPAOLI

LUCY ATLEE

TfL

LUCY DEVEREUX

MADDY GUNN

MAGALI THOMSON

MARCO PICARDI

MARIANA SCHILLER

MARK WARREN

MARTHA DALLYN

MATT RUDDY

MATT WESTON

MATTHEW BROWN

MEGAN CHARNLEY

MERVE ANIL

MICHAEL KENNEDY

MINA MANIK

NICOLA COPPEN

OLIVER REINHOLD

OLIVIA HALPER

PAUL EVANS

PETER CROFT

RACHEL HEARN

RAFE BERTRAM

RAMIRO LEVY

RAUL BIELSA PEREZ

RENZO CAMPISI

ROO HUMPHERSON

ROSA APPLEBY ALIS

ROSIE EVERED

ROSIE SARGEN

SARAH CUSTANCE

SEAN RUSHTON

SELASI SETUFE

SHAMISO ONEKA

SHARON GIFFEN

SHEEBA SHETTY

SILVIA AMOROS

SILVIA KERSTE

SOPHIE BEAGLES

SOPHIE PALMER

TAMARA KAHN

TARA GBOLADE

TED MAXWELL

THOMAS SMETHURST

TILLY FORD

TOM ATKINSON

TOM FOX

TOM SYKES

UMI BADEN-POWELL

YANNI PITSILLIDES

YIORGOS PAPAMANOUSAKIS

ZAHRA HAIDER

ZELJKA ABRAMOVIC

ABRE ETTEH

Abre is an architect with experience across education, housing and workplace design. He has received a number of awards for his art and architectural practice and his work has been exhibited in the Design Museum in London, The Cube Gallery in Manchester and the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.

Abre has taken on the role of Urban Design and Development Officer at LB Merton, where he is working on regeneration schemes across the borough. In particular, his role is focusing on Wimbledon Stadium, the regeneration of three housing estates, Morden town centre regeneration and public realm improvements in Mitcham, Colliers Wood and Wimbledon.

#associate
#lb-merton
#regeneration #public-realm #urban-design #estate-renewal

ADAM SUMMERFIELD

Adam has experience in placemaking and strategic planning projects. Prior to joining Public Practice, Adam was an Associate at Fluid. In 2017, Adam was elected an NLA NextGen ambassador. In this role, he contributed to current urban thinking through events such as a major design workshop generating ideas to unlock opportunities for public transport sites in outer London Town Centres.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Adam joined the Place Shaping Team at Westminster City Council as Place Shaping Officer. In this role, he helped to formulate the place-shaping strategy across key priority areas within the Council’s agenda. The role involved formulating an urban strategy for priority areas, helping formulate the programme for change delivery within these areas and coordinating projects that emerge as part of the programme. Stakeholder engagement and coordination across various parts of the Council formed an integral part of the delivery process.

You can contact Adam via his LinkedIn account.

#alumni
#westminster-city-council
#regeneration #placemaking #urban-design

AKIL SCAFE-SMITH

Akil is an urban designer and researcher. His research interests concern the socio-spatial dynamics of urban camps and refugee mobility. As an experienced designer, Akil has built installations for the London Festival of Architecture and the Architecture Foundation, and he has also delivered a number of public design interventions and participatory design workshops.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Akil joined the Spatial Planning Service team in Croydon Council as Project Officer. In this role, he was involved in the design and delivery of meanwhile, public realm and cultural projects in the Metropolitan Centre that contributed towards the delivery of regeneration in the Croydon Growth Zone. Akil engaged with external stakeholders and project partners in the design and delivery of projects and generated enthusiasm for the wider Growth Zone programme and for Croydon in general. He also helped promote the Spatial Planning Service and Placemaking Team’s services and contributed to optimising income generation.

You can watch a short video interview of Akil and read more about his placement in the Practice Note 'Pop Down'.

#alumni
#lb-croydon
#engagement #meanwhile-use #public-realm #urban-design

ALASTAIR CROCKETT

Alastair is an architect with 12 years of experience, most recently as an Associate at Níall McLaughlin Architects, where he was Project Architect on the Stirling Prize 2018 nominated Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre in Oxford. He has experience working across a diversity of scales, ranging from detailing a door handle up to a masterplan for 5000 new homes.

Alastair has taken on the role of Senior Urban Designer at Camden, where he will work on the Regent’s Park Estate. He is concentrating on providing urban design advice to Development Management on major planning applications and pre-applications, as well as providing feasibility work in relation to opportunities at the Regent’s Park Estate within the area covered by the Euston Area Plan, immediately adjacent to works already underway as part of HS2.

#associate
#lb-camden
#urban-design #estate-renewal

ALPA DEPANI

Alpa is an architect and artist, interested in a built environment that serves communities. Alpa has worked with a range of architectural practices and holds teaching positions at The Cass and the University of Brighton. Alpa has also conducted international research into community-driven public space, establishing recommendations for London.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Alpa joined the Housing, Planning and Regeneration Team in Sutton Council as the Town Centre Design Associate. In this role, Alpa influenced and shaped the future of Sutton’s Town Centre by supporting the vision and design of large-scale sites and exploring meanwhile uses. Alongside this work, Alpa worked on a Public Realm Guide and developed Design Codes for residential development in small sites. Alpa also promoted good design across Sutton Council by reviewing current design services and building in-house design capacity.

As a part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Alpa took on the role of Placemaking Lead at Waltham Forest’s Design and Conservation, and their Planning and Regeneration teams helping to deliver the Borough’s growth objectives and cultural ambitions. She led and had key responsibility for the formulation, promotion, implementation and review of urban design projects and other initiatives at a strategic level. She provided specialist professional advice and guidance on all matters relating to urban design and related regeneration activity.

Your can contact Alpa via her LinkedIn account

#alumni
#lb-sutton #lb-waltham-forest
#design-review #placemaking #planning-policy #public-realm #urban-design #pre-apps

AMANDA GREGOR

Amanda is an Urban Designer with a wide-ranging professional and academic background encompassing urban design, sociology, anthropology and sustainability. Prior to joining Public Practice, she worked in the resilient infrastructure team at the London office of the Dutch engineering practice Witteveen+Bos, where she undertook projects at the intersection of urban design, transport, public health and social change. Alongside her work at Witteveen+Bos, Amanda was also part of Peckham Coal Line; a community-led project with the overarching aim of creating a linear park connecting two high streets in South London.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Amanda joined Sevenoaks’ Strategic Planning Policy Team as an Urban Designer, with the aim of developing a design culture and language for Sevenoaks and embedding this into the planning process. Her role involved providing specialist design advice on major schemes; creating a ‘best practice portfolio’ of projects built within the district; developing design training for Officers, Members and Parish Councils; and working with the Economic Development Team and Parish Councils to deliver targeted public realm improvements.

You can contact Amanda via LinkedIn her account.

#alumni
#sevenoaks-dc
#masterplanning #urban-design #pre-apps

AMANDA RASHID

Amanda Rashid is a project architect with several years experience in the education sector, delivering complex design and build projects giving her a range of strategic, technical and coordination skills as well as strong design abilities. Prior to joining Public Practice, Amanda worked on the Hindu Primary School in Croydon for Cottrell & Vermeulen Architects. Amanda is a founding member of society the SALADS who curate tours of buildings for a growing community of female architects. She has also run workshops in primary schools for the charity Open City and is a RIBA professional mentor for students at South Bank University.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Amanda joined Hounslow as Principal Urban Design Officer supporting to ensure that its ambitious development agenda was delivered to the highest standards, preserving communities and enhancing infrastructure. Her role involved using new digital tools to masterplan the Borough’s two Opportunity Areas; engaging with wider projects to digitise the planning system; coordinating the production of planning briefs for smaller sites, and assisting in managing the ‘Design Hounslow’ Programme including the new Hounslow Design Review Panel.

You can contact Amanda via her LinkedIn account.

#alumni
#lb-hounslow
#design-review #urban-design #council-led-housing

AMY LINFORD

Amy is an architect, community organiser, and tutor focusing on the social and political complexities of places and people. Prior to joining Public Practice, Amy was involved in the regeneration of Custom House of the Docklands through a community-council led partnership with PEACH and LB Newham. At muf architecture/art Amy was involved in public realm design, masterplanning, authoring guidance, brief writing, and community engagement.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Amy joined Thurrock’s new Design and Place-Making Team as a Senior Design Officer. Her role involved contributing to the development of Local Plan policy, masterplans, design strategies and development briefs; providing expert design advice for major projects and planning applications; and contributing to a resource library and material for training, including best practice and emerging intelligence from the industry.

You can contact Amy via her LinkedIn account.

#alumni
#thurrock-council
#engagement #masterplanning #urban-design

ANDREA JUNG

Andrea is an experienced architect who spent 10 years at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates in London where she led large, high-profile commercial projects in the UK and Europe, before founding her own practice, TURN Architects llp, specialising in residential work. She recently co-founded NoWA (Network of Women in Architecture), which supports, shares knowledge and aims to help give female practitioners a stronger voice.

As Housing Design Officer at LB Newham, Andrea is playing a key role within the borough’s new housing delivery function, supporting the delivery of well-designed homes for the biggest Council house building programme since the 1970s. Andrea’s work involves developing site briefs, supporting the appointment and management of design teams, helping to develop the Council’s specifications and design standards, and commenting on design proposals as they progress.

#associate
#lb-newham
#council-led-housing #architecture #project-management

ANDREW CATCHESIDE

Prior to joining Public Practice, Andrew was a co-director of Building BloQs, London’s largest open access workshop. He contributed to the regeneration strategy of Meridian Water in Enfield and coordinated a funding bid for the social enterprise, BloQs. During his studies, he began working for BloQs and was integral in the application for £2.7m as part of the GLA’s London Regeneration Fund (LRF). The project will facilitate the expansion and diversification of BloQs at Meridian Works - a launch project for the Meridian Water regeneration scheme in Enfield.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Andrew joined Enfield as Town Centre Development Manager to implement a Town Centre Action Plan to guide and support the diversification and resilience of the key Town Centres, drawing on best practice as well as identifying opportunities to innovate.

You can contact Andrew via his LinkedIn account.

#alumni
#lb-enfield
#engagement #regeneration #placemaking #town-centres

ANNA ROWELL

Prior to joining Public Practice, Anna worked for Sustrans as an embedded Senior Project Officer in the City of Edinburgh Council. Her role included leading on sustainable transport, strategic planning, infrastructure delivery, community engagement and urban regeneration projects. She successfully secured £6million in match funding for ambitious public realm improvements, and helped shape Edinburgh’s CityPlan 2030 to encourage positive future travel choices. Anna has provided consultancy support for the British Army in Cyprus, for Aga Khan Foundation and UN-Habitat projects in Cairo, and for GIZ in Berlin.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Anna joined Epping Forest as an Urban Design Officer. Her role involved providing specialist technical advice on masterplans and planning applications; delivering innovative solutions to masterplanning; preparing design codes that support the creation of high-quality Garden Town communities; and building capacity within the team to deliver the Local Plan’s increased emphasis on design.

#alumni
#epping-forest-dc
#masterplanning #active-travel #new-settlements #infrastructure

ANNA-LISA POLLOCK

Prior to joining Public Practice, Anna-Lisa was a senior architect at Penoyre & Prasad. She worked with residents on the Lancaster West Estate in Kensington and Chelsea, as part of an estate-wide refurbishment following the terrible tragedy of Grenfell Tower. She has experience in designing for education and elderly living, completing the design & delivery of an exemplary high-rise school in the heart of the Olympic Park. Anna-Lisa has been co-leading a Design Think Tank at the London School of Architecture.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Anna-Lisa joined Enfield, as Senior Architect. She was responsible for providing architectural advice and solutions across Enfield’s Property and Housing functions. Her role involved undertaking site analysis, capacity and feasibility studies; developing design briefs; and managing multi-disciplinary design teams to shape the design and quality of the Council’s house building programme and other capital build projects.

You can contact Anna-Lisa via her LinkedIn account.

#alumni
#lb-enfield
#engagement #estate-renewal #council-led-housing #architecture

ARANZAZU FERNANDEZ RANGEL

Aranzazu is a design professional with a background in architecture, public realm design and psychotherapy. She has worked with muf architecture/art for over a decade, delivering public realm projects and strategies to improve everyday places and empower communities through participatory design processes. She has led diverse, collaborative project teams, which have included: Local Authorities, TfL, GLA, Historic England, NHS Trusts, The Church of England, cultural organisations, artists, makers, contractors, and community representatives.

