Throughout my career, I have always been interested in thinking about the wider context of a project. Be it regeneration or a new community, an urban extension or a building with a combination of uses and functions. I want to know that my work has made a difference to the places and people who live there.  

The role of masterplanning can broadly be described as the process to encourage creative thinking when considering the overview of an area for development and establishes the principles to structure land-use and the design approach. But before this stage, there are three fundamental objectives that must inform how that process should commence.  First, to grow the economy enabled by development, second, to reduce green-house gas emissions, and third, to encourage societal behavioural change.  

As UK Head of Masterplanning, my focus is master thinking – which is everything that happens before the masterplanning. From strategic growth and thinking about how to bring developments forward on a large scale, to the clean growth strategy that delivers economic gain without the cost to the environment.  

To address the issues in these key areas, we must ask the questions; How can we solve air quality and environmental issues by reducing the usage of cars? How do we connect people to jobs by creating more efficient transport links? How do we attract employers to create opportunities for young people? By applying this level of thinking, we can build strong foundations for which decisions can be made to enable communities to thrive.  

But how do we define a thriving community? To me, a thriving community is one that can function efficiently and have everything it needs from housing, transport and jobs to inclusivity, health and wellbeing, where no part of that community is left behind. There is no one size fits all solution, which is why our approach must always consider individual needs and start with the objectives in mind.  

The UK government’s current headline initiative is about levelling up the economy with targeted investment to support infrastructure and development that improves everyday life across the UK, and where it is needed most. We’re supporting this agenda by working with the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, where more than 20% of children are living below the poverty line, 13% of the working population have no qualifications, and 15% of households are in fuel poverty, according to the latest study by the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Together with the UK Business Council for Sustainable Development, we are curating an economic strategy, a development strategy, and a planning system to help the city to become the UK’s first metropolitan clean growth district, which aims to grow the economy while reducing greenhouse emissions and influencing behavioural change.  

At its core, masterplanning is about agile thinking and intelligent solutions. It’s a thought process that enables everything to happen. We are disruptive in a positive way. We’re not afraid to ask the difficult questions, such as, how do we work differently? How do we work more efficiently? And how do we put greater emphasis on the outcomes? Understanding the objectives before we get started only accelerates what we can do for our clients.  

Being in the best chapter of my career, I want to make sure that it counts. I would like to deliver clean growth, to make sure we meet all the sustainability criteria; for nature and human coexistence, for net zero, decarbonisation, and biodiversity net gain. And finally, I want to pass on everything I have learned throughout my working life to the stream of incredibly talented young people who are coming through our industry. The people without whom the work we do would not be possible, with their strong views, opinions and drive for a better way of working for a sustainable future.