Atkins is a major planning firm that leads projects transforming the built environment worldwide. They provide innovative solutions for urban centers and infrastructure to support communities. Their multidisciplinary teams address economic, social, physical, and environmental aspects of any development. Atkins has an established reputation for imaginative, practical, and independent planning advice on projects of all sizes for public and private clients.

1. Planning
WE PLAN TOWNS
AND CITIES
Atkins leads game-changing projects
that transform our built environment.
Our innovative solutions keep places
moving – physically and economically.
From rebuilding dense urban centres to
delivering the social and leisure amenities
and infrastructure that support them.

2. WHAT ARE THE KEY QUESTIONS?
PEOPLE
Who are we designing for?
How can they get involved?
FUTURE
PROOFING
How do we plan for changes
in lifestyle & climate change?
ADAPTABILITY
How do we live
in an old city?
REINVENTION
How do we
accommodate growth?
LAND-USE MIX
What is right for the site?
INFRASTRUCTURE
How can we expedite the
consenting process?
RESOURCES
Where do we plug in?
PROGRAMME
How do we minimise risk
and ensure flexibility?
ECONOMICS
How do we maximise
benefit and minimise risk?
DELIVERY
When is the time right?
Atkins is a major force in urban
planning, delivering sustainable
solutions throughout the
world. We have an established
reputation for providing
imaginative, practical and
independent advice, taking
projects of all kinds and sizes,
for both public and private
sector clients, from initial study
to completion.
A major strength is our
multidiscipline capability
which equips us to address
the economic, social, physical
and environmental aspects
of any development in a fully
integrated manner and our
planners lead many large
multidiscipline projects.
Our planners are passionate
about making a real difference
whatever project they are
working on, large or small and
wherever it is in the world.
HOW DO WE MAKE IT HAPPEN?
Committed, creative, diligent,
effective, enthusiastic, flexible,
helpful, pragmatic, professional,
thorough, thoughtful, sensible
and providing significant added
value, expert knowledge and a
high quality ‘can do’ approach,
are all ways our clients have
recently described us.
Atkins planners have ensured
imaginative high-quality
planning solutions and
successful multidiscipline project
delivery on numerous projects
from a local to an international
scale. Some key recent projects
are illustrated here:
WHAT DO OUR
CLIENTS THINK?
WHAT HAVE
WE DONE?

3. The Future Proofing Cities report
assessed the risks to 129 cities – from
climate hazards, resource scarcity, and
damage to ecosystems – and proposes
ways in which cities can be empowered
to future-proof their communities.
The report has been influential in
informing DFID’s (and UK Government
wide) strategy on urbanisation and has
been endorsed by the World Bank,
Rockefeller Foundation, Cities Alliance
and ICLEI.
Future Proofing Cities
Client: Department for International Development (DFID)
We undertook the EIA of the Country
North section of HS2, an 83km stretch
of the route through Warwickshire,
Solihull and Staffordshire. The findings
of the EIA were reported in an
environmental statement covering the
entire route which was submitted to
Parliament in November 2013 as part
of the HS2 Phase 1 hybrid Bill.
Atkins was one of four consultant
teams responsible for delivering
the HS2 EIA, the largest EIA ever
undertaken in the UK.
High Speed 2 (HS2) London to West
Midlands: Country North EIA
Client: HS2 Ltd

4. Our team have an in-depth
understanding of how local and
regional economies work in relation
to transport infrastructure. We have
been working with TfL to identify the
potential long term land use impacts
of extensions to Tramlink, the DLR
and to the Bakerloo Line, as well as
East London River crossings, and have
worked extensively throughout the
boroughs likely to be affected by the
proposed river crossings package
Atkins, supported by Arc4 Ltd and
Edge Analytics Ltd, was commissioned
to prepare an assessment of the
housing and economic needs of the
district over the local plan period. A
range of alternative demographic
scenarios were tested to identify the
District’s objectively assessed needs
for housing, and this evidence has
been used to inform the District’s
Local Plan housing requirement. The
Consultant team recently appeared
as expert witnesses at the local plan
Examination in Public.
Thames River Crossing Development Study
Client: Transport for London (TfL)
Housing and Economic Needs Assessment
Client: Derbyshire Dales District Council

5. Atkins secured a hybrid planning
permission for redevelopment of
Dunsbury Hill Farm to provide a
high tech business park, hotel and
conference facilities.
The 60ha site forms a Strategic Gap
between the A3(M) and the residential
area of Leigh Park with views towards
the south coast and north towards
South Downs National Park.
Dunsbury Hill Farm High-Tech
Business Park
Client: Portsmouth City Council
Lisson Arches Regeneration
Client: Westminster City Council
In 2013 Westminster City Council
embarked on a programme of
regeneration and renewal and Atkins
was appointed to lead Stage 1 of
the ‘Church Street Futures Plan’. The
contract required Atkins to assist with
formalising the final proposed designs,
assess whether an EIA was required,
take the various developments
though pre-application discussions
with planners, prepare and submit
the necessary planning applications
and then lead negotiations with both
Westminster, the GLA and TfL post
submission. We successfully secured a
formal planning consent for the works.

