We welcomed Rob Henderson, planning director to our Solent office this month, bolstering our brilliant team in the Central South area.
Joining existing directors, Jeremy Gardiner and Tim Brandt, Rob will be adding expertise in urban regeneration, senior living and infrastructure sectors to our existing skill set.
We’ve taken five minutes to get to Rob a little better.
Tell us a little bit about your professional background, Rob
I started out my planning career in the public sector, working mainly in Sussex but also with a stint in Scotland, too. For the last 20 years, though, I’ve worked in the private sector, most recently at Savills, with a particular focus on projects across the Central South area.
What sectors do you work across and can you tell us about a recent project?
I’ve got a broad experience across all sectors, but in recent years have done a lot of work on urban regeneration projects, as well as residential, senior living and infrastructure schemes.
The range of clients I have worked with is also broad, with both private sector and public sector clients, making for fantastic variety in my day-to-day work.
I recently helped secure planning permission to extend Southampton Airport. It was a challenging and fascinating project to work on – not least having to conduct and present an Environmental Impact Assessment at a time of intense national scrutiny of the aviation sector’s general impact on climate change. A key area of consideration was whether, by increasing the number of flights and destinations that would be available closer to home for the population surrounding Southampton, there might actually be a reduction in carbon emissions overall.
What is it that particularly interests you about working in senior living?
It’s a sector that’s really closely entwined with wellbeing and quality of life, and as a planner I can have a real impact on people’s lives.
The sector encompasses are wide range of needs and aspirations – everything from care villages (sometimes akin to a country club!) to higher dependency care homes. And the approach that developers in the sector take can have a big difference on enabling people to maintain their independence longer.
It’s perfectly possible to deliver really beautiful, fit-for-purpose homes. And there’s plenty of evidence to show that if you get the details right, older people will want to move into more suitable accommodation, rather than being stuck in oversized homes that no longer meet their needs.
And that, in turn, frees up family homes to meet other, very well documented needs.
What is the biggest challenge facing the build environment industry?
Simply put, it’s resources.
As with so many of our public services, local planning authorities up and down the country are overburdened and struggling.
With the newly elected government already making some initial changes which will impact on the planning system, we are hopeful that change is coming to deal with the sector’s under resourcing. It’s absolutely crucial that it’s properly addressed so we can, collectively, deliver quality projects and plans that will support good placemaking.
What’s the solution?
Beyond simply funding the department better (which is, of course, the number one thing needed) we need the new government to be brave and cut red tape that slows progress down.
What question you are most often asked by clients about the sector?
Clients are often keen to understand how well we know a particular local authority.
As planners, one of our most valuable skills is building and maintaining good quality relationships with stakeholders. That’s the local planning officers primarily, but also councillors, statutory stakeholders and multiple technical organisations and consultants.
We see time and again the benefit of engaging positively with people, and how that helps the smooth running of projects through the planning system.
What are you excited about over the coming months?
I have joined a really capable team, of five planners and four designers, so I’m excited to get stuck in. I’ll be supporting the Group’s ambitions to grow and diversify, capitalise on the team’s talents and bolster our presence across the Central South area.
We’re well known for our skills across the residential sector and renewable energy, so I’m going to be focusing on driving forward our profile and demonstrating our capabilities across urban regeneration, senior living and the infrastructure sectors too.
I’m excited to roll up my sleeves and crack on with delivering the best outcomes for our clients.
Get in touch if you’ve got a scheme in the Central South area that needs help progressing through the planning system. Our friendly Solent team would love to hear from you.