Senior Urban Designer

The Mayor’s London Plan is an ambitious and far-reaching strategy for the future development of London, setting out how Good Growth will enable London to develop in a sustainable way. The role of Senior Strategic Planner – Urban Design will be central to implementing the London Plan policies through considering referred planning applications and preparing Opportunity Area Planning Frameworks (OAPFs).

This is a key role within the Growth Strategies and Urban Design team which has a core dual function of providing design comments on strategic referrals, including leading on providing design advice at pre-application meetings , project managing the production of OAPFs, and leading on masterplanning and urban design approaches. For this reason a relevant design qualification and expertise in software packages such as GIS/Adobe CS/Sketch Up is a must for this role.

OAPFs interpret planning policy as strategic urban design guidance, and help to steer the development of areas with significant growth potential. The successful candidate will have responsibility for leading a small project team to work with boroughs to prepare and develop concepts for change at a strategic level, iterate growth scenarios, and produce compelling and deliverable spatial plans as OAPFs.

You’ll need to be committed to good planning and design in London with a track record of achievement in a comparable role, and have the skills to deal with complex strategic planning issues.  You should have a degree/post graduate qualification in planning or equivalent with eligibility for RTPI membership.  An additional urban design/architectural qualification is desirable.

The role will also involve providing design advice for planning applications that are referred to the Mayor against the London Plan. You will be responsible for ensuring applications demonstrate high standards of design quality, so you’ll need to understand how to apply the London Plan in a pragmatic and sensible way that encourages development and delivers the Mayor’s objectives. 

You will need negotiation skills, with the capability to work with applicants to positively influence the design of schemes.  You should have a detailed knowledge and understanding of national and regional planning and development issues, legal processes and policy trends.

You will be expected to present reports to the Mayor and Deputy Mayor directly, so you will need excellent written and verbal communication skills.  You will also need good negotiation skills and ability to work successfully with a range of internal and external stakeholders.

While the job description covers a broad range of activities across the Planning service, this role will be based in the Growth Strategies and Urban Design team. In their application, candidates should demonstrate how they meet the technical requirements for Grade 8 and the behavioural competencies set out in the Person Specification.

Please ensure your supporting statement clearly addresses all of the personal specification Criteria (Technical requirements and behavioural competencies) .

This role will be based at London Fire Brigade’s Head Office (Union Street SE1 0LL).  GLA staff are working largely from home, with office space available.  Over the coming weeks and months, we will be moving to hybrid working as part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.

London's diversity is its biggest asset and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London's diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic candidates and disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce.

For more information on the GLA’s approach to Diversity and Inclusion, please see Diversity and our values | London City Hall

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We would welcome applications from candidates who are seeking part time work as this role is open to job share. 

In addition to a good salary package, we offer an attractive range of benefits including 30 days’ annual leave, interest free season ticket loan, interest free bicycle loan and a career average pension scheme.

If you have a question about the role, please contact Mathieu.proctor@london.gov.uk or the recruitment process then please contact a member of the recruitment team via email on  glarecruitment@engageats.co.uk quoting reference GLA279.

Application closing date:  Sunday 02 October 2022 at 23:59 GMT

Interviews will take place: Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 October 2022

Please note we do not accept CV’s for this role. All applications for this vacancy must be submitted via our online recruitment system. To apply and to view a copy of the Job Description and Person specification, please click the "Apply Now" button below.