6. Atkins assisted in the preparation and
submission of successful DCOs for new
Nuclear Power Stations at Hinkley Point
in Somerset. Working alongside EDF
Energy’s Planning and External Affairs
Team, Atkins had the responsibility
for liaising with the Local Planning
Authorities (LPAs) and managed the
Planning Performance Agreement (PPA)
with the LPAs.
Preparation of Development Consent
Order (DCO) for Hinkley Point C
Power Station
Client: EDF Energy Development (EDF) Atkins secured Outline Planning
Consent on behalf of the HCA for a
large scale residential development
(1,100 homes) which was shortlisted
for the RTPI North West Planning
Awards. The scheme represents
the largest consented residential
development in the north-west over the
past year and will see the development
of a 52.5ha Greenfield site to the
north-west of Preston, Lancashire.
Cottam Hall Residential Development,
Preston
Client: Homes and Communities Agency (HCA)

7. In November 2009, Cockermouth
and its adjoining communities were
severely flooded when the Rivers
Derwent and Cocker swept through
the town, inundating 565 properties
and causing £267.5m of damage.
With strong local involvement, we
devised an innovative scheme that
meets the needs of the community,
is sympathetic to the historical
surroundings, and has had a positive
impact on tourism. The scheme was
shortlisted in the ‘Leading the way for
planning in the community’ category
at the RTPI awards.
Cockermouth Flood Alleviation Scheme
Client: Environment Agency
This framework illustrates a strategic
vision for the City of Manizales. It
provides an analysis of the wider
region’s economic growth towards the
year 2035. Atkins developed spatial
development proposals for key areas
and projects that will help to achieve
the city region’s growth potential.
The framework was developed through
stakeholder engagement. It has now
been adopted as part of the City’s
statutory planning document.
Manizales Development Framework,
Colombia
Client: Findeter/Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)

8. Atkins provided one of the three town
planning managers and two senior
planners responsible for successfully
securing a Development Consent Order
for the Thames Tideway Tunnel. They
had particular responsibility for the
central section comprising the Royal
Borough of Kensington & Chelsea,
City of Westminster, City of London
and London Borough of Lambeth.
Atkins also provided environmental,
sustainability, heritage, carbon capture
and community consultation specialist
support and specialists in Health Impact
Assessment and Equalities Impact
Assessment.
The Thames Tideway Tunnel project
was made a Nationally Significant
Infrastructure Project (NSIP) by an
amendment to S14(3) of the Planning
Act 2008.
Atkins has advised and agreed with
the County Councils appropriate
strategies for the disposal of surplus
school sites in Oxfordshire and
Northamptonshire. Atkins Planners
also secured planning permission
for disposal of the surplus sites and
arranged all the “disposal consents”
from the Secretary of State.
We also support the County Councils
with the development of new schools,
we secured planning permission for
a new primary school in Banbury
(Orchard Fields) and have recently
prepared a planning application for a
new school at Didcot (Great Western
Park) on a site which Oxfordshire
County Council procured through a
section 106 Agreement.
Schools Review
Client: Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire County Councils
Thames Tideway Tunnel
Client: London Tideway Tunnels Delivery Team

9. Atkins was commissioned by a
housing developer to undertake a
strategic housing land search to help
them consider whether there are
opportunities to acquire land with long
term potential for housing delivery. The
focus of the study was on two search
areas in the south east of England.
Atkins considered the case for strategic
housing development by reviewing
how much housing development is
already planned for the area and how
this compares to objectively assessed
needs for housing; assessed potential
constraints on development (such
as environmental and landscape
designations); assessed the current
approach to housing growth and
where this will be located; and assessed
the current rate of housing delivery.
We prepared a masterplan, EIA,
Sustainability Statement and Outline
Energy Strategy to support a successful
outline planning application for 800
homes and supporting facilities. The
site is located approximately 2km
north of Ely City Centre with views
towards the historic Ely Cathedral.
The new settlement will include a local
centre, primary school, community
centre and a country park. We
supported the Church Commissioners
in extending the site allocation and in
preparing a supplementary planning
document to guide development of a
further 2,000 homes.
Highflyer Farm Urban Extension, Ely
Client: Church Commissioners for England
Strategic Land Search
Client: National Housing Developer

