Historic Environment & Townscape Assistant Or Adviser in London

Overview

Our Historic Environment and Townscape team is an established, market-leading practice with over 20 years' experience delivering some of the UK's most high-profile and complex projects. Our portfolio includes nationally significant schemes such as the British Museum, Earls Court, the National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, and Smithfield in Birmingham. We are known for taking on challenging projects where deep expertise, sound judgement and a rigorous planning approach are essential to success.

We operate as a national practice from offices in London and Edinburgh, advising a wide and varied client base. Those clients include leading developers, educational institutions, charities and cultural organisations, government bodies and the NHS. Our work spans all sectors and scales, giving our team exposure to an exceptional range of projects and planning environments.

The team comprises around 30 specialists with expertise across heritage, planning, townscape, urban design and architecture. Our strength lies in combining high-quality research, robust analysis and clear professional advice within a planning context.

The successful candidate will support planning-related work requiring specialist heritage, townscape and visual impact assessment skills, with regular opportunities to collaborate with architects, project managers, lawyers and other professionals across the property sector.

Role Overview

The successful candidate will work as an Assistant or Adviser in a high performing team, contributing to a wide range of high-profile projects where contextual analysis, design and visual impact are critical to the planning process. The right candidate will be an early career professional with 1-3 years' experience. They will have the opportunity to progress through our successful partnership and have exposure to a varied range of work. We offer experience in a position offering early responsibility with a strong client focus, excellent career prospects and an extensive CPD programme.

The role would suit an ambitious individual who specialises in historic environment and townscape matters, particularly those related to townscape and urban design, historic buildings, conservation areas and other sensitive heritage assets such as World Heritage Sites. Recognising that many candidates with expertise in the historic environment and/or townscape do not have formal planning qualifications to degree level, the firm supports talented and engaged individuals in achieving their IHBC / RTPI accreditation through mentoring, practical experience and study.

Responsibilities

• Providing heritage and townscape advice on built historic environment and townscape projects, including those involving sensitive land such as historic buildings, world heritage sites and conservation areas.
• Conducting research; assessing the character, function, and appearance of townscape; and, producing townscape, heritage and visual impact assessments of new developments.
• Working closely with other professionals in the department to expand their own skill set across planning, heritage and urban design disciplines.
• Helping Partners to advise on all aspects of the development cycle, particularly in relation to the planning process.
• Attendance at project design team meetings with clients, architects, landscape designers, and other disciplines.
• We offer continual professional development through regular CPD sessions and training.
• Opportunities to build knowledge of other parts of the business and contribute to the way that we grow as a business and build strong relationships with our clients.

Qualifications

Skills & Experience

• 1 - 3 years' experience in a relevant discipline to this field of work.
• Membership in IHBC, RTPI or equivalent RICS (development planning) is clearly one route, but local planning authority experience of development management combined with a conservation qualification is another route.
• Experience obtained either providing advice on heritage and townscape projects (and those involving sensitive land/historic buildings) and/or working with planners as a specialist.
• For an Adviser, experience of preparing heritage and/or townscape assessments of significance as part of Heritage Statements, Environmental Statements, and Townscape and Visual Impact Assessments.
• An understanding of the relevant statutory provisions, policy and guidance for the historic and built environment.
• Ability to manage and prioritise workload to help Montagu Evans achieve for our clients as part of a property consultancy.
• Any experience of working with visualisation, verified views and virtual urban modelling is welcome. Montagu Evans does not produce such imagery though we work closely with industry leaders.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent writing skills.
• A pragmatic problem-solving mind with a keen interest in the way planning and development shapes the built environment and our quality of life.