Aranzazu is focusing on the ‘Meanwhile Uses for All’ project which encourages activities on temporarily vacant or underused sites that bring together existing and new residents in activities to build a cohesive community. Aranzazu's role involves researching existing arrangements of meanwhile uses in the borough and developing a strategy and management framework for Council-owned assets, including expanding the digital platform linking users with assets and setting up pilot projects.

#associate
#lb-tower-hamlets
#engagement #meanwhile-use #public-realm

ARCHIE BASHFORD

Archie Bashford is a landscape architect, most recently at Levitt Bernstein, where he worked in a multidisciplinary environment collaborating with architects and urban designers across education, extra-care, and affordable housing projects.

At Thurrock Council, Archie is promoting good placemaking across the borough through the development of Local Plan policy, masterplans, development briefs, ‘Place Documents’ and a Public Realm Design Guide. He is also providing specialist design advice for major projects and planning applications, and working with the Thurrock Design Review Panel to improve the design of schemes.

#associate
#thurrock-council
#design-review #placemaking #planning-policy #public-realm

ARMAN NOURI

Arman is a cultural practitioner with a degree in Anthropology and a Masters in Urban Studies. His MSc dissertation explored the possibilities that meanwhile space offers for communities and grassroots culture, with a particular focus on improving cultural and meanwhile space policy to better facilitate community participation and empowerment. Following this, Arman co-founded art and architecture studio People’s Place. He is also co-founder and editor of EYESORE, a print magazine and events programme about cities and architecture.

At Enfield, Arman is playing a key role in defining how Enfield engages and involves residents, businesses, politicians and other stakeholders in new estate renewal projects, initially focusing on the Joyce and Snells estate – Enfield’s flagship regeneration scheme in one of the poorest parts of London.

#associate
#lb-enfield
#engagement #estate-renewal #council-led-housing

ASHLEIGH WATKINS

Ashleigh is an Architect, with a background in strategic and community-led regeneration. Prior to joining Public Practice, he worked at the GLA to develop cross borough regeneration initiatives to align with the London Plan. In this role, he also supported recipients of the Good Growth Fund and CrowdFund London to deliver both capital and revenue funded projects in alignment with the Mayor’s Good Growth by Design programme. He has also worked for Erect Architecture, delivering public realm, architectural and landscape projects with local authorities, national charities, schools, housing associations, and community groups.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Ashleigh joined Barnet as a Town Centres Investment Manager. He worked closely with Council officers, local businesses, community groups, developers and other levels of government to develop and deliver strategies combining economic, social and physical interventions across Barnet’s town centres.

#lb-barnet
#engagement #regeneration #placemaking

BALDEEP HEER

Baldeep is an architect with experience across stages on residential, mixed-use, commercial and retail sectors. She has mentored for the Steven Lawrence Charitable Trust and is a RIBA Architectural Ambassador.

Baldeep has taken on the role of Urban Design Architect at Haringey, where she is focusing on strategic regeneration projects and a range of housing delivery projects on multiple sites. Her work involves the coordination and delivery of key physical regeneration projects in Wood Green, and area or site-based design briefs and frameworks for key mixed-use and employment-led sites in South Tottenham and Tottenham Hale.

#associate
#lb-haringey
#engagement #regeneration #urban-design

BELINDA GREENWELL

Belinda is a chartered town planner, who has worked in private practice for the past six years, advising on redevelopment potential, preparing planning appeals and managing both large and small planning applications. Working alongside local authorities to achieve planning consents for a range of clients, she negotiated with both clients and planning authorities to improve schemes to create better places for those who will use them.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Belinda joined Sutton as Housing and Planning Advisor. She helped to shape Sutton’s new estate regeneration programme around Sutton Town Centre and produced a draft Affordable Housing SPD. Her role across the Strategic Planning and Housing Regeneration Teams aligned engagement with existing residents with the emerging Northern Gateway Area Action Plan and helped produce a viable delivery strategy for the regeneration of up to five estates.

#alumni
#lb-sutton
#planning-policy #estate-renewal #viability

BEN SMITH

Prior to joining Public Practice, Ben worked as a Chartered Landscape Architect and associate at Kinnear Landscape Architects. Ben has experience across different scales and types of projects from landscape strategy, to town centre regeneration and parks. He was the Project Landscape Architect on Walthamstow Wetlands, a landscape led and multi award-winning project that, at 200 Hectares, is a green space of London wide significance. Ben is interested in the many facets of landscape and urban space; how they can connect people, draw upon innate characters of a place and address the urgent urban environmental issues of our time.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Ben joined Epping Forest as Landscape Officer within a new joint implementation team working on Harlow and Gilston Garden Town sites across Epping Forest, Harlow and East Herts Districts, and other strategic sites in Epping Forest District Council’s Local Plan submission.

#alumni
#epping-forest-dc
#new-settlements #ecology-biodiversity #landscape

BLAZEJ CZUBA

Blazej is an urban designer who has practiced in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Russia and the UK; Before joining Public Practice, Blazej was at Maccreanor Lavington, leading the practice’s work on the masterplans for Old Oak Common (OPDC), Meridian Water (Enfield) and Aylesbury Estate Phase 2 (Southwark). He also had key roles on projects such as Bridge Close (Havering), Brent Cross South (Barnet), Canada Water (Southwark) and Blackfriars Circus (Southwark).

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Blazej joined St Albans’ Planning and Building Control Department as Principal Urban Designer. Within this role he provided specialist urban design expertise and capacity on the development briefing, masterplanning and detailed design guidance for a series of major urban extensions and assisted in upskilling established staff on design analysis, critique, policy and management.

#alumni
#st-albans-city-dc
#masterplanning #planning-policy #new-settlements #pre-apps

CARMEL KEREN

Carmel is an urban designer and researcher with expertise in community-led design. She has worked on several large-scale masterplan projects, as well as a mix of research and small-scale build projects across London, Glasgow and Lisbon, championing engagement with local communities. At the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Carmel led Our Stockwell, a co-design research project that explored the link between the urban built environment and childhood obesity. Alongside this, Carmel worked extensively on a range of urban design projects at Fletcher Priest Architects including a new town at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire which was nominated for Architect’s Journal Masterplan of the Year 2018.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Carmel joined GLA’s newly formed Urban Design Team, as an Urban Designer. She contributed to the initiation, design, management and completion of Opportunity Area Planning Frameworks for the capital’s most significant growth locations, she focused on creating a new best practice approach to consultation and engagement for these locations.

#alumni
#greater-london-authority
#engagement #masterplanning #placemaking #urban-design

CATHERINE MOLLETT

Catherine has a background in architecture, most recently at Asif Khan, where she led the studio's work on the new Museum of London. During her MA, she examined the design legacy of Boris Johnson as Mayor of London, exploring the role of the Mayor as an unintended creative lead. She is interested in housing and housing policy, a concern which has also led her to work as a Street Outreach volunteer for Tower Hamlet and as the Lead Coordinator for Cardiff Action for Single Homeless.

Catherine has taken on the role of Growth Manager at Lewisham where she is responsible for identifying, coordinating and visualising ways in which the borough can optimise sites for development, particularly on public land and with a focus on social housing. She is also supporting planning colleagues with the commissioning and managing of design consultants preparing an innovative Small Sites SPD and on the production of a masterplan for the A21 strategic growth corridor.

#associate
#lb-lewisham
#delivery #council-led-housing #small-sites

CIARA HANSON

Ciara Hanson is a Chartered Landscape Architect committed to delivering resilient public realm to inform healthier communities. Central to her approach is utilising green infrastructure to resolve Planning challenges, demonstrated in her transformative approach to Waterloo City Hub whilst at TfL. She led design teams through implementation of award-winning schemes including Bracknell Regeneration and Elephant Park public realm MP2, supported by her technical expertise in SuDS and inclusive design.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Ciara’s role within the newly formed Havering Placemaking team extended across the Council, expanding its in-house ambition to create healthier neighbourhoods by embracing sustainable growth. She informed emerging policy and shaped health impact assessments, alongside carrying out a pre-app advisory role focused on sensitive sites and Regeneration Areas, including the Rainham & Beam Park development.

#alumni
#lb-havering
#urban-design #sustainability #ecology-biodiversity #landscape

CLARISSA YEE

Clarissa is a project architect with experience in leading residential projects for a variety of local authority clients, ranging from small urban infill housing in Newham and Greenwich to larger suburban neighbourhoods with improved public realm in Thurrock and Sutton. Clarissa is an advocate for diversity within the construction industry and promotes the empowerment of people from diverse backgrounds within the profession. She has been a mentor for the FLUID diversity programme and worked with secondary schools to inform students of roles within the construction industry.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Clarissa took the role of Housing Design and Development Officer and assisted Redbridge’s Urban Design, Development Management and Housing teams to take a design-led approach to deliver a new generation of high-quality council housing across a variety of sites including infill developments, vacant garage sites and more significant renewal schemes.

#alumni
#lb-redbridge
#urban-design #delivery #council-led-housing

CLAUDIA NICOLINI

Claudia is an urban practitioner with seven years of experience in city development, urban studies and community engagement projects. She has spent the majority of her career in Chile, working in local government in roles including City Housing Director and Head of Regional Environment and Urban Development. In 2019 she completed an MSc. Environment and Sustainable Development at UCL, where she developed collaborative research in Sierra Leone to understand the effect of climate change on local communities in Freetown´s informal settlements.

Claudia is working in Epping Forest District Council's Policy and Implementation Team to facilitate the negotiation and delivery of the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town Communities. Her role is focused on developed a collaborative and coordinated approach to implementation across the Garden Town partnership, ensuring Garden City principles are at the heart of all developments.

#associate
#epping-forest-dc
#masterplanning #planning-policy #new-settlements

DAN DALEY

Dan is a researcher and certified project manager with experience in urban design, community outreach and artistic programming. Prior to joining Public Practice, he worked on multiple collaborative planning processes to shape small to large scale masterplans and design briefs, created research material and facilitated design workshops for nonprofit and for-profit clients. He has a background in creative writing and producing independent theatre.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Dan joined Ashford Borough Council as Masterplanning and Delivery Coordinator. He led a high profile initiative bringing together multiple stakeholder groups to determine long-term community stewardship of local assets in a major growth area south of Ashford. His role involved developing the Council’s long-term quality placemaking ambitions and he made recommendations for a joined-up approach based on best practices identified in the emerging community management trust for Chilmington Green.

#alumni
#ashford-borough-council
#engagement #meanwhile-use #new-settlements #landscape

DOROTHEE WOOLLARD

Dorothee has over 20 years of experience in engineering design and consulting at Arup and Foster + Partners, specialising in public health and environmental water services. In 2017 she established her own water engineering and sustainability consultancy, with a particular interest in the environmental and aesthetic issues of building and infrastructure design. Her expertise also covers sustainability advice and a wide range of sustainability assessment tools.

Dorothee has taken on the role of Infrastructure Coordinator at LB Tower Hamlets, which is part of a pioneering new London-wide infrastructure coordination service, in partnership with the GLA. The service facilitates liaison between developers and infrastructure asset owners to proactively plan, design and construct London’s infrastructure. Dorothee is playing a key role in providing design advice and coordination, sharing best practice, informing local policy and plans, and researching, developing and implementing innovative infrastructure that reduces disruption and contributes to more liveable, healthy, sustainable and biodiverse places.

#associate
#lb-tower-hamlets
#delivery #sustainability #infrastructure

EI-LYN CHIA

Ei-Lyn is an urban designer with a background in architecture and research. Prior to joining Public Practice, she was a project coordinator at Publica where she worked on developing visions, strategies and briefs for regeneration projects.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Ei-Lyn joined the GLA Planning team as Urban Designer. In this role, she contributed to the design and management of Opportunity Area Planning Frameworks. This involved developing urban strategies and masterplans for the Thamesmead and Bexley Opportunity Areas; undertaking development capacity studies; planning for transport and social infrastructure to support growth, and providing design advice to developers on area masterplans.

