05 December 2014, National property consultancy Carter Jonas is acquiring London-based planning practice, Planning Perspectives LLP, and its public sector consultancy business, Strategic Perspectives.

The acquisition, which will be effective from 11 December 2014, will mean that the independent planning practice, with a team of 18, will increase Carter Jonas’ London planning and development team to 33 people; all based in One Chapel Place, the firm’s West End headquarters.

Its national service is provided through a network of 32 offices across England and Wales, with planning & development teams in London, Oxford, Cambridge and Harrogate. It now has some 75 chartered planners and surveyors in these offices, making it one of the largest teams in the UK.

James Bainbridge, head of the planning and development division, Carter Jonas, said: “Planning Perspectives brings to our firm an excellent reputation and decades of experience in the planning industry.  They share our ambitious and client-focused approach and this acquisition is very much in line with our national growth strategy and vision: to create a consistently high quality, national service – driven by a strong London presence and an expanding network of regional hub offices.”

Richard Jones, chairman, Planning Perspectives, said: “We were impressed by Carter Jonas’ drive and ethos. Our focus has long been centred on creating bespoke strategies for our clients and delivering excellent service. I feel therefore this is very much a natural coming together of like-minded professionals.”

Nick Taylor, head of planning at Carter Jonas and based in One Chapel Place, said: “The enlarged London team will be a very strong planning consultancy advising a large portfolio of private and public sector clients including the Church Commissioners, Cemex, the DIO, Development Securities, The Crown Estate, National Grid, Barratt Homes, Crest Nicholson, Salmon Harvester, Guildford Borough and Nottingham City Councils.  In particular, the new team will add a specialist retail planning and town centre consultancy.”

Mark Granger, chief executive, Carter Jonas, said: “This year has been an outstanding one for us. Since relocating to new headquarters in W1 twelve months ago, our London headcount has more than doubled. As well as expanding our professional teams, we have acquired Barnes based estate agency, Boileaus, and commercial investment agency specialists, Whittingham Prosser.”  

“From a firm with a turnover of £19million in 2009, through growth in all practice areas, our multi-disciplinary property business now has a turnover of £45million.The acquisition of Planning Perspectives is an exciting move for us and it reinforces our commitment to building strong specialist teams in all areas across our UK business, in order to provide the very best service for our clients.”

From 11 December 2014, Planning Perspectives will trade as Carter Jonas LLP.