Associate Director / Director - Economic & Planning Policy - National in Birmingham

Department: Economic & Planning Policy, PR+I

Location: Birmingham (preferable) but open to based out of other LSH offices

Are you ready to shape the future of planning and regeneration in the UK? Join Lambert Smith Hampton’s award-winning team and lead on projects that make a real difference to communities, clients, and your career. The Economics and Policy Team offers expert guidance on complex planning issues and is expanding to achieve success for a growing client base.

About us: We’re looking for a dynamic, creative professional to drive growth, deliver expert advice, and help us set new standards in the industry. Lambert Smith Hampton is a leading and progressive commercial real estate consultancy with a network of offices across the UK and Ireland. As a business, we work with investors, developers, and occupiers in both the public and private sectors. A core service LSH provides is in the area of Planning, Regeneration & Infrastructure (PR+I), with over 100 professional consultants based in various locations across the UK.

The Economics and Policy Team provides clients with expert advice on some of the most complex challenges related to development and regeneration. Having grown year on year since 2021, the team is expanding again and looking to bring in like-minded professionals to achieve success for our growing client base.

To successfully plan and deliver for housing and economic growth requires an understanding of the bigger picture. This could involve Local Plan evidence, a housing needs analysis, an understanding of land supply, economic forecasting, and jobs growth. Whether working with public or private sector clients, releasing development often means untangling a web of complex needs that continue to evolve.

Across the country, our team is engaged on a wide variety of projects, including:

• Housing Need Assessments
• Employment Need Assessments
• Employment and Housing Land Supply Reviews
• Strategic portfolio reviews and site identification
• Socio-economic assessments
• A wide variety of projects in between

This specialist work is used to support a variety of schemes and projects of all shapes and sizes, dealing with a range of issues including major brownfield regeneration sites, urban extensions, planning appeals, and Local Plan examinations. The work carried out by the team is diverse and rewarding, having a direct impact on our clients’ businesses and providing true value.

The services we provide cover:

• Dealing with planning policy and site appraisals
• Strategic land search, promotion, and planning strategy
• Local plan promotion and monitoring
• Housing needs, housing mix, and 5-year housing land supply
• Employment needs, employment supply, and commercial market assessment
• Socio-economic assessments
• Demographic assessments
• Expert witness and planning appeals

This Opportunity: If successful, this position would see you working in our Economics and Planning Policy (EPP) team, which operates across the country and in collaboration with our regional Planning Consultancy teams. The EPP team works collaboratively on projects and involves close working with colleagues on a daily basis.

As an Associate Director or Director at LSH, you will have a track record of fee-earning work and would be expected to take on a high level of responsibility for your own workload with less oversight from the lead Director in the team. With the broader departmental aim to grow each service line, LSH and Directors will support you in growing your own revenue streams with the goal of progressing within the team.

This opportunity exists for a MRTPI chartered town planner or RICS chartered surveyor Professional with experience of appeals and local plan examinations.

Your attributes:

• Good communicator
• Well organised
• Flexible and creative, with the ability to come up with imaginative solutions to problems
• Detail- and accuracy-oriented
• Able to engage and negotiate with a diverse range of people

Key Responsibilities for Associate Directors and Directors (Economic and Planning Policy team):

• Providing Expert Advice: Delivering specialist guidance on complex development and regeneration challenges for both public and private sector clients.
• Project Engagement: Working on a wide variety of projects, including Housing Need Assessments, Employment Need Assessments, Employment and Housing Land Supply Reviews, Strategic portfolio reviews and site identification, Socio-economic assessments, Demographic assessments, Supporting major brownfield regeneration sites, urban extensions, planning appeals, and Local Plan examinations.
• Planning Policy and Site Appraisals: Conducting detailed appraisals and advising on planning policy.
• Strategic Land and Planning: Leading strategic land searches, promotion, and planning strategy development.
• Local Plan Promotion and Monitoring: Managing and monitoring local plan processes.
• Housing and Employment Analysis: Assessing housing needs, housing mix, 5-year housing land supply, employment needs, and commercial market assessments.
• Expert Witness and Appeals: Acting as an expert witness and supporting planning appeals.
• Collaboration: Working closely with colleagues in the Economics and Planning Policy (EPP) team and regional Planning Consultancy teams.
• Client Management: Managing an existing client base and developing new revenue streams with a high level of autonomy.
• Responsibility and Leadership: Taking on significant responsibility for personal workload, with less oversight from the lead Director, and contributing to the growth of the department’s service lines.

We understand the value that a diverse and inclusive working environment brings to Lambert Smith Hampton. We celebrate the different perspectives and insights that people can bring through their cultures and backgrounds. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or any other protected characteristic.

We want to ensure that your application can be considered for all relevant roles across the Lambert Smith Hampton group of companies, including subsidiary and affiliate companies. We believe that this will ensure that talented people interested in developing their career with us will be considered for the widest range of opportunities that we can provide and will also receive the best candidate experience.

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