#alumni
#greater-london-authority
#masterplanning #placemaking #urban-design #industry

ELENI KATRINI

Eleni is an architect and academic with a research focus on urban commons, community empowerment, participation, and urban ecology. Specifically, her doctoral dissertation identified catalyzing spatial patterns of resident-led sharing culture practices within urban neighbourhoods. Eleni has worked on participatory planning and co-design projects in the US and UK and has taught on issues of urban ecology and the urban commons at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Sheffield.

Eleni’s role at Newham is as Lead Urban Designer, working to develop and deliver an exciting and progressive town centre strategy for Green Street (Upton Park), Forest Gate and East Ham. Her work involves carrying out research and analysis of the existing town centres, leading interactive co-design workshops with the local community and stakeholders and developing town centre strategies and a strong set of place principles for each town centre to guide future development.

#associate
#lb-newham
#engagement #regeneration #town-centres

ELIZABETH RAPOPORT

Elizabeth is an urban specialist with nearly two decades of experience working on planning, policy and governance issues in cities around the world, most recently as Director of Research and Advisory Services for the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Europe. She holds a Doctorate in Urban Sustainability and Resilience from UCL and has led numerous international research and consultancy projects on urban and regional planning, governance, sustainability and climate change.

Elizabeth has taken on the role of Strategic Development Manager for Meridian Water, Enfield’s flagship £7bn regeneration programme of an 85-hectare site, which the council are developing. Elizabeth is curating and coordinating the production of a suite of strategies including sustainability, smart cities, meanwhile, employment, community engagement and estate management to realise Enfield’s vision for Meridian Water to be the greenest development in London.

#associate
#lb-enfield
#regeneration #masterplanning

ELLEN HADDEN

Ellen is an architect, most recently a senior associate at DSDHA. Her architectural experience spans public realm design, brief writing and project leading masterplans and new build housing. Acting as masterplan lead in the Central Somers Town Community Investment Programme, she worked with five other practices, developing a dialogue between a multi-headed client and stakeholder group. In 2016, she was awarded a 2-year Research Fellowship in the Built Environment by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, which investigated how improvements to walking and cycling infrastructure can help improve London’s public realm.

Ellen's role at LB Havering involves embedding design across the planning process to ensure that growth and regeneration is of a high quality. She is providing urban design input through the Local Plan, the design review process, advising on regeneration initiatives and inputting into strategically important planning applications, including within the Council’s major regeneration areas of Romford Town Centre and Rainham/Beam Park.

#associate
#lb-havering
#design-review #masterplanning #urban-design #pre-apps

FRASER MCQUADE

Fraser is an architect with experience across all stages on a wide variety of projects. These include the delivery of an award-winning visitor centre for a rural museum in Sussex, the restoration of a listed Georgian building in Lewes and designing a new, local authority led visitor centre and station for the world’s oldest electric railway on Brighton’s seafront.

Fraser has taken on the role of Principal Planning Officer at Brighton and Hove, where he is providing specialist expert advice on urban design and place-making, shaping future schemes and working with internal and external stakeholders to have a long-lasting and positive impact on the city. He is advising on a number of planning and development issues, including the emerging Urban Design Framework.

#associate
#brighton-hove-council
#design-review #urban-design #sustainability #pre-apps

GEORGIE DAY

Georgie has been an architectural designer, public realm designer, furniture designer, urbanist, small business owner, journalist, researcher and teacher, exploring the same question of how architecture and cities can serve some conception of "the good life". She was previously director at FACtotum, a practice she co-founded with 4 friends. Georgie teaches BA Architecture at Central St Martins teaching in Studio 2 with Oscar Brito. She is an expert in UK housing cooperatives, having completed a 2 year MPhil on the topic at University of Cambridge, and has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford.

Georgie has taken on the role of Economic Development Project Officer at LB Enfield, supporting the borough’s Town Centre Action Plans and helping to guide the diversification and resilience of Enfield’s Town Centres. As a key member of the Council’s Economic Development Team, Georgie is contributing directly to delivering homes in well-connected neighbourhoods, building the local economy to create a thriving place, and sustaining strong and healthy communities.

#associate
#lb-enfield
#engagement #placemaking #economic-development #town-centres

GWENAËL JERRETT

Gwenaël is an architect with experience working in the UK and France across the residential, sports and education sectors, and a particular interest in housing design and policy. At Metropolitan Workshop she led successful mixed-use master planning bids and competitions. Before this, she was a partner at Cullinan Studio where she was part of the Housing Sector Group and designed and delivered large housing schemes.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Gwenaël joined the LLDC as Senior Designer within the Development Directorate. In this role, she ensured that high-quality design was consistently provided across the organisation. Gwenaël provided design advice on major planning applications as well as client-side on LLDC developments with a focus on residential schemes, linking to the mayor’s new housing targets and the GLA’s Good Growth Agenda, and looked at new models of affordable homes.

#alumni
#london-legacy-development-corporation
#urban-design #council-led-housing #pre-apps

HANA LOFTUS

Hana is co-director of HAT Projects, an award-winning architecture and enabling practice with whom she has delivered civic, cultural and community projects at large and small scales. Hana is an experienced facilitator of co-design processes and other methods of community involvement in design and regeneration.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Hana joined the Shared Planning Service in South Cambs District Council as a part-time Planning and Special Projects Officer. In this role, she developed and tested new models of planning and design guidance within rural parish communities which are set to experience high levels of growth and development. She worked with parish communities to understand their priorities for how new development is integrated, existing examples of good and bad practice, and developed new adopted design guidance for a number of villages with current applications and pre-applications in the pipeline. She evaluated the results to establish a process map for delivering effective policy guidance for the district more widely.

#alumni
#greater-cambridge-planning-services
#engagement #masterplanning #planning-policy #urban-design

HANNAH LAMBERT

Hannah is an architect with experience working with strategic regeneration. At the Regional Development Agency in Yorkshire, she was responsible for the delivery of urban development framework strategies and acted as design advisor on new public realm, masterplanning and civic buildings across the region.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Hannah joined the Regeneration and Planning Team in Newham Council as Senior Regeneration Manager. She worked as part of a small team leading the Canning Town and Custom House estate regeneration Programme. This was the first time that Newham had developed its own planning application of this scale. The council hoped that Hannah’s involvement defined a final vision for the area, set the standard for the design quality of council-led schemes as well as delivery by future development partners and speed up the regeneration process through giving certainty to developers.

#alumni
#lb-newham
#engagement #meanwhile-use #regeneration #estate-renewal

HELEN EVANS

Helen is an Architect and Passivhaus Certified Designer with experience across residential, workplace, education and urban design projects – ranging from small-scale domestic refurbishments to large urban renewal developments. During her six years as a partner at Cullinan Studio, she gained first-hand experience of cross-disciplinary collaboration and on-site delivery.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Helen took on the role of Development and Design Manager at Newham and played a key role within Newham’s new housing delivery function, supporting the delivery of well-designed homes for the biggest Council house building programme since the 1970s. Her role involved developing site briefs; supporting the appointment and management of design teams; helping to develop and manage the production of the Council’s employer’s requirements, specifications and housing design standards; and commenting on concept to final design proposals as they progress.

You can contact Helen via their LinkedIn account here.

#alumni
#lb-newham
#council-led-housing #sustainability #project-management

HELEN MARKIDES

Helen’s background is in project management, monitoring and evaluation, and policy in both public and private settings, with almost a decade of experience in roles, focused on improving outcomes for people and places. Her work in data and digital solutions includes the development of an online map to show where British aid is spent and delivering benefits management for HS2 and most recently, she led on monitoring and reporting for the Prosperity Fund’s Global Infrastructure and the Global Future Cities programmes, supporting them to build a theory of change for how their interventions will lead to sustainable development and poverty reduction.

At the GLA, Helen will focus on identifying, designing, and ensuring the delivery of data innovation programmes by providing leadership and technical advice to a portfolio of projects, particularly London's Underground Asset Register and the Infrastructure Mapping Application. She will work in partnership with boroughs, utilities and digital teams to ensure the programmes enable housing delivery and manage the disruptive impacts of London’s growth.

#associate
#greater-london-authority
#digital-data #project-management #infrastructure

HOLLY HAYWARD

Holly is an architect, joining Public Practice from Morris + Company where she has been a Project Architect on a range of complex, mixed-use briefs. Most recently this has included delivering the award shortlisted Energy hub, a mixed-use building in Elephant and Castle, a new build + renovation of historic buildings for an office development for British Land within the Spitalfields conservation area.

Holly is Senior Urban Designer at Camden, where she is focusing on site identification, appraisal and prioritisation to support the borough’s Small Sites Programme. She is producing detailed design work related to high priority sites and producing site reports in preparation for planning submission.

#associate
#lb-camden
#council-led-housing #small-sites

HUW TREVORROW

Huw Trevorrow has a background in architecture and urban design. Before joining Public Practice, Huw was a Design Advisor for Design South East, where he supported local planning authorities and developers in areas including Brighton, Kent and Kingston upon Thames. Previous to this role he worked for Publica, developing public realm strategies for areas including Westminster and The City of London. He has also worked in architectural practice in London and Brazil.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Huw took on the role of Urban Design Officer and joined Havering's newly formed Placemaking team. His role involved working across the department, providing design advice on strategic planning applications, developing planning guidance, and inputting into council-led development projects. He also provided training for planning officers and councillors, helping to encourage design-led approaches in the planning process.

You can read more about Huw's work in the Practice Note Engaging Members and contact Huw directly via their LinkedIn account here.

#alumni
#lb-havering
#design-review #urban-design #pre-apps

IBRAHIM BUHARI

Ibrahim is an architect with experience leading award-winning projects including the Depot cinema and the Campbeltown Picturehouse. Ibrahim's experience working on historic buildings has developed his interest in the adaptive re-use of existing buildings and he is currently working towards gaining accreditation as a Conservation Architect. Ibrahim is committed to redressing the under-representation of professionals from BAME backgrounds in the built environment through his role as a member of the RIBA's advisory group on EDI, Architects for Change, and through mentoring at the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust and at the University of East London.

As Senior Urban Designer, Ibrahim is embedding a proactive approach to development in Kensington and Chelsea’s Conservation and Design Team by coaching officers and providing training to improve the team’s capability in critiquing projects. He is focusing on larger development proposals in key areas of change, especially Kensal Canalside and Earls Court Opportunity Areas, as well as improving the operation of the borough’s Architectural Appraisal Panel and encouraging community engagement at pre-application stage

#associate
#royal-borough-of-kensington-chelsea
#design-review #urban-design #heritage

IONE BRADDICK

Prior to joining Public Practice Ione worked at Archio as Project Architect and Head of PR for a number of years, leading on the design and delivery of housing schemes. Ione has run engagement and design workshops for the Lewisham Community Land Trust, the London Festival of Architecture and within schools as an RIBA Architecture Ambassador.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Ione joined Epping Forest District Council in their Implementation Team as an Urban Designer. In this role, she helped to ensure the design and quality standards set out in the emerging Local Plan were implemented. This included liaising and advising on masterplans, including major growth areas around the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town. Alongside this, Ione provided design advice for major schemes in the district and coordinated the newly set up Quality Review Panel.

You can watch a short video interview of Ione during her placement, read more about her work in the Practice Note Measuring Design Review and contact Ione via her LinkedIn account.

#alumni
#epping-forest-dc
#design-review #masterplanning #urban-design #new-settlements

JAN ACKENHAUSEN

Jan is an urbanist with a background in sociology and cultural production. Before joining Public Practice, Jan worked as a project manager with the Brussels public planning agency, Perspective, where he was in charge of integrating spaces of work (industry, port activities, and vacant office buildings) with the surrounding urban fabric.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Jan joined the OPDC’s Design Team as Principal Urban Designer. In this role, he led the feasibility and concept development stage of the organisation’s placemaking projects including public realm, meanwhile use and early activation projects. He was also involved in establishing a clear approach to design and placemaking for the OPDC. Jan provided design advice on architectural, urban design and landscape design aspects of planning applications and infrastructure projects, and provided advice and support in the preparation of the OPDC’s planning policies related to design and placemaking.

#alumni
#old-oak-park-royal-development-corporation
#design-review #masterplanning #placemaking #urban-design

JENNIFER GUTTERIDGE

Jennifer is an urban planner with an architectural background. She joined Public Practice from Lambeth Council where she was a Principal Urban Design Officer.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Jennifer joined the Royal Docks team at the GLA as Design Advisor. In this role she worked on the Enterprise Zone Delivery Plan — which set out the key themes of Promotion, Connectivity, Place, Economy and Activation – and provided particular support on the Place strand, the strategic objective of which was to “transform the quality of place through a ‘Great Estate’ approach, building on the Royal Docks’ unique landscape and heritage.” Among other things, this involved rethinking the use of the water and how the public realm fits together.

