Ton-up for growth-hungry PWA Planning

Planning consultancy PWA Planning is targeting further growth after completing more than 100 projects in its first full year in business.

The consultancy, founded by Paul Walton in 2013, recently hired two new consultants, taking staff numbers to six at its Ribble Saw Mill headquarters in Preston.

It plans to recruit further staff in 2015 as changes to national planning policy fuel demand for specialist planning advice. PWA Planning works primarily with architects, developers, landowners and other property professionals on projects in the housing, commercial, healthcare, leisure and sport sectors.

Paul Walton, director of PWA Planning, said: “We’ve had a really strong start as a business, getting work from existing and new clients alike throughout 2014. We’ve completed over 100 projects so far and have a healthy pipeline of new work, so we expect to be able to create more new positions in the near future.”

Paul, a chartered town planner with more than 20 years of town planning and development experience, added: “This is a really interesting time in construction and development as local authorities start to get their housing strategies in place and planning law continues to evolve to empower local communities”.

“As such, developers are going to encounter more significant challenges, so the demand for specialist planning advice is huge. We are expecting 2015 to be another year of solid and steady growth.”

PWA Planning has won projects including the public consultation, Environmental Impact Assessment and planning application on behalf of Scunthorpe United Football Club for a mixed use sport and leisure development which includes a new 12,000 capacity stadium at Lincolnshire Lakes. It is also working on planning applications for a number of large-scale residential housing developments across the North West, including a 118-home development between Broughton and Fulwood, Preston, plans for 300 houses in Pendle and a 350 dwelling scheme in the Ribble Valley.