National property consultancy Carter Jonas has appointed Alec Thomas as a Partner and National Head of Geospatial, alongside Simon Tarr, who has joined as a Partner in the Bristol office to bolster the national Energy Team. With over 20 years of experience in development, geomatics, and commercial real estate, Thomas brings a wealth of knowledge to his new role. Previously a Director at CBRE, within the Building Consultancy team, he specialised in capturing, presenting and analysing accurate spatial data of the built environment. His expertise in 3D deliverables and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will play a crucial role in enhancing…

Alice James, Technical Director (Historic Environment), Lanpro Development-led archaeology plays a vital role in helping communities to record and understand their shared cultural heritage, while also providing a necessary planning service to developers. And significantly, from an environmental point of view, modern methods of archaeological surveyors are becoming increasingly energy efficient and more effective in reducing the risk and cost that can occur following the unearthing of unanticipated items of archaeological significance. The archaeology profession doesn’t just look to the past: it is at the forefront of technological innovation – utilising new, non-intrusive and technology to minimise the need for…

Lanpro has appointed Diane Ellis as a Regional Director to lead its Manchester office.  The multi-disciplinary consultancy offers planning, EIA, masterplanning, urban design, GIS, visualisation, historic environment, landscape architecture, ecology and arboriculture consultancy services, nationwide from seven offices. In her role at Lanpro, Diane will focus on growing the Manchester team, which has seen a significant recent increase in client work across a range of sectors spanning the North West. Diane joins from developer Legacie, where she was Head of Planning. She has previously also worked for Zerum, WYG Group, Deloitte, Broadway Malyan and RPS. Diane continues in her advisory…

Lanpro has appointed Zoe Connolly Technical Director and Ecology Lead for the Northern Region. She will be based in Manchester. Zoe will join Lanpro’s Design unit and will provide wide-ranging ecology services. She will be working on a range of solar, residential, infrastructure and commercial developments. Her appointment comes at a time when Lanpro is expanding its Ecology division in response to client demand, having made three further appointments late last year. Zoe brings over 21 years of professional experience of consultancy experience to her role. Previously she was Technical Director and Team Leader for the North West at Jacobs…

On Wednesday 29 January the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves outlined her plans for economic growth. As anticipated, she put considerable faith in the planning system to deliver economic growth. Commenting on the announcement, planning consultant Nick Diment, Director, Boyer (part of Leaders Romans Group) said, “Planning is an important starting point in securing a prosperous economic future – from addressing the housing crisis through to supporting industry and infrastructure, as without the physical infrastructure little can be achieved. “I don’t question the ability of planning to deliver, but I have two major reservations in relation to today’s announcement: firstly, even with…

Following planning, EIA and environmental expertise supplied by Lanpro, Island Green Power’s West Burton Solar Project has received the go-ahead from Secretary of State Ed Milliband. The West Burton Solar Project will provide solar and energy storage in several land parcels in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, approximately 7.4km to the south and up to 14.6km southeast of Gainsborough in the local authority of West Lindsey District Council. This Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) will provide three electricity generating stations, each with anticipated capacity in excess of 50MW, comprising ground mounted solar arrays, with associated development comprising energy storage, grid connection infrastructure…

On Friday 13 December the government launched the Clean Power Action Plan which plans to bring 100MW + onshore wind projects back into the NSIP regime. Lanpro (a multi-disciplinary company which offers landscape architecture, ecology and arboriculture alongside masterplanning, urban design, GIS, visualisation, historic environment and planning consultancy) works on major renewables projects throughout the UK. Tara Chopra, Technical Director – EIA and Major Infrastructure lead at Lanpro comments: The Clean Power Action Plan sets out the full details of the proposals to bring 100MW + onshore wind projects back into the NSIP regime. Lanpro welcomes the changing thresholds but…

What does the year ahead have in store for the future of solar energy and planning in the UK? Tom Pike, Director of Planning at multi-disciplinary consultancy Lanpro shares his views: Here in the UK, following the change of government in July, we anticipate an increase in the number of planning applications being advanced for renewable energy schemes, specifically solar. This is in response to the changes in the process for securing connection offers with National Grid – solar schemes will not be able to advance to a specific point in the process in securing a connection until they have…

The recent change in government has brought about a significant change in the direction of energy policy, one which is far more supportive of renewable energy generation. In contrast to the previous administration, the new Labour government views the deployment of renewable energy and supporting technologies as essential for energy security as well as meeting net-zero targets. Building on a key pillar of its manifesto, the government has wasted no time in changing policy, consenting large schemes and generally talking up the sector. One of the most significant changes has been July’s Policy statement on onshore wind, along with the…

Following planning, EIA and environmental expertise supplied by Lanpro, Island Green Power’s Cottam Solar Project has received the go-ahead from Secretary of State Ed Milliband.