#alumni
#royal-docks
#placemaking #public-realm #urban-design #delivery

JESSICA CARGILL THOMPSON

Jessica is a writer, editor, journalist, urbanist and community engager. Following a career in journalism which included seven years as features/deputy editor of Time Out London and authoring numerous books, she recently undertook an MSc in Urban Studies at UCL. Her research included a joint report into local involvement with Opportunity Area planning, and an independent dissertation on place, identity and regeneration strategies around London's Old Kent Road. Since 2016 she has been running community engagement events around the Old Kent Road, and fundraising to establish an 'urban room' as a permanent hub for the public to interact with planning.

Jessica has joined Waltham Forest's Planning Policy Team as Community Engagement Officer. Her role involves engaging with local residents and other stakeholders to develop an effective communication and engagement strategy for the Local Plan and an issues and options version of a strategic site allocations document. Her role centres on building a strong relationship with stakeholders and acting as a bridge between the Council and the community.

#associate
#lb-waltham-forest
#engagement #planning-policy

JOANNE PRESTON

Joanne has a background in architecture, urban design and architectural history and theory. Prior to joining Public Practice Joanne worked at AR Urbanism, alongside community groups to develop design codes to support their neighbourhood plans. She previously worked at Sarah Wigglesworth Architects and Peter Barber Architects where she contributed to the design and delivery of public realm and social housing projects, the production of a housing design guide for a national housing association and a strategic vision for Ebbsfleet Garden City Development Corporation.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Joanne joined Greater Cambridge Planning Service as Principal Urban Design Officer. Her role sat within the joint planning service’s multi-disciplinary Built and Natural Environment Team and involved working on the masterplan for Northstowe New Town. She supported the development of Cambridge Biomedical Campus and contributed to the design code for an urban extension to the east of Cambridge.

#alumni
#greater-cambridge-planning-services
#masterplanning #urban-design #new-settlements

JOHN STILES

John is an architect interested in housing design within the context of the campaign for affordable homes. His research focuses on commuter-belt communities on the periphery of London and he has been developing a self-directed project exploring how strategic infill development can help regenerate these areas. John has been involved in a number of council-led housing development - looking into the pressures in today’s procurement and delivery processes and the positive impact that considered development can have on communities.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, John took on the role of Quality and Design Advisor with TFL’s Property Development team. He ensured that the principles of Good Growth by Design were followed-up on a range of housing and mixed-use schemes, from development concept to scheme development. His role also involved coordinating design reviews; helping to deliver in-house training workshops, charrettes and building visits; drafting design policy documents and updating the team’s Design Review Protocol.

#alumni
#transport-for-london
#design-review #urban-design #delivery #council-led-housing

JONATHAN BRODERICK

Jonathan trained in social science, urban design and urban policy at LSE. As an urban researcher, a project manager and consultant, he has worked with a range of built environment organisations in the UK and abroad, including We Made That, Gensler, Arup Foresight Research + Innovation, the Future Cities Catapult, and Bioregional. He is interested in exploring interdisciplinary views of urban development - considering medium to long-term impacts on economic vitality, social inclusion, health and wellbeing, and environmental sustainability.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Jonathan joined Barnet as a Town Centres Investment Manager and worked closely with Council officers, local businesses, community groups, developers and other levels of government. He helped to develop and deliver strategies combining economic, social and physical interventions across Barnet’s town centres.

#alumni
#lb-barnet
#engagement #regeneration #placemaking #town-centres

JONATHAN KEEN

Jonathan is a transport planner, most recently within Imperial College London’s Transport Strategy Centre where he advised global Public Transport operators on service and operations. While working on transport demand management schemes in Greater Manchester, Jonathan sat on the Manchester Climate Change Board. A large focus of his work has been championing digitising data and using GIS to visualise complex issues.

Jonathan has taken on the role of Infrastructure Coordinator at LB Croydon, part of a pioneering new London-wide infrastructure coordination service, in partnership with the GLA. The service facilitates liaison between developers and infrastructure asset owners to proactively plan, design and construct London’s infrastructure. Jonathan's role involves providing design advice and coordination, sharing best practice and supporting a London-wide community of infrastructure coordinators, informing local policy and plans, and researching, developing and implementing an innovative infrastructure that reduces disruption and contributes to more liveable, healthy places.

JONATHAN WATSON

Jonathan is a collaborative project manager with experience in the rail sector, most recently at Network Rail where he managed change projects to ensure minimal disruption to operational railway and the public. He has a background in modern languages and qualifications in programme and project management.

As Infrastructure Delivery Officer within the GLA, Jonathan has joined the recently established Infrastructure Coordination Team, working on a wide range of projects which support the development of initiatives designed to improve the way in which infrastructure is delivered across London. Jonathan’s role involves working with data and engagement with stakeholders to identify opportunities for infrastructure coordination, as well as ensuring the alignment of initiatives to wider GLA and Mayoral objectives, and monitoring and evaluating the success of initiatives to inform future funding.

#associate
#greater-london-authority
#delivery #digital-data #project-management #infrastructure

JORGE ROMAN RODRIGUEZ

Jorge is an architect with experience on a broad range of residential, education, healthcare, public estates and urban planning projects. He is joining Public Practice from Mace, where he contributes coordination, technical and design services to Public Estate's government frameworks. He has also delivered development projects in the third sector, where he fostered an interest in urban resilience – taken further through an MA in Environment and Sustainable Development.

Jorge has taken on the role of Principal Regeneration Officer, playing a key role in shaping and delivering Enfield’s flagship estate renewal project, Joyce and Snells – from masterplanning through to a resident ballot. He is also developing good practice toolkits and in-house coaching to guide Enfield’s future estate regeneration schemes.

#associate
#lb-enfield
#engagement #estate-renewal #council-led-housing

JOSHUA DOYLE

Joshua is a process-driven designer working across Europe and within various creative sectors. Prior to joining Public Practice, Joshua worked on varying scales and typologies of architectural projects and most notably led the design and renovation of a five-acre site on the Suffolk coastline, to create a contemporary bed and breakfast and viable business. Since its completion, the project has received multiple national awards and was shortlisted for Stephen Lawrence Prize in 2018. Joshua has been a visiting critic at multiple universities and has taught at the Royal College of Art, as part of the Information Experience Design MA.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Joshua joined Redbridge’s Urban Design, Development Management and Planning Policy teams. In his role as Urban Design and Heritage Growth Officer, he took a design-led approach to regeneration and placemaking, whilst ensuring that the Borough’s heritage and important community assets were enhanced.

#alumni
#lb-redbridge
#design-review #urban-design #digital-data #heritage

KAROLINE DE MENDONCA

Karoline de Mendonca is an architectural professional with 11 years of experience working in London, Sydney, Brisbane, Ahmedabad, and Sao Paulo. She has worked on projects ranging from multi-million-pound corporate fit-outs to a small pre-school in the Tekra slum in Ahmedabad, India. Her interests and expertise are in the understanding of heritage and character in placemaking, holding a Masters in Building History from the University of Cambridge.

Karoline has joined Richmond and Wandsworth as Conservation & Urban Design Specialist, where she is focusing on promoting a proactive approach to placemaking, conservation and urban design across the Planning Service. Alongside building capacity through training, Karoline is updating the conservation areas appraisal and studies, developing borough-wide urban design studies incorporating tall buildings guidance, and contributing to a Masterplan SPD for Wandsworth Central involving industrial intensification.

#associate
#lb-richmond-wandsworth
#urban-design #heritage

KATHERINE SPENCE

Katherine is an architecturally trained practitioner with a decade of experience in research and design-led practice. Her expertise is in high-quality design, multi-disciplinary collaboration and participative processes involving local stakeholders. She has developed innovative research methods with public sector partners, not-for-profits and educational institutions, including a commission by the GLA and a collaboration between Central Saint Martins and SPACE Artist Studio Providers. She was the co-recipient of the 2017 Central Saint Martins Graduate Design Consultancy, and was awarded the 2016 Lethaby Gallery Residency for Architecture.

Katherine’s role as Place Shaping Officer at Westminster City Council focuses on supporting the development of a place strategy for one of the Council’s priority areas. She is involved in place analysis, engaging communities and stakeholders, formulating place strategies, developing urban design and public realm projects, preparing briefs, and coordinating and clienting projects.

#associate
#westminster-city-council
#engagement #placemaking #public-realm #urban-design

KATHY MACEWEN

Kathy is a town planner with 25 years’ experience. She worked as a planner in Camden and Hackney and started Design Awards in those boroughs, embedding design quality within their planning services. She was Head of Programmes at Design Council Cabe and a CABE Built Environment Expert.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Kathy joined the Housing, Planning & Regulatory Services team in Hounslow Council as Principal Urban Design Officer. In this role, she pushed best design practice in all new developments. Key deliverables included developing a framework for design review; establishing a best practice portfolio of schemes for the borough; pushing new developers to adhere to the highest design standards; and developing a design award programme.

#alumni
#lb-hounslow
#design-review #urban-design

KAVITA TAILOR

Kavita is an Associate RICS Project Manager and passionate about creating an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable built environment. Kavita has a background in economic development, regeneration and housing, having worked in Mace's housing and regeneration consultancy team and with various built environment social enterprises in the UK and India. Prior to Public Practice, she was a Project Manager at Southwark Council working on the Aylesbury Regeneration and supporting a social enterprise, Livesey Exchange, to design, build and operate a temporary community space on the Old Kent Road.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Kavita joined OPDC as Early Activation Project Manager. She was responsible for the delivery of the first phase of the Early Activation programme; piloting local activities and initiatives, delivering a range of meanwhile use and public realm projects; creating immediate benefits for local communities and establishing a strong identity for Old Oak and Park Royal.

#alumni
#old-oak-park-royal-development-corporation
#meanwhile-use #placemaking #project-management #industry

KENDRA INMAN

Kendra is an experienced chartered landscape architect who has worked on a wide range of urban public realm schemes, masterplans and parks for the public sector and commercial clients. Prior to joining Public Practice, she was senior landscape architect at Groundwork London, delivering key public space and park projects, and lead urban designer at Sustrans, delivering new walking and cycling routes for TFL.

Kendra has taken the role of Urban Design Advisor at TfL, joining a team within the City Planning directorate to bring creative thinking about how to integrate a Healthy Streets approach into the earliest stages of TfL Surface street and public realm schemes. Her role involves engaging with colleagues across TfL, the GLA and other Mayoral organisations, developing urban design proposals for specific projects, and helping to ensure TfL’s work is informed by the latest national and international best practice.

#associate
#transport-for-london
#public-realm #active-travel #landscape

KRISHAN NATHANIEL

Krishan is an architectural designer, artist and policy advisor. He joins Public Practice from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government where he has helped shape national policy as part of of the Housing Diversification and Climate Change teams and as programme manager for the Home of 2030. He is architect-in-residence at Glamis Adventure Playground, Tower Hamlets and has exhibited work in Rio de Janeiro, Munich and Shanghai while his independent arts practice explores place and cultural identity through diorama.

At LB Harrow, Krishan has taken on the role of Design Officer, providing urban design advice to the Council’s Planning Team. He provides design input on major planning applications and is part of the development team working on schemes through Planning Performance Agreements. Krishan also supports the policy team in the development and review of design policies and is working on a Supplementary Planning Document on residential design.

#associate
#lb-harrow
#planning-policy #urban-design #pre-apps

KWAME LOWE

Kwame has experience of building links between councils and communities, in particular in his role as Co-chair of RUSS, a Community Land Trust, where he developed a framework for creating sustainable neighbourhoods and genuinely affordable homes. Kwame has also built communities online, as the Founder and Director of (In)Space – a collective of young, black British, male creatives who seek to engage communities by exhibiting art outside of galleries and museums.

At Redbridge, Kwame took on the role of Community Engagement Officer within the Regeneration Team, playing a pivotal role in defining and building the council’s regeneration offer to the community through Council services, Redbridge Living and a new Community Hubs programme.

