Firstplan 2024 Wrapped

Coming to the end of 2024, the Firstplan team are thankful for another busy and successful year, with a hugely diverse range of new instructions under our belt and extensive repeat work for our long-standing clients. As always, we extend our thanks to our clients old and new, for their instructions over the last year.

Planning always presents new challenges to address and this year has been no different. We have been busy advising clients on the implications of Biodiversity Net Gain following this becoming a mandatory requirement across sites of all sizes, and for the second year in a row, we see the year out with a revised National Planning Policy Framework, and a Government consultation on, amongst other matters, the future role of planning committees. The new Government has confirmed its commitment to significant levels of housebuilding and promised additional, welcomed investment in the planning sector, and we await to see what further initiatives and policy announcements come forward in 2025. We will, as always, post about these updates on our website and LinkedIn, to assist in keeping our clients informed.

Team news

Our team has continued to grow in 2024, as we have welcomed Charlie Vann-Nicholls as Trainee Planner and Jeannie Banks as Assistant Planner. The year has seen promotions for our team members Chloe Ballantine (to Senior Associate), George Creamer (to Associate), Josh Hindle (to Planner) and Darcey Morse (to Assistant Planner), and we extend our congratulations to them. We were also delighted to take on two apprentice students from London South Bank University, who assisted team members with a wide range of projects over the summer months, and it was a pleasure to welcome three apprentices to our offices for the day as part of the Build The Way traineeship scheme.

We continue to engage in local community events, and this year we have participated in a foreshore cleanup of the River Thames as part of World Rivers Day, and spent a day in Dulwich Park, south London, working with HandsOn London, a charity who provide volunteering and community service opportunities across London. Last but not least, we competed in the RTPI London Football Tournament at Powerleague Battersea in September 2024, where in which our team progressed through to the final and won the competition plate trophy following a tense penalty shoot-out (with commiserations to Boyer Planning!)

Retail and town centres

Firstplan continue to be highly active in the retail and town centres sector, acting on behalf of a wide range of private and public sector clients. We have been advising Waitrose on the roll out of their convenience format and their first new store in six years opened at Hampton Hill in November with more planned for the coming months. We are also working on the company’s store refurbishment programme and have secured the necessary planning permissions to facilitate the revamp of key stores in Maidenhead (opened in November) and Wilmslow with other projects currently in the pipeline.

We continue to be busy supporting the expansion of Smyths Toys across the UK, with new stores opening this year in Staines, Eastbourne, Uxbridge, Cardiff and Weston Super Mare; as well as the ongoing expansion of GoOutdoors, including the opening of Europe’s biggest outdoor store in York in August. We also began working with RM Williams, the Australian clothing and footwear retailer, and have secured consents to enable them to open their first stores outside of London in the UK in Cambridge and Marlow town centres.

Elsewhere, we secured planning permissions for the continued revamp of the Boulevard Retail Park in Peterborough, including a new drive-thru restaurant, securing the first food & beverage unit at the site, as well as securing a larger unit for Dunelm, a new unit for the furniture retailer Lee Longlands, and refurbishment work to enhance the retail park’s appearance.

We continue to work with Market Place, providing ongoing planning support for their rollout of sites both in London and nationwide.

Finally, we continue to grow our public sector workstream, and this year have been instructed on two high-profile Local Plan evidence base studies on future retail, leisure and town centre needs for local planning authorities in London and the West Midlands.

(above: Little Waitrose & Partners, Hampton Hill. Image credit: John Lewis Partnership)

Leisure, Restaurant and Food Delivery

Firstplan continue to be busy in the leisure, restaurant and food delivery sectors, working to support a number of well-known food & beverage operators to support their expansion plans. These have included assisting with Dishoom’s new Permit Room concept restaurant, where we have supported the opening of new sites in Cambridge and Brighton. We have worked on 15+ new sites for Popeyes restaurants and a similar number for Burger King, both in town centre and drive-thru locations, including a new flagship location for Burger King on the Strand, London.  We have also been assisting with the roll-out and opening of several new Farmer-J restaurants.

Working with our clients to acquire planning permissions across the UK, it is not often that Firstplan has the opportunity to work concurrently on two ingoing restaurant units next to each other. Earlier this year, our team had a hand in assisting Five Guys and Nando’s to open new restaurants in the former Debenhams located in Winchester city centre. Several iterations of applications have been submitted to support these ventures, including planning and advertisement consent for both units. We continue to work with both Five Guys and Nando’s on an extensive number of sites elsewhere across the country.

Firstplan provided planning consultancy services in respect to the redevelopment of The Unicorn, a public house and live music venue in Camden. Firstplan worked closely with the project architects to breathe new life into this historic building through the securing of a planning permission that includes a combination of sympathetic extension, refurbishments and reconfiguration. We have also been providing ongoing planning support for Troubadour Theatres and successfully secured necessary amendments to the operation at their Meridian Waters Studios.

We continue to work with Soho House and have secured consent for a new private members club in Mayfair. Firstplan have continued to provide planning consultancy support for Everyman Cinema on the rollout of new cinemas across the country. This has included planning and advertisement consent for a new cinema at Stratford International which opens this month.

Finally in this sector, we secured planning permission for a 20,000-person music festival and 10-year permission for an events marquee, to help generate vital funding to support two charitable trust-run park and gardens in London.

(above: Everyman, Stratford International. Image credit: Everyman Cinemas)

Employment and Logistics

On behalf of CNG Fuels, Firstplan was instrumental in securing planning permissions for new Bio-Compressed Natural Gas refuelling stations nationwide, including sites in Warrington and Hinckley within the renowned Midlands ‘Golden Logistics Triangle’, assisting the likes of Amazon, Royal Mail, Aldi and Evri amongst many other household names in their transition to sustainable Bio-CNG fuelled fleets.

