Career development in Town Planning
Spiire provides exceptional opportunities to grow and develop a career in town planning.
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Our passionate Planning team have a diverse client base, deliver a variety of planning applications, significant scale and depth of experience and expertise, integrated within a strong knowledge base from specialists in other disciplines.
“There is often a misconception that Spiire’s Town Planning team work predominantly with land development clients, which simply isn’t correct,” says Aran Barker, Principal Town Planner.
Our strong and diversified client base includes government departments, local councils, infrastructure authorities, health providers, industrial developers, landowner groups and individuals, as well as residential land developers.
Senior Associate Town Planner Glennie Nottle started at Spiire as a Professional in 2018.
“Coming from a smaller town planning consultancy, I never really had the opportunity to manage projects of the scale that I have at Spiire,” she says.
“Working on large, sometimes state significant, project for major clients means there can be a number of issues and multiple stakeholders which need to be managed concurrently. This requires developed project management, budgeting and client management skills, to determine what approvals are needed in order to deliver the project, and which approach to deliver those approvals would be most beneficial to our clients.”
Aran’s first experiences of Spiire were more than 15 years ago, when he interacted with Spiire consultants on common projects while working for a previous employer.
“It was actually the people I met from Spiire that impressed me; they were highly professional, technically very competent and just nice people to work with,” he says.
Aran eventually made the move to Spiire in 2016. “It was quite a big decision for me – I’d only been with my employer at the time for a year and I have always been very loyal to the employers I have worked for,” he says.
“The Directors brought me on and provided me with an opportunity to help grow and develop the planning team. I was very impressed with the people I was working alongside and the nimble and dynamic nature of the business, being employee owned. They empowered me to make decisions and make big changes that would improve the team.”
Aran says the outcomes for himself and the business have all been positive. “I have a much better understanding of management considerations,” he says. “I made the step from being a good technical planner to gaining a much more holistic perspective of business and how it is run.”
Glennie says the responsibility and trust she was given on projects furthered her own learning, while demonstrating to herself what she could achieve.
“Whenever I feel like I am starting to achieve my short-term development goals, I am thrown something new which keeps me learning and engaged,” she says.
“Aran has always empowered me with context and taught me good client management and business skills. As a Senior Associate now I am guiding a small team, building on my people management skills and learning how to get the best out of others to develop their careers.”
In terms of the variety of work, Aran says the team’s role is often as a trusted advisor to clients. “Our services include anything from due diligence and feasibility to permit applications, planning scheme amendments, strategic investigations and master planning,” he says.
“The other thing that sets us apart is our integration with our other disciplines; we regularly collaborate with our Civil Engineering, Surveying, Urban Design, Water Engineering and Landscape Architecture teams, not only providing them with advice but broadening our understanding and gaining an appreciation for how planning fits into the broader development process.”
Glennie has recently taken up the opportunity to relocate to Queensland to help lead our new multidisciplinary Brisbane Business Unit and support the delivery of local projects under the mentorship of Mark Doonar, local Principal Town Planner.
“It’s so wonderful to see Glennie take the opportunity to help lead the growth of a new team and further her career,” Aran says.