#associate
#lb-redbridge
#engagement #council-led-housing

LAETITIA PANCRAZI

Laetitia is a sustainability advisor with experience in environmental and fundraising consultancy, research and analytics, as well as in development and project management. Prior to joining Public Practice, Laetitia was Director of Research at RHI LLC, assisting non-profit organisations in solving complex issues whilst ensuring they maximise their societal impacts. Prior to this, she was a Senior Associate at Kingston Smith where she oversaw the fundraising and management strategies of cultural and environmental organisations.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Laetitia took on the role of Environmental Advisor and helped Ashford Borough Council embed a cohesive and cross-sectoral environmental strategy across its future corporate plan and associated policies. Her role involved working with staff across the Council, members and partners, as well as with the community, in order to develop a bespoke and pragmatic Ashford agenda that resonated with people's concerns, maximised the impact from limited resources and engendered community-led environmental actions.

#alumni
#ashford-borough-council
#active-travel #sustainability

LAURA HART

Laura is an urban designer with over 10 years’ experience in both the public and private sectors, with a variety of different research and design roles. Prior to her joining Public Practice, she was an Associate Urban Designer in a private practice in London. With her range of experience, she has a holistic view of the design process and the practical skills to help deliver high-quality places.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Laura joined RBKC’s Conservation & Design Team as Senior Urban Designer. She worked both internally and externally to build design capacity in the Borough. As well as giving design advice on major schemes, her role involved building the capacity and confidence of colleagues to critique projects from a design perspective and negotiate improvements. She improved the operation of RBKC’s Architectural Appraisal Panel and facilitated discussions with communities about good design, enabling them to play a positive role at pre-application stage.

#alumni
#royal-borough-of-kensington-chelsea
#masterplanning #urban-design #pre-apps

LAURA HAWKER

Laura is a Chartered Planner with experience providing environmental and planning consultancy on a range of development and nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIP) for both public and private sector clients. This includes a two-year secondment to the Thames Tideway Tunnel. Most recently she project-managed the multi-disciplinary input on a number of local authority urban regeneration projects and led on the delivery of the Consultation Reports for two gas-fired power station NSIP projects.

Laura has joined St Albans City and District Council as Hemel Gardens Communities Lead Planner to provide dedicated and senior expertise to drive the delivery of distinctive, high quality, innovative and sustainable urban design. She is taking an active role in preparing and consulting on the Hemel Garden Communities masterplan and advocacy at senior levels with stakeholders including Highways England, the Crown Estate and Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership

#associate
#st-albans-city-dc
#masterplanning #planning-policy #delivery #new-settlements

LAUREN KEHOE

Lauren has a track record of delivering mixed-use refurbishment schemes and innovative meanwhile use projects, including Pergola On The Roof, a pop-up bar on top of the former BBC Television Centre Car Park, and the conversion of The Rex, a disused Stratford nightclub and theatre, into a trampoline park and open-air cinema. She has acted as Practice Mentor for the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust and the NLA, and is co-founder of OSA, a student-led print magazine that aims to encourage conversations and learning across the university environment.

Lauren is supporting the delivery of sustainable new homes and jobs within the Great West Corridor and Heathrow (West of Borough Plan) Opportunity Areas and the two Housing Zones in Feltham and Hounslow by managing and coordinating the design review panel and expanding its role in reviewing major schemes. Her role also involves developing planning briefs, supplementary planning documents and masterplans and providing design input for developing visions, masterplans and planning policy guidance for the borough’s four town centres.

#associate
#lb-hounslow
#design-review #masterplanning #planning-policy #urban-design

LAURENCE NEAL

Laurence joined Public Practice after having worked at Allies and Morrison Architects for several years, specialising in planning policy, masterplans, conservation and consultation-led projects. In 2018 his work with Guildford Borough Council was shortlisted for a Royal Town Planning Institute National Award. He has also held teaching positions and has been a visiting critic at Nottingham, London Met and Cambridge Universities.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Laurence joined Havering as an Urban Design Officer, within their Joint Ventures and Delivery Company. He provided design quality input to the Council’s Regeneration Programme Delivery service, including schemes through Joint Ventures and the Council’s own housing delivery company Mercury Land Holdings. His role involved embedding placemaking into Regeneration schemes throughout the whole project delivery process - ensuring quality design was delivered through procurement, masterplanning, and public realm improvements.

#alumni
#lb-havering
#masterplanning #urban-design #pre-apps

LEONIE FITZGERALD

Leonie joins Public Practice from Julian Cowie Architects, where she worked across a range of sectors from concept to completion, including residential schemes, community buildings and conservation projects in sensitive locations. As an Associate in the practice, she also contributed to the award-winning practice’s growth, direction and ethos, and mentored junior staff.

As Regeneration and Development Senior Architect at LB Enfield, Leonie is providing architectural advice and solutions across the Council’s Property and Housing teams. In particular, Leonie’s role involves managing multi-disciplinary design teams to shape the design and quality of the Council’s housebuilding programme and other capital build projects.

#associate
#lb-enfield
#estate-renewal #council-led-housing #architecture

LOUISA FACCHINO-STACK

Louisa is an urban planner with an MsC in Urban Design and City Planning from UCL. Most recently she has worked at a townscape and heritage consultancy, assessing the townscape, heritage and visual impacts of new development. Her MSc major research project explored through design how infill development on high-rise post-war estates can improve estate spaces and the relationship that estates have with the wider area.

Louisa has taken on the role of Urban Design Project Officer at LB Hounslow, project managing consultants to develop a new GIS-based Design and Capacity toolkit for unlocking sustainable growth in the borough. This work involves producing a software tool for capacity assessment, presenting information as maps and 3D models and creating a database of all potential sites and recording development over time. Louisa is also working on a public realm strategy for the Great West Corridor (Golden Mile) Opportunity Area, and working with the Conservation team to develop a borough-wide Heritage Strategy.

#associate
#lb-hounslow
#public-realm #urban-design #digital-data #heritage

LUCIA CERRADA MORATO

Lucia is an architecturally trained urban designer and academic. She has worked in several countries before moving to London to work with the Stirling Prize-winning Maccreanor Lavington Architects. She has recently completed a PhD at the Bartlett School of Planning.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Lucia joined the Place Shaping Team in Tower Hamlets Council as High-Density Development Project Manager. In this role, she helped the Council’s Place Directorate develop best practice guidance for high-density development, exploring issues associated with high-density development including the delivery of family housing, especially affordable family housing. She addressed the need for play space and amenity space, effectively managed waste and enabling and promoted social cohesion.

#alumni
#lb-tower-hamlets
#planning-policy #urban-design

LUCILA SAMPAOLI

Lucila is a multi-lingual architect from Buenos Aires, Argentina, where most recently she has worked for the City Government´s Urban Development and Transport Ministry on their Public Offices´ Relocation and Centralization Strategy. She has architectural experience in the residential and commercial sectors and has been recognised by numerous scholarships and prizes, including at the Bogotá CityLAB Final Conference 2018 on Sustainable Cities in Latin-America and Barcelona CityLAB Citymakers 2019.

In her role at LB Croydon as Project Officer for Placemaking, Lucila is supporting delivery of the growth vision set out in the Local Plan, in particular developing emerging projects related to the Borough’s intensification policies and the new Suburban Design Guide. She is also involved in managing and expanding the Croydon Place Review Panel and providing design and masterplanning advice for a variety of major and strategic pre-planning and planning applications.

#associate
#lb-croydon
#planning-policy #urban-design #pre-apps

LUCY ATLEE

Lucy Atlee is an architect with two decades of experience, most recently working with Will Alsop as a director of aLL Design. She has expertise across a diverse range of sectors including residential, hospitality, commercial, education, community, exhibition and meanwhile, and is a Trustee of Lewisham Building Preservation Trust. Lucy has particular expertise in sustainable design, and as a qualified BREEAM AP consulted on the sustainability strategy of projects including the Glasgow Commonwealth Games Village whilst working for RMJM.

At TfL, Lucy is supporting residential delivery teams as a champion for design excellence on a range of projects, including mixed use, private rental sector, and residential for-sale schemes. Her role involves developing architectural and design briefs, assisting with procurement exercises for design teams and development partners, and securing quality and design priorities for individual projects.

#associate
#transport-for-london
#design-review #urban-design #delivery #council-led-housing

LUCY DEVEREUX

Lucy is an architect with over eight years experience, most recently at RCKa where she worked on a number of projects, including two CIP projects for LB Camden, prioritising socially responsive design solutions to challenging briefs. In her previous roles she developed expertise in mixed-use, retail, commercial and tall buildings.

At Barnet, Lucy has taken on the role of Town Centre Project Officer to oversee the delivery of an ambitious public realm project in Finchley Central. This includes establishing a new Town Team and Town Team Charter to enable the community to take greater responsibility for placemaking in the town centre. Working with the community and local cultural and arts organisations, Lucy is facilitating an annual, community-run events programme and seeking other strategic opportunities in the town centre.

#associate
#lb-barnet
#engagement #placemaking #economic-development #town-centres

MADDY GUNN

Maddy is a landscape architect and planner with experience in landscape design, community engagement, policy development and research. She is joining Public Practice from the Active Travel and Health team at TfL, where she has been responsible for developing strategic policy and technical guidance for the delivery of walking, cycling and Healthy Streets projects. She also designed and delivered Sustrans’ first DIY Schools project, which applied the innovative use of temporary trials as a way to change perceptions and attitudes around how public space is used around schools.

Maddy has joined St Albans District Council as Landscape Architect for Major Projects and is providing specialist landscape expertise to influence masterplan and detailed landscape guidance for a series of major urban extensions of between 500-3,000 homes across St Albans District Council.

#associate
#st-albans-city-dc
#masterplanning #new-settlements #landscape

MAGALI THOMSON

Magali is an architect with a specialism in education projects, having led a successful education team to deliver award-winning schools at Marks Barfield Architects. She joins Public Practice from The Children's Trust where she has consulted on their future vision and strategy, and how their estate development can support these. She is on the Design South East, Sutton and Brighton design review panels providing design support to local authorities, developers and communities in the south-east.

Magali has joined Great Ormond Street Hospital as Project Lead for Place Making where she is leading a transformational approach to the public realm as an integral part of the planning process for the new Children’s Cancer Centre. She is engaging with patients, families, staff, neighbours and the local authority to co-design a public realm response that will enhance the neighbourliness of Great Ormond Street and the setting of the Children's Cancer Centre.

#associate
#great-ormond-street-hospital
#public-realm #wellbeing-healthy-places

MARCO PICARDI

Marco is a chartered town planner working at the intersection of behaviour change and design. He is joining Public Practice from Dar Group where he has been a Senior Urban Planner focusing on strategic planning. Marco is also co-founder of the London Car Free Day campaign and tutors on Sustainable Futures at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL.

Marco joins the Greater Cambridgeshire Shared Planning Service as Design and Development Implementation Officer, to translate aspirations for an innovative high quality, higher density, highly sustainable truly mixed-use new urban quarter in North East Cambridge into delivery on the ground. As one of the last strategic brownfield sites in Cambridge, the site has the potential capacity for 5,000+ homes and 20,000 jobs.

#associate
#greater-cambridge-planning-services
#masterplanning #urban-design #new-settlements

MARIANA SCHILLER

Mariana is an urban planner with a background in research and community engagement. Prior to moving to London, she worked for LabCidade, a São Paulo-based research lab where she studied the management of public spaces in the city. She also led a small team of volunteers in implementing cultural projects and building emergency housing in an informal settlement. In 2018 she completed the MSc International Planning at the Bartlett School of Planning with a thesis on London’s informal housing and was awarded the Bartlett School of Planning Prize. She is joining Public Practice from a townscape, heritage and urban design consultancy where she has been advising on complex schemes in historically-sensitive locations.

In her role at Tower Hamlets, Mariana is responsible for the management and delivery of an urban characterisation study and set of urban design guidelines to support the urban intensification of the central area of Tower Hamlets – the only part of the borough that is not designated as an opportunity area. Her work involves developing a good understanding of the character of the area, as well as drawing on best practice examples of small scale urban intensification and infill, to shape future growth in a way that respects and enhances local distinctiveness.

