Planning matters

Today is an historic day for our company as we change our trading name to Lichfields and look forward to exciting times ahead as planning takes centre stage in dealing with the housing crisis and driving economic growth as the nation inches closer to exit from the EU.

In choosing Lichfields we have captured our heritage and the name of our founder, and at the same time we have simplified and modernised how we present ourselves to the market.

Over the last few years we have expanded into new geographical markets - opening new offices in Bristol, Edinburgh and Thames Valley - and grown many of our services, most notably heritage, infrastructure, environmental impact assessment and daylight and sunlight. Our aim is to provide the fullest range of planning and development consultancy services to help unlock the potential of sites and land, carefully matching our peoples' skills and expertise to each project's needs, whatever the scale and complexity.

Alongside our fee earning work we take our wider responsibilities to planning and development very seriously. We want to be at the forefront of shaping change, feeding back and sharing the experiences and perspectives of our clients. This was most evident in the publication of the Housing White Paper last week. Several of our people had, in one way or another, fed into various matters it addressed - most notably Mathew Spry's work as part of the Local Plans Expert Group; and then within hours of its publication we provided what, in my view, stands out head and shoulders above the rest as the most authoritative commentary on its contents.

This year Lichfields will enjoy its 55th anniversary, with our Newcastle and Manchester offices celebrating their 25th and 15th anniversaries respectively. Over that time we have worked with our clients to create many great places across the UK - this is at the heart of what we do and why we enjoy it; and it's how we create value for those who commission our services. Our new website showcases many of our clients' successes.

As Lichfields we will continue to invest in our business to further strengthen our regional offer and our range of services. Our London office remains one of the largest in the Capital with unparalleled project-coverage across the whole of London. It goes from strength to strength and alongside our client teams we have created Think Tank, a new team that will be spearheading our research and thought-leadership efforts in the future. Over the next few weeks we will be announcing how we are going to strengthen our non-executive leadership team with the addition of an experienced property industry professional.

Our brand refresh - including our new name, website and company profile - seeks to embody all the dynamism of our business and the positive way we view the role of planning in delivering the right amount and type of development the UK desperately needs.

It's business as usual at Lichfields and we hope we can be of service to you in the future.