10. Located on the New Energy and
Technology Business Park, near
Billingham, Teesside, Air Products plc
are proposing to develop the world’s
largest Renewable Energy Facility (REF)
using advanced gasification technology
to process municipal and commercial
/ industrial waste from the region,
diverting non-recyclable waste from
landfill for the production of renewable
energy.
Atkins secured planning permission
for the 49MW facility which will
provide renewable electricity for up to
50,000 homes in the North East. Our
team advised on all environmental
aspects of the development, the most
challenging of which was the need to
justify the location on land within close
proximity to a SSSI, Ramsar and Special
Protection Area (SPA).
Atkins has been providing a
consents and environment project
management service in relation to
several transmission schemes across
the UK. We have been responsible
for procuring and managing teams
of environmental consultants, liaising
with design, construction and
developer teams, communicating
with statutory bodies and preparing
and submitting the relevant consents.
Consents have been secured for:
overhead power lines; upgrade of high
voltage transmission infrastructure;
new substations; underground
transmission for wind turbines and a
DCO application has been prepared
for the East Thurrock Connection
Project.
Planning and Environmental Services
Client: National Grid
Renewable Energy Facility, Tees Valley
Client: Air Products Plc

11. Atkins was commissioned by the ODA
to undertake the EIA of the London
2012 Olympic, Paralympic and legacy
facilities.
Atkins was also the planning agent
for the London 2012 enabling works,
which was an Olympic Park site-
wide project comprising large scale
earthworks, land remediation, river
walls, and utility diversions to facilitate
the development of London 2012
facilities and their legacy transformation.
We successfully discharged over 200
conditions and secured permissions
for revised earthworks at Eton Manor,
the installation of a gas main, changes
required to the Olympic Park utilities
corridor, and the low-voltage electricity
network including 80+ substations.
Led by our Glasgow office, Atkins
provided a full multidisciplinary design
service to New Campus Glasgow
Ltd to deliver designs for this major
college redevelopment in the heart of
Glasgow. The project aimed to bring
together three separate and disparate
colleges together into one integrated
campus across two sites. A key part
of our multidiscipline service was to
undertake an EIA of the proposed
development. We were responsible
for the coordination of the EIA and for
various environmental topics including
heritage and the landscape and visual
assessment with a number of elements
of the assessment undertaken by other
consultants under our coordination.
Atkins also managed the stakeholder
involvement.
City of Glasgow College
Client: New Campus Glasgow Ltd
Planning and EIA of the London 2012
Olympic, Paralympic and Legacy Facilities
Client: Olympic Delivery Authority

12. HOW DO WE STAY
AHEAD OF THE GAME?
CHURCH COMMISSIONERS FOR ENGLAND
HOMES AND COMMUNITIES AGENCY
LONDON BOROUGH OF HARINGEY
EDF ENERGY
HITACHI
HS2 LTD
WORLD BANK
CAMBRIDGESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
DFID
FINDETER
GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY
CROSSRAIL LTD
OLYMPIC DELIVERY AUTHORITYTHAMES WATER
NETWORK RAIL
PEEL PORTS
ST MODWEN DEVELOPMENTS
NATIONAL GRID
URENCO
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
TRANSPORT FOR LONDON
ZENDAI
PORTSMOUTH CITY COUNCIL
AIR PRODUCTS
CREST NICHOLSON
WEST ENGLAND PARTNERSHIP
SEVERN TRENT WATER
WESSEX WATER
CITY OF LONDON CORPORATION
In addition to our large
planning team in the UK,
many of whom work around
the world, Atkins has teams
in the Middle East, China and
the United States.
The cross-fertilisation of ideas
this international dimension
makes possible plays an
important part in keeping
us at the forefront of our
profession and we take great
pride both in exporting solid
UK planning expertise and
in bringing back good ideas
and incorporating them in our
ever developing approach.
Innovation and thought
leadership are central to our
ethos. We are fully committed
to pushing the boundaries
and taking planning thinking
forward, not just ‘cranking the
handle’. Our Future Proofing
Cities report is an excellent
example of our imaginative
approach in action.
We place strong emphasis
on technical excellence and
have a formal professional
development initiative
guiding Chartership
progression and enabling
CPD opportunities through
a focus on developing new
skills. Technical Excellence
Seminars are held monthly
with a focus on encouraging
active discussion, training and
quality assurance certification.
WHO ARE
OUR CLIENTS?

13. WANT TO KNOW MORE?
KEY CONTACT
Joanne Farrar
Planning Director
Joanne.Farrar@atkinsglobal.com
www.atkinsglobal.com