#associate
#lb-tower-hamlets
#planning-policy #urban-design #heritage

MARK WARREN

Mark Warren is an architect and urban designer joining Public Practice from Studio Egret West. He has worked on a range of projects from meanwhile structures to 1,500+ home masterplans with a 15-20 year timeline. He is also a Design Think Tank Leader at the London School of Architecture, where he leads a studio of Masters students investigating how the built environment can improve the emotional and physical wellbeing of the city.

Mark has taken on the role of Urban Design and Development Officer at Merton, where he is playing a major role in the delivery of Merton’s Homebuilding Capacity Fund project – with key placemaking and regeneration projects across the borough including Wimbledon Stadium, the regeneration of three housing estates, Morden town centre regeneration and public realm improvements in Mitcham, Colliers Wood and Wimbledon.

You can contact Mark via their LinkedIn account.

#associate
#lb-merton
#masterplanning #placemaking #urban-design

MARTHA DALLYN

Martha is a structural engineer and project manager who has varied experience working on the extension of Tate Modern, the construction of six hundred homes in Haringey, and timber self-build projects in rural Romania. She has worked in the UK and Norway, where she learnt Norwegian and experienced first-hand the benefits of ambitious public sector planning. She has also supported the charity Build Up, working with young people to design and build structures to benefit their own communities.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Martha joined Enfield as Project Manager and took a more integrated approach to the design and delivery of a £40m capital programme to refurbish and maintain its council homes. Martha’s role brought in architectural and project management expertise, shaping fire safety improvements and substantial capital works across a large council housing portfolio, including 53 tower blocks – the largest number of any London borough.

#alumni
#lb-enfield
#estate-renewal #council-led-housing #project-management #viability

MATT RUDDY

Matt Ruddy is an architect with experience in mixed-use projects from concept design to construction, in challenging urban regeneration sites. He joins Public Practice from Hawkins\Brown where he was an active member of the Junior Practice Management Group and Corporate Social Responsibility team, working to broaden access into architecture. Prior to this, his work for Hackney Wick and Fish Island won the 2019 Planning Award for Excellence In Placemaking at High Densities. Matt has also organised walking tours and exhibitions for the Housing Forum, Open House London and London Festival of Architecture, and in 2018 won the inaugural LFA LGBT+ Float competition.

In his role at the GLA, Matt is managing the London Review Panel, City Hall’s design review panel, part of the Mayor’s Good Growth by Design programme. Matt is also involved in research and thought leadership, providing support to individual boroughs on design review, and working on the biannual place-shaping and design review capacity survey.

#associate
#greater-london-authority
#design-review #placemaking #urban-design

MATT WESTON

Matt leads Spacemakers, a regeneration group based in Brighton and has ten years’ experience working in the built environment. Through Spacemakers, he has produced new cultural infrastructure and interventions across the country, including the internationally-recognised regeneration of Brixton Village. He has supported the GLA on major regeneration projects for eight years, and has extensive experience working with authorities, developers and directly with local communities.

Matt has taken on the role of Strategy Lead for Becontree, Barking and Dagenham’s four-square-mile council estate, the largest in the country. He is leading the development of a strategy focussing on the future of the Becontree, putting residents in charge and setting out a series of interventions over the next 10 - 20 years.

#associate
#lb-barking-dagenham
#regeneration #placemaking #estate-renewal #economic-development

MATTHEW BROWN

Matthew is a member of public works, a not-for-profit studio set up to explore the intersection between art, architecture, performance and activism. Prior to joining Public Practice, he worked for several housing and landscape architecture practices in London, most recently East Architecture, Landscape, Urban Design. He has also worked with artists Alex Schweder and Nils Norman on art installations, play structures and performances. Matthew’s research explores alternative methods of communicating planning and policy.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Matthew joined Croydon as a Project Officer within their Placemaking team. He worked on projects to activate key regeneration areas, test future plans and enable sustainable growth through holistic placemaking. His role involved managing and expanding the Croydon Place Review Panel; providing design advice for a variety of major and strategic applications; supporting the delivery of the Borough’s Suburban Densification Design Guide, and developing new visual communication methods for emerging plans and policies.

#alumni
#lb-croydon
#engagement #planning-policy #urban-design #small-sites

MEGAN CHARNLEY

Megan is an architectural designer and creative strategist and is a co-founder of Projects Office, a multi-disciplinary architecture practice with a portfolio including healthcare, commercial and cultural projects. Alongside architectural design, Megan leads Projects Office’s community consultations and feasibility studies, developing bespoke strategies for each project.

Megan has joined Newham as a Masterplanner for Beckton and North Woolwich. Her role involves carrying out research and analysis of both masterplan areas, developing an innovative meanwhile workspace strategy, leading an interactive community engagement programme to generate ideas, and working with the Project Manager to prepare tender documents for the procurement of a multi-disciplinary consortium headed up by an architectural practice in late 2020.

#associate
#lb-newham
#engagement #regeneration #town-centres

MERVE ANIL

Merve is an architect with experience across scales and sectors, from large-scale mixed-use, commercial schemes to smaller civic projects. Most recently she has worked as project architect for AHMM, combining this with leading a design studio at the Architectural Association.

As Projects Officer in the Policy and Implementation Team at Epping Forest District Council, Merve’s work focuses on the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town Communities, and Strategic Masterplans and Concept Frameworks for other major sites. The role involves acting as the Council’s advocate for promoting high-quality design and place-shaping through policy and design advice.

#associate
#epping-forest-dc
#masterplanning #placemaking #urban-design #new-settlements

MICHAEL KENNEDY

Prior to joining Public Practice, Michael worked with London Community Land Trust to successfully bid for public land to build truly affordable community-led housing through the Greater London Authority’s Small Sites x Small Builders initiative. He was a consultee for the RIBA Ethics and Sustainability Commission and has been delivering research into the affordability of architectural education at Central Saint Martins.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Michael joined Enfield’s Strategic Planning and Design Team as a Planning Officer in Urban Design. He led on managing the Council’s newly established Place and Design Quality Review Panel. He was involved in promoting the use of the Panel within Enfield and beyond, and he explored opportunities to expand its influence to improve emerging planning policy and other Council strategies and projects that have an impact on the quality and design of the built environment.

#alumni
#lb-enfield
#design-review #urban-design #pre-apps

MINA MANIK

Mina is an urbanist and placemaking professional. She is co-founder of Green Hands, an organisation which seeks to alleviate social isolation through the regeneration and better utilisation of urban green spaces. Since 2019, her team has been working with the local community to regenerate a 12,000 sq. ft. brownfield site in Newham, with support from the Mayor of London’s Greener City Fund.

Mina has joined the Community Wealth Building Directorate at Newham to support their work across a number of areas of work including housing delivery, regeneration and economic development. The Mayor of Newham recently launched the Council’s Community Wealth Building Strategy, which aims to achieve long-term prosperity, wellbeing and fairness for all residents by pursuing economic, social and environmental justice. Mina’s role involves working closely with the Director of Community Wealth Building on the governance and political dimensions of the programme, as well as supporting community engagement in practice.

#associate
#lb-newham
#engagement #regeneration #project-management

NICOLA COPPEN

Nicola is a project manager with extensive experience of managing multi-utility projects from feasibility to project handover for organisations including UK Power Networks and Thames Water. As Utilities and Infrastructure Project Manager at Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, Nicola secured HM Treasury approval for a groundbreaking business case that enabled the Government to invest in electricity infrastructure for the first time, unlocking the electricity deficit for Ebbsfleet Garden City.

Nicola has taken on the role of Infrastructure Coordinator at Westminster, which is part of a new London-wide infrastructure coordination service, in partnership with the GLA. The service facilitates liaison between developers and infrastructure asset owners to proactively plan, design and construct London’s infrastructure. Nicola is playing a key role in providing design advice and coordination, informing local policy and plans, and developing and implementing innovative infrastructure that contributes to more liveable, healthy, sustainable and biodiverse places.

#associate
#westminster-city-council
#public-realm #delivery #infrastructure

OLIVER REINHOLD

Before joining Public Practice, Oliver was a Senior Architect at Tigg Coll Architects, specialising in the residential and heritage sectors. His experience ranges from bespoke houses to award-winning student accommodation projects, through to masterplanning new communities and public spaces across London. He has a keen interest in the history and theory of architecture and planning and has previously researched alternative methods of housing development in order to provide cheaper, larger and better-designed accommodation.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Oliver was a Senior Urban Designer at Haringey Council, he worked on a broad scope of strategic, delivery-focused, and research-based projects. His role involved preparing design briefs for major housing regeneration masterplans; developing place-based strategies for Haringey’s local centres; assisting with the coordination and delivery of public realm projects; providing evidence to inform design related policy; and design-based research into reimagining redundant Council buildings.

#alumni
#lb-haringey
#regeneration #urban-design #council-led-housing

OLIVIA HALPER

Olivia is an urban designer, planner and economist. Prior to joining Public Practice, she worked at Atkins on projects in the UK and abroad spanning strategic planning and policy, masterplanning, economic development and impact assessment. Olivia pursued her interest in promoting social inclusion through research at the University of Cambridge and the Bartlett, including her Masters thesis which proposed design principles and processes to enhance the public's ability to shape public spaces whilst providing counter-terror security.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Olivia took on the role of Urban Design Officer for Hemel Garden Communities, a major urban extension of Hemel Hempstead. Based at Dacorum Borough Council, she provided specialist urban design guidance to support the Council’s strategic planning and development management services. She led the development of an engagement strategy for local communities, Councillors and stakeholders, and set up Dacorum’s first Community Review Panel.

#alumni
#dacorum-borough-council
#design-review #engagement #masterplanning #new-settlements

PAUL EVANS

Paul joins Public Practice from Hyas Associates, where he supported the delivery of large scale, housing-led developments through the planning and masterplanning process. Most recently, he led on visioning and concept planning for 10,000 new homes at St Cuthbert’s Garden Village in Carlisle; a masterplan framework at Bailrigg Garden Village, Lancaster for 3,500 new homes; and a concept framework at Culm Garden Village, Devon. Previously, Paul held a variety of roles at the Building Research Establishment (BRE), and worked with the Advisory Team for Large Applications (ATLAS) at the Homes and Communities Agency.

As Principal Urban Designer for Bedford Borough Council, Paul is leading on discussions on new settlements, garden villages and strategic urban extensions; influencing masterplans; mentoring policy staff and developing in-house skills; and assisting in the preparation of bids for government funding. He is also working as part of the Policy Team to develop options for the Local Plan 2040, in preparation for consultation in 2021.

#associate
#bedford-borough-council
#masterplanning #planning-policy #urban-design #new-settlements

PETER CROFT

Peter is an architect and urban designer, with experience leading complex projects with large design teams and multiple stakeholders at both urban and architectural scale. Most recently at Studio Egret West his experience spanned residential, mixed-use buildings which he managed from conception to completion, to taking large masterplans through planning. Peter is also an active member of the Community Land Trust RUSS, leading member workshops, setting the strategic brief and advising on the appointment of consultants.

At Dartford, Peter is providing design expertise in his role as Principal Urban Designer to shape Dartford Town Centre. He is developing design guidance for specific areas and topics and giving design advice on planning applications. He is also involved in the Crossrail extension study, assessing the development capacity of sites and advising on transport and public realm improvement projects.

#associate
#dartford-council
#masterplanning #urban-design #pre-apps #town-centres

RACHEL HEARN

Rachel is an architect with experience ranging from designing large residential neighbourhoods to smaller urban infill housing to public realm led masterplans and education facilities. Prior to joining Public Practice, she worked at a number of award-winning practices, most recently Stanton Williams. She has initiated and led a co-housing project and taught at several universities.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Rachel joined the Neighbourhoods Directorate in Havering Council as Principal Urban Design Officer. In this role, she provided design advice on the Borough’s estate regeneration programme, input into a masterplan for Romford, advised on pre-applications for strategic sites, led on setting up a design review panel and worked to embed design into the development management process.

#alumni
#lb-havering
#design-review #masterplanning #urban-design #pre-apps

RAFE BERTRAM

Rafe Bertram has worked for Foster+Partners for 18 years, running projects ranging from tents for the Red Cross to retail venues for Apple and eco-smart cities. Sustainability is Rafe’s personal passion and he approaches each project as a vital opportunity to diminish the environmental impact and enhance social benefit. Some of his most recent projects include a smart sustainable cities in California, a masterplan for an evolving university campus in England and innovation in prefabricated buildings.

