New office move for Bristol planning specialist Lichfields accommodates growth

The Bristol office of planning and development consultancy Lichfields has relocated to new city centre premises to accommodate strong growth and demand for an expanding range of services.

The move will see the company take 1,500 sq. ft. of modern office space at Blok, 1 Castle Park, Bristol, more than doubling current capacity to help meet future operational requirements.

This follows two years of expansion for the firm, which has continued to diversify the range of services it offers following investment in additional heritage planning resources to secure new project work.

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With a current turnover of over £2m, Lichfields Bristol has seen substantial growth in revenue in the past 24 months. This has come on the back of an increased workload from both regional private and public sector clients, who have continued to invest in bringing forward schemes and maintain an optimistic outlook for the property sector.

In particular, an ever-growing volume of work in the heritage, infrastructure, housing and sport, tourism and leisure sectors has led a robust performance and increasing diversification for Lichfields.

A wider sectorial split has seen projects completed for among others the operators of Warwick Castle, Merlin Entertainments, while planning and heritage support around a new £35 million residential development by Goram Homes on the former Portwall Lane Car Park on the edge of Bristol city centre is also being provided. Lichfields is also advising Ainscough Strategic Land on the Wolvershill strategic growth location in North Somerset.

Lichfields continues to win work in the later living and care sector, where securing planning permission for a comprehensive regeneration of Rowcroft Hospice in Torbay and Holly Court retirement housing for Anchor Housing in Weymouth are among the projects that have been successfully delivered.

In Cornwall, there are multiple leisure orientated projects for several major resorts and work around the environmental and social impact assessment of a potential UK site for new lithium mining is also contributing to growth and expansion.

Head of the Lichfields Bristol office, Andrew Cockett, said a number of new roles in heritage and planning, will be created as investment to strengthen the existing team.

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He said: “We are busier than ever, winning major new projects as well as growing the scope of work undertaken for current clients. We are a very much a business on the rise, investing in a new office to increase our footprint, accommodate future growth and provide the best possible environment to enable the team to thrive and continue to deliver excellent service.

“The move signals the next exciting chapter for our south west operations, laying firm foundations as we go from strength-to-strength with the capacity to deliver sustainable growth. We look forward continuing to diversify our service offering and client base, while developing a strong presence in Bristol and beyond.”