Job Description:

Role - Senior Urban Designer – Residential Layout Specialist

Location – Birmingham or London 

Salary - £50K

Our client, a well-established landscape architecture and urban design practice is looking to add a Senior Urban Designer to its team. They work across a varied range of projects throughout the UK and offer a friendly, collaborative environment with good opportunities for career development and progression.

The ideal Senior Urban Designer will have strong design skills, but just as importantly, know how to make residential layouts actually work. This means being able to balance development numbers and commercial requirements with good placemaking, streets, parking, landscape, drainage and the various technical constraints that come with a site. At Senior level, the role needs someone comfortable taking ownership of a layout, spotting what isn’t working and finding practical solutions, while still making sure the end result is well designed and deliverable.

Senior Urban Designer Essential Requirements

• Residential Design Experience
• Strong professional experience in residential urban design, masterplanning and detailed layout design, ideally gained within a consultancy, housebuilder, developer or multidisciplinary practice
• A portfolio demonstrating commercially viable, technically considered and deliverable residential layouts across a range of development sizes
• Experience taking projects from early feasibility and capacity testing through concept masterplanning, layout development and detailed residential design
• Good understanding of the priorities and commercial requirements of housebuilders, developers and land promoters

Residential Layout & Placemaking

• Strong understanding of residential layout principles including street hierarchy, blocks, plots, frontage, building lines, density, enclosure and movement
• Ability to maximise development potential while maintaining strong placemaking, landscape and urban design principles
• Good understanding of how housing mix, density, development capacity and design quality work together
• Confidence resolving detailed layout issues including parking, servicing, refuse, cycle storage, amenity space, gardens, overlooking and separation distances
• Ability to interpret site constraints and opportunities and turn them into practical, coherent and deliverable layouts

Technical & Planning Knowledge

• Good working knowledge of the UK residential planning and design process, including experience supporting planning applications.
• Practical understanding of highways, street design, parking standards, drainage, utilities and other technical considerations affecting residential layouts
• Experience coordinating input from highways, drainage, landscape, ecology, arboriculture, BNG, utilities and other technical disciplines
• Ability to identify design and technical conflicts early and work with the wider team to resolve them
• Experience producing or contributing to framework plans, parameter plans, Design and Access Statements, design codes and other planning material

Design & Software Skills

• Strong AutoCAD skills with the ability to produce accurate and well-resolved residential layouts efficiently
• Good graphical and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate ideas clearly through plans, diagrams, sketches and written material

Senior-Level Experience

• Ability to lead residential projects and take ownership of layouts from the initial brief through key planning stages
• Confident presenting and discussing design proposals with clients, local authorities, consultants and other stakeholders
• Experience coordinating multidisciplinary teams and balancing competing design, planning and technical requirements
• Ability to review junior team members' work, provide guidance and manage multiple projects, deadlines and priorities
• Good commercial awareness, including an understanding of project scope, programmes, resources and client requirements

Desirable Experience

• Degree or postgraduate qualification in Urban Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Planning or a related discipline, with professional accreditation or progress towards it desirable
• Experience working with housebuilders, land promoters or residential developers, ideally including large residential developments, urban extensions or new settlements
• Experience with outline, reserved matters and full planning applications, design codes, BNG, SuDS, green infrastructure and landscape-led masterplanning

On Offer

Competitive salary

Hybrid working

Strong opportunities for career progression

Ongoing training and professional development

Support towards professional accreditation and chartership

Opportunity to work on large-scale and high-profile projects

Collaborative working alongside landscape, ecology and other specialist teams

Regular team socials, events, field trips and study visits

Supportive and friendly studio environment

A genuine focus on work-life balance and employee wellbeing

The Next Step

If you are interested in this Senior Urban Designer role or any other similar opportunities, please click apply and upload your CV, or contact Adam Johnston on (phone number removed) to find out what else may be out there.

All applications for this Senior Urban Designer role will remain completely confidential between yourself and Adam Johnston. You will not be added to any mailing lists and rest assured your details would NOT be passed on to anyone without your prior authorisation.

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