As Sustainability Lead for Meridian Water, Enfield’s flagship £7bn regeneration programme of an 85-hectare site, Rafe is working with Directors, Heads of Service, the community and partners to drive Enfield’s vision for Meridian Water as the greenest development in London. He is formulating and implementing a strategic approach to making Meridian Water a low carbon area, including building energy-efficient homes, integrating sustainable transport options, making excellent use of water, improving air quality, ensuring the development of a healthier place and significantly reducing the use of non- renewable resources.

#associate
#lb-enfield
#masterplanning #sustainability

RAMIRO LEVY

Ramiro is a Brazilian-trained architect, urban designer and planner. Prior to joining Public Practice, he held different roles coordinating multi-disciplinary teams on projects in the public, private and third sectors. From 2009 to 2013 he worked on projects related to the network of public spaces and parks design in São Paulo, his home town. Since 2013 he acted as a consultant on public policies focused on city-wide municipal urban development, sanitation and mobility plans through Risco arquitetura urbana, having led social-spatial diagnosis and planning initiatives focused on inclusion, equity and right to the city in 17 different Brazilian municipalities. In 2014, Ramiro also co-founded Cidade Ativa, a not-for-profit organisation recognised for its leading role on walkability and active design in Brazil.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Ramiro joined Westminster City Council as a Placemaking Officer. He contributed to developing the Council’s sustainable, place-shaping strategies across key priority areas such as Paddington, Victoria and Harrow Road.

#alumni
#westminster-city-council
#meanwhile-use #placemaking #public-realm #urban-design

RAUL BIELSA PEREZ

Raul is an urban designer with an interest in global urban and territorial transformation and a focus on urban research, interactive cartographies, policies and landscape. In his most recent role at Prior + Partners, he has been involved in projects in the UK and the US focusing on strategic visions, urban frameworks, masterplanning and urban and landscape design.

As Urban Designer at St Albans City and District Council, Raul is providing specialist urban design expertise and capacity on the development briefing, masterplanning and detailed design guidance for a series of major urban extensions, including Hemel Garden Communities. His work involves negotiating with landowners, developers and professional teams to achieve improved design outcomes, as well as facilitating and contributing to design review and community consultation.

#associate
#st-albans-city-dc
#design-review #masterplanning #new-settlements #pre-apps

RENZO CAMPISI

Renzo is an architect who has worked in the housing sector for almost a decade. He has experience of housing projects at a range of scales – from an award-winning new neighbourhood on an ex-industrial site in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to re-knitting the urban fabric through infill sites in south London. Over the past three years, he has focussed on affordable housing for the elderly in London, developing expertise in designing for vulnerable residents.

Renzo has taken on the role of Strategic Planning and Design Officer at LB Enfield to promote cross-cutting work across areas of place-based planning, planning policy, heritage, urban design and development management. He is helping to guide schemes through the development management process, preparing major mixed-use development feasibility and site capacity studies and formulating design policy, guidance and codes.

#associate
#lb-enfield
#planning-policy #urban-design #pre-apps #heritage

ROO HUMPHERSON

Roo has over twenty-five years’ experience as an architect specialising in residential design. As director at Pollard Thomas Edwards (PTE) between 2001- 2008, he led award-winning regeneration projects across the UK and established PTE’s first regional office. His career ranges from master-planning and project management to detailed design and his approach to community engagement has won awards for residential and dementia projects. His pro-active approach has included setting up his own beneficial development company supporting enfranchised leaseholders struggling to refurbish their own homes. Roo has also taught Professional Practice at London South Bank University from 2008 to 2016.

Roo has joined Oxford City Council as Regeneration Manager to support the delivery of two major regeneration schemes that present a once in a generation opportunity to make a step-change in the physical and social environments of two of Oxford’s biggest and most important housing estates.

#associate
#oxford-city-council
#regeneration #estate-renewal #delivery #council-led-housing

ROSA APPLEBY ALIS

Rosa is an architect with experience from the scale of the one-off residential project to masterplanning new neighbourhoods. In her most recent role as a project architect at ZCD Architects, as well as architectural work, she mentored junior members of staff and prepared community engagement sessions. Before joining ZCD, she was employed at Farrell's, contributing to masterplanning Old Oak Common and advocacy for Gatwick Airport. She has also produced site-specific installations and films exploring how expectations of space influence behaviour and is keen to find ways to enhance sustainability and aesthetic appeal in the built environment.

As Senior Urban Design Officer at Oxford City Council, Rosa joins the Urban Design and Heritage team to raise the profile and standard of design across the city. Her role involves inputting into major residential and regeneration projects as well as planning policy and providing mentoring and advice on design for team members.

#associate
#oxford-city-council
#planning-policy #urban-design #pre-apps #heritage

ROSIE EVERED

Rosie is an architect and certified Passivhaus designer with expertise in sustainable design, having worked on Passivhaus schools, archives and other public buildings. She was the architect and Passivhaus designer for the RUSS Community Land Trust Church Grove project in Lewisham, where she developed the co-design process with the residents, as well as managed the technical aspects of the Passivhaus design. Rosie’s interest in alternative housing models led her to set up Sheffield Student Housing Co-operative, providing not-for-profit homes for students.

Rosie’s role as Small Sites Programme Senior Project Officer is supporting the delivery of the GLA’s innovative Small Sites - Small Builders programme, which has the twin aims of increasing the number of publicly owned small sites that are brought forward for development and increasing the capacity of SME housebuilders. Her work involves promoting the programme with London boroughs and other public landowners, reviewing funding applications, making recommendations for funding support, issuing grant agreements, working with public landowners to bring sites forward onto the programme, and monitoring delivery.

#associate
#greater-london-authority
#sustainability #community-led-housing #small-sites

ROSIE SARGEN

Rosie is a designer with experience working as a Landscape Architect at LUC, Studio Egret West and Spacehub - taking projects from concept through planning and into planning and construction. She has a particular interest in the transformational potential of landscape design for urban public spaces.

Rosie has taken on the role of Landscape and Ecology Officer at Epping Forest District Council, joining the Policy and Implementation Team to facilitate the negotiation and delivery of the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town Communities. In particular, Rosie is focusing on mitigating the impact of development on the Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation.

#associate
#epping-forest-dc
#new-settlements #ecology-biodiversity #landscape

SARAH CUSTANCE

Sarah is an architect with broad experience across scale and stages, previously at Gianni Botsford and Roger Stirk Harbour and Partners, and most recently as Director at Fourfoursixsix. Her experiences are diverse, from 1:1 scale bookshelf joints in Costa Rica to 1:1000 scale of re-imagining the air space above New York's Bus-Terminal.

Sarah has taken on the role of Masterplan Project Manager at Waltham Forest, where she is leading on masterplanning two strategic growth areas: the A406 Corridor Strategic Location and the New Spitalfields/ West Leyton Area of Change and Opportunity Area, with a view to influencing policies in the emerging Local Plan and the Strategic Site Allocations Development Plan Document. Her role involves building a strong relationship with stakeholders and acting as a bridge between the Council and the community, establishing a delivery programme of short, medium and long term interventions, and project managing the implementation of both masterplans.

#associate
#lb-waltham-forest
#engagement #masterplanning #planning-policy #urban-design

SEAN RUSHTON

Sean is a Chartered Landscape Architect with experience in masterplanning, urban design and landscape and visual impact assessment for residential and mixed-use schemes, ranging from 10 - 10,000 new homes across all stages of planning. He is an advocate of landscape-led masterplanning and the role well-planned green infrastructure can play in creating healthy communities. Sean is a member of the Landscape Institute Climate and Biodiversity Emergency Response Panel and is also a mentor for candidates on the Landscape Institute's Pathway to Chartership

As Strategic Masterplanner at East Herts District Council, Sean is focusing on the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town, leading on masterplanning work towards outline planning permission in mid-2020. His role is to ensure placemaking remains at the fore, providing professional support and coaching to colleagues in design.

#associate
#east-herts-dc
#masterplanning #new-settlements #landscape

SELASI SETUFE

Selasi is an architect and founder of Crystal Design Studios – an architectural studio which explores socially responsive approaches to design and architecture. Working with her mentor Elsie Owusu, she has also gained experience of housing and masterplanning. She is a RIBA trustee and Co-Vice President for Students and Associates, and co-founder of Black Females in Architecture, a network that aims to support and champion black/black mixed heritage females within the architecture/built environment.

Selasi is joining Barking and Dagenham’s regeneration body BeFirst as Project Manager for Small Sites Housing, where she is responsible for designing, establishing and leading a new small sites programme to promote innovative and community-led models of housing development.

#associate
#lb-barking-dagenham #befirst
#community-led-housing #small-sites

SHAMISO ONEKA

Shamiso is a spatial practitioner and designer, and joins Public Practice from We Made That where she has been part of the Urban Research team, applying her diverse skill-set to synthesise research outcomes, most recently for the GLA High Streets - Adaptive Strategies report. She has experience in research, establishing briefs, developing strategic frameworks and delivery of architectural projects, with previous roles at The Decorators, LSE Cities and Bennetts Associates. Shamiso has also written articles for FRAME and Blueprint magazines, and exhibited her work at Tate Modern and the London Design Festival.

As Urban Design Officer at Haringey, Shamiso is leading on providing urban design expertise for both development management and policy formation within the Wood Green Opportunity Area, in particular steering developments at the pre-application stage. She is also supporting the running of the Council’s Quality Review Panel.

#associate
#lb-haringey
#design-review #regeneration #urban-design #pre-apps

SHARON GIFFEN

Sharon Giffen was an Associate Partner at Foster + Partners for 12 years, leading large-scale public projects with multi-disciplinary teams. Sharon studied at Cambridge University where she undertook on-the-ground research on the role of ‘self- build’ as a sustainable low-income housing solution. This culminated in the publication of her written thesis and presentation at the UNCHS Habitat regional workshop.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Sharon took on the role of Design and Quality Manager at TfL. Her role was instrumental in building the Management team within the department and developing architectural and design briefs. She attended design team meetings, and secured quality and design priorities for individual projects across Private Rental Sector led projects, Commercial Development planning team and their Joint Venture partner. These included mixed-use, PRS led projects of between 300 and 2,000 homes.

#alumni
#transport-for-london
#design-review #urban-design #delivery #council-led-housing

SHEEBA SHETTY

Sheeba is an urban designer and has worked with the State Urban Development Department as an Urban Planner-Designer at the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), in Bangalore, India. Here, she built and led the design team and worked on projects pertaining to place-making, transit-oriented developments and street design.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Sheeba joined the Urban Design Team at TfL as an Assistant Urban Designer. In this role, she provided design input and advice on a range of projects and schemes from area planning documents to streetscape designs. She inputted into urban integration and local connectivity strategies, and supported the development of project design principles for a range of projects. Sheeba was also involved in establishing and implementing design assurance systems for TfL, which included the establishment of a new protocol on the use of design reviews. She worked across teams and provided design input to tender briefs for various TfL led projects.

#alumni
#transport-for-london
#public-realm #urban-design #active-travel

SILVIA AMOROS

Sílvia is an architect and urban planner, joining Public Practice from the Urban Development Office at Viladecans’ City Council, Barcelona. With 18 years of experience in public planning, she has actively participated in the definition and management of major processes of urban transformation in Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area. Most recently, she managed multidisciplinary teams to regenerate an industrial area to deliver an innovative new district.

At Waltham Forest, Sílvia is working on a range of regeneration projects in town centres across the Borough, with a focus on community-led regeneration in the north of the borough. She is working with local community groups and stakeholders to commission new public realm and develop high street strategies – scoping a pipeline of deliverable regeneration projects. In parallel, she is feeding into wider placemaking policy for the area and delivering small to medium-scale high street regeneration projects on the ground.

#associate
#lb-waltham-forest
#engagement #regeneration #public-realm #town-centres

SILVIA KERSTE

Silvia is a sociology professional with a degree in Advertising and a Masters in Sustainable Cities. She has almost a decade of experience managing and consulting on behaviour change campaigns in the sustainability area, working for public sector clients including the Dutch Government and local councils in Amsterdam and St Albans, as well as private sector organisations, like Innocent and Marriott. Outside her work, Silvia is a Board Member and Treasurer of a social justice charity, which has successfully initiated a community energy project in North London.

As Sustainable Business Engagement Officer Silvia has a key role in supporting businesses and residents to shift towards more active travel across Barnet, with a particular focus on creating healthy streets. She is developing and scoping a borough-wide Zero Emissions Network programme, initially focusing on Finchley Central Town Centre.