Firstplan has continued to work for a range of clients in the rail freight sector. In early 2024 Firstplan secured planning permission for Capital Concrete for a rail served concrete batching plant and for Brett Aggregates for a rail served aggregate bagging plant at the DB Cargo Langley Sidings site in Slough.  In the critical area of safeguarding for rail freight sites, working closely with Network Rail, DB Cargo and Express Concrete, Firstplan successfully progressed representations to the London Borough of Barking Local Plan, adopted in September 2024, securing the identification and safeguarding of a number of key rail freight sites and supportive policy wording.

In the minerals and waste sector Firstplan secured planning permission for Tarmac in June 2024 for an extension of time for the tipping of inert waste and restoration of a quarry site and extension of the operation of the associated aggregate recycling plant in Linford, Thurrock.

(above: Linford Quarry. Image credit: Firstplan Ltd)

Elsewhere, we secured consent for two new Tradestars co-warehousing sites in London (Islington and Southwark). We were also pleased to have secured planning permission in December for a mixed-use development at 36 Battersea Square in south London, better known as the former Royal Academy of Dance. The scheme will consist of new offices for Foster + Partners, as well as community facilities such as a café, gym and yoga facilities, and an event space.

(above: Tradestars, Islington. Image credit: Resonate Interiors Limited)

Firstplan have secured various listed building consents, throughout London to provide high-quality office accommodation within Grade I and Grade II listed buildings, including those within Westminster and the City of London. We have also provided planning advice and obtaining the necessary consents to facilitate the refurbishment and redevelopment of Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide’s headquarters in the City of London.

(above: 36 Battersea Square. Image credit: oreilly.studio) 

Residential and Mixed Use

Firstplan have celebrated a number of successes on behalf of clients this year in the residential and mixed-use sector. We obtained consent on a backland site for two houses in Stockwell, south London. The site was very constrained but we managed to achieve two storeys through clever window arrangement and incorporation of green roofs to soften the design. We obtained planning consent for the development of six new residential properties on a backland site adjacent to a mainline railway and conservation area in Hanwell, west London. Firstplan were involved throughout the development of the concept, which was successfully designed by Base Associates.

Other residential schemes include securing planning consent in a very quick turnaround for a challenging scheme for six new dwellings on a backland garage site in London Borough of Redbridge; obtaining planning approval for a substantial new-build Cotswold Stone mansion in a highly sensitive rural location adjacent to the Cotswolds AONB. We also secured planning permission for the Singapore-based, Kimen Group’s first development in the UK, which is for an attractive boutique, apartment development in Woodberry Down, north London.

(above: Harley Mews, Redbridge. Image credit: Trevor Horne Architects)

Firstplan have won several appeals for householders including extensions in Wandsworth, Lambeth and an outbuilding in Hounslow. The appeals were in conservation areas and we were able to demonstrate no harm to the heritage assets. Firstplan’s expertise in permitted development legislation and the prior approval process has led us to secure consent in North Somerset with an 11-unit scheme in Clevedon.  This development will transform an underused commercial site to deliver much-needed housing for local people.

In terms of mixed use schemes, Firstplan obtained planning consent for the alteration, upwards extension and basement extension of Westminster House, Richmond to provide a new gym, modernised office and retail facilities and 7 new residential units. We are also pleased to have played a crucial role in delivering a mixed-use scheme comprising a gym, 2 retail units and 19 new residential units directly in the heart of Kensington High Street, addressing key issues such as heritage and amenity.

Firstplan continue to be active in the Co-Living sector. We have been instructed by Mitheridge Capital and Halcyon Development Partners at their 8 storey, 339-room Co-Living development in Hackney Wick, east London to secure consents for the enabling, construction and occupation stages of the scheme, as well as by JRL Group and Halcyon Development Partners to assist in the delivery of a 17 storey, 330-room Co-Living building in Woking, Surrey.

(above: Woodberry Down, north London. Image credit: Seedoe London and The Kimen Group)

Community and Education

Building on a highly successful 2023, this year was again a strong year in the Early Years sector, as we assisted with the rollout of children’s nursery settings and SEND schools across the Country. We have continued to work closely with N Family Club and KMK Kinderzimmer on their expansions in the Southeast. This has included the refurbishment and occupation of many fantastic, listed buildings, including Maidenhead Court Boathouse and the Clock Tower, Walton on Thames. We also secured changes of use for a new nursery for Monkey Puzzle in Stevenage and for a new tuition centre for Arka Learning in the Eden Centre, High Wycombe.  We have also worked on four new schools for children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities on behalf of Melrose Education. Additionally, we have worked closely with delivery partners in the Early Years sector, including the Harkalm Group working alongside many great operators.

As part of our ongoing work as retained consultants for Buckinghamshire New University, Firstplan secured planning permission and listed building consent for enhancements to the Grade II listed Brunel Engine Shed in High Wycombe. This included a series of internal and external improvements, as well as improvements to the overall sustainability of the respective spaces. This followed on from a previous change of use permission obtained by Firstplan in 2023 enabling this building to be brought back into use as a mixed educational, office, café/restaurant, community and arts facility.

In 2024, we secured planning permission for the Humanitarian Aid Memorial in Gunnersbury Park. As Britain’s first and only Memorial to the sacrifice of humanitarian aid workers, it will form a nationally significant focal point for the remembrance of international aid workers, which is designed by acclaimed artist, Michael Landy CBE. This was a tremendous project to be a part of.

(above: N Family Club, Forest Hill. Image credit: N Family Club)

As always, we extend our thanks to our clients, and the consultants, specialists and architects that we work with for a successful year. We look forward to seeing what 2025 has in store.

Article prepared by Adam Bunn