#associate
#lb-barnet
#active-travel #sustainability #town-centres #wellbeing-healthy-places

SOPHIE BEAGLES

Prior to joining Public Practice, Sophie was at Jestico + Whiles Architects, where she worked on education, community-use and residential projects. She developed the practice’s social value manifesto and founded the +Forum: an inclusive discussion platform, promoting collaborative and strategic thinking for the future of the practice. Sophie is also an RIBA Ambassador, Open City Design Mentor and visiting lecturer at the V&A.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Sophie joined GLA and Newham’s joint delivery team for the Royal Docks as a Planning and Design Advisor. Her role involved advising on best practice in planning and design, particularly on public realm and workspace projects and optimising the non-residential components of development schemes. Her role also involved proposing options to improve the strategic offer of the Enterprise Zone and providing design input to the new Custom House interchange.

Joining the Spring 2020 cohort and being placed with the London Borough of Ealing, Sophie has taken on the role of Principal Economic Growth Officer to work on two key Opportunity Areas at Southall and Northolt. She is assisting with S106 negotiations, leading on public engagement and developing a place-based strategy for delivery.

#associate
#lb-ealing #royal-docks
#engagement #regeneration #masterplanning #placemaking #economic-development

SOPHIE PALMER

Sophie is an architect with experience ranging from designing mixed-use city sites, mapping urban strategies, to master-planning for thousands of homes. Before joining Public Practice she worked in urban research and in several award-winning architecture practices, most recently AHMM; working on mixed-use and residential schemes across London.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Sophie joined the Growth & Regeneration team in Bexley Council as their Design and Delivery Coordinator. In this role she led on the OAPF for Erith and Slade Green town centres, forming master-plans and site-specific strategies, as well as securing high-quality design on council-led regeneration sites, identifying acquisition opportunities in growth areas, and procuring and directing consultants.

#alumni
#lb-bexley
#regeneration #masterplanning #urban-design #industry

TAMARA KAHN

Tamara is an architect who specialises in designing for historic settings and protected environments, with experience on listed buildings and new mixed-use urban developments. Most recently, Tamara worked with Marcus Beale Architects in London. Tamara has also worked in Luxembourg for an award winning architecture and urban design practice and in Senegal with the national Red Cross and the IFRC Shelter Research Unit on rural housing upgrades. Tamara has supported Architecture Sans Frontières-UK as an associate since 2017 and is working in London on community-based projects, as well as in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on Community Action Area Plans in informal settlements.

At Tower Hamlets, Tamara has taken on the role of Project Officer to support the delivery of an urban characterisation study and set of urban design guidelines that will help to deliver growth through the urban intensification of the central area of the borough.

#associate
#lb-tower-hamlets
#planning-policy #urban-design #heritage

TARA GBOLADE

Tara Gbolade is the co-founder of Gbolade Design Studio and winner of the RIBAJ Rising Star award in 2018. She specialises in residential and mixed-use developments for public and private sector clients, creating homes and communities that are Design-led, Commercially viable, Innovative, and Sustainable. As an Architect, Passivhaus consultant, and BIM and generative-design champion, she has overseen and been involved in a range of mixed-use developments from 10 to 900 homes.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Tara joined Epping Forest as Sustainability Officer. She provided specialist technical advice on masterplans and planning applications; and developed a Sustainability Checklist to inform Local Plan policies and guide the development of strategic sites and Harlow & Gilston Garden Town.

#alumni
#epping-forest-dc
#urban-design #new-settlements #sustainability

TED MAXWELL

Ted is a creative team and project leader with experience in the 'meanwhile' side of the property sector. Since 2015 he has worked at Dot Dot Dot, the property guardian social enterprise, becoming its Head of Business Development & Marketing in 2018. He has created and managed partnerships across sectors, delivering property guardianship in regeneration contexts, enabling creative and charitable uses, such as artist studios and community kitchens, and securing long-term outcomes from interim opportunities. Before working in the property sector, his career included leadership roles in the transport, tech, events and community sectors.

Ted’s role as Regeneration Manager for Oxford’s Covered Market entails leading on a feasibility study and business case for major investment to help deliver the Oxford Strategic Partnership’s objective of inclusive growth, including agreeing a procurement and delivery strategy for major capital works.

#associate
#oxford-city-council
#regeneration #town-centres #project-management #heritage

THOMAS SMETHURST

Thomas Smethurst is an architect, joining Public Practice from 51 architecture, where he has worked on projects ranging from a £6 million pound Grade II listed community hub, to bespoke individual houses and public works infrastructure for urban wildlife.

At the Greater Cambridgeshire Shared Planning Service, Thomas is taking on the role of Programme Manager, to coordinate and oversee strategic projects such as major new developments at Waterbeach, Northstowe and Cambridge Biomedical Campus, the emerging Greater Cambridge Local Plan, or the Area Action Plan for North East Cambridge. Thomas will also be introducing new ways of working to the joint planning service.

#associate
#greater-cambridge-planning-services
#planning-policy #digital-data #project-management

TILLY FORD

Tilly is a sustainability design professional with international experience spanning engineering and environmental design. She joins Public Practice from Atelier Ten, where she has worked for over 6 years in London and San Francisco implementing low-energy and low-carbon design solutions across educational, residential and institutional buildings.

As Enfield’s Sustainability Officer, Tilly is developing a sustainability strategy for Enfield’s Place department to ensure the borough takes action on the climate emergency. Her role involves running workshops internally to raise awareness, reviewing environmental strategies and initiatives and ensuring that sustainability principles are embedded throughout the development process.

#associate
#lb-enfield
#planning-policy #sustainability

TOM ATKINSON

Tom is an experienced architectural designer whose practice focuses on residential extensions and improvements mainly for private clients. In particular, he has built his practice working on listed buildings within historic conservation areas. He has also been involved in community projects, including working with Edible Rotherhithe to set up an Architecture Summer school aimed at introduced BAME students in SE16 to the sector.

Tom has joined Lewisham as Growth Manager where he is responsible for identifying, coordinating and visualising ways in which the borough can optimise sites for development, particularly on public land and with a focus on social housing. He is also supporting planning colleagues with the commissioning and managing of design consultants preparing an innovative Small Sites SPD, and on the production of a masterplan for the A21 strategic growth corridor.

#associate
#lb-lewisham
#delivery #council-led-housing #small-sites

TOM FOX

Prior to joining Public Practice, Tom worked at Hawkins Brown Architects and Territorial Agency on projects spanning architecture, urban design and research. He has also taught architecture at Central St Martins and the Architectural Association and held a research fellowship at the Jan van Eyck Academie.

As part of the first Public Practice cohort, Tom was Principal Planning Officer at St Albans City and District Council and Dacorum Borough Council. He led the authorities’ initiatives to take a more proactive approach to urban design across strategic sites. In particular, he helped facilitate cross-boundary working in the establishment of Hemel Garden Communities and the development of design guidance for urban extensions.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Tom took on the role of Principal Urban Design and Project Manager in LB Bexley’s Strategic Planning and Growth Division. He led the borough’s work on the intensification of industrial land, characterisation and design guidance and masterplanning associated with the extension of Crossrail to Ebbsfleet study.

#alumni
#lb-bexley #st-albans-city-dc
#masterplanning #urban-design #new-settlements #industry

TOM SYKES

Tom is an architect interested in the ways that the built environment affects socio-cultural behaviour. Prior to joining Public Practice, Tom was an associate at Burd Haward Architects on a variety of schemes, from infill housing for the London Borough of Camden’s Community Infrastructure Programme, to addressing the nature of landscape for the National Trust, to larger community and housing-led schemes on inner-city sites.

Part of the first cohort of Public Practice, Tom joined TfL’s Property Development Team as Projects Design Manager. In this role, he ensured that the principles of ‘Good Growth by Design’ are followed throughout all projects across London, from establishing the development concept through scheme development and critical decision making, but also challenged on design excellence. Tom was responsible for the development and adoption of Property Development’s Design Review Protocol, he worked closely with the MDAs to advise and guide design decisions within the Property Development department.

#alumni
#transport-for-london
#design-review #urban-design #delivery #council-led-housing

UMI BADEN-POWELL

Umi Baden-Powell is an architectural designer, researcher and creative practitioner with expertise in inclusive design and speculative design futures. She works on projects in complex social contexts both in the UK and the Global South. In 2017, her collaborative project Okun Makoko: Waste to Wealth won the Helen Hamlyn MIE Design Award for Healthcare. Umi led Banking Without Barriers, a design research project which was partnered with the Royal College of Art, NatWest and Age UK.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Umi joined Newham as Housing Engagement Manager and played a key role within Newham’s new housing delivery function, helping to shape and deliver the biggest Council house building programme since the 1970s. Her role involved supporting local engagement for new housing on Council-owned land; working with residents to develop designs, site management plans, local activities and events; and developing a package of local benefits for areas of growth.

You can contact Umi via her LinkedIn account here.

#alumni
#lb-newham
#engagement #council-led-housing

YANNI PITSILLIDES

Yanni has a background in architecture, most recently at Feilden Clegg Bradley, working on primary and higher education buildings and several large scale masterplan projects. He is passionate about design which engages and represents people. His Master's thesis challenged methods of contemporary practice, setting up residency in a café in Mannheim, Germany, talking to activists and running a series of workshops to represent a largely misunderstood migrant community.

As Regeneration Manager at Newham, Yanni is working with a multidisciplinary team to deliver a Masterplan Vision for Stratford Metropolitan Town Centre that reflects the Mayor of Newham’s priorities, particularly relating to cultural uses and increased affordable housing. He is working with a variety of internal and external stakeholders to provide development proposals and masterplanning advice on strategic sites in Stratford; devising a programme to support community groups, ‘grass-roots’ workspace providers and local organisations across Stratford to develop temporary projects; and developing a portfolio of small to medium scale housing infill sites as part of Newham’s Building Council Homes programme

#associate
#lb-newham
#engagement #regeneration #town-centres

YIORGOS PAPAMANOUSAKIS

Yiorgos trained as an architect and an urban development planner and has experience working with local authorities, research institutions, cultural organisations and communities. Yiorgos initiated Urban Transcripts, a not-for-profit organisation he currently directs, by producing international public event programmes on the critical exploration of cities and their development. He has been a consultant at the New Economics Foundation, with a focus on the social impact of urban development.

Part of the second cohort of Public Practice, Yiorgos joined Bexley’s Strategic Planning and Growth Team as Strategic Research Coordinator. He helped to develop a robust evidence base and innovative policies that helped secure the Council’s Growth Strategy. He worked across internal teams and in the field to gather, collate, present and interpret data; researched emerging policy approaches and best practice; and implemented research findings through new policies, strategic plans and design solutions.

#alumni
#lb-bexley
#placemaking #planning-policy #urban-design #digital-data

ZAHRA HAIDER

Zahra is an architectural designer with experience working on complex strategic, cultural and historical projects. She joins Public Practice from East, where she worked on landscape-led housing projects and stakeholder engagement, including the Custom House co-design regeneration project for LB Newham. Zahra is also the founder of a not-for-profit organisation, OurGirls Mentoring, working with young students from marginalised backgrounds to encourage diversity in various professions.

Zahra has taken on the role of Regeneration and Development Architectural Assistant, providing architectural support for new development opportunities across the Enfield. She is also providing innovative architectural solutions to stimulate growth, and assisting with policy writing for Enfield’s housing design guide.

#associate
#lb-enfield
#estate-renewal #community-led-housing #architecture

ZELJKA ABRAMOVIC

Zeljka is an architect and for the past 18 years has been working in UK-based architecture practices on both public and private sector developments with strong design, community and environmental agendas such as housing projects, nursing homes for people with dementia, higher education and community buildings. Zeljka also holds a Postgraduate Degree in Development Practice.

Zeljka joins Lambeth as Principal Design Officer, where she is working within Lambeth’s Planning Policy and Place-shaping team to build an innovative approach to the Lambeth Site Allocations Development Plan Document (SADPD). She is leading on design-led capacity assessments for 15 - 20 large sites, optimising potential on each site and taking every opportunity to enhance placeshaping and maximise planning benefits.

#associate
#lb-lambeth
#planning-policy #council-led-housing #sustainability #small-sites