Double director hire in South East region

We are expanding our team in the South of England with the appointment of two experienced planning directors.

Joshua Mellor and Roland Brass join our South East team and will be working for clients throughout Kent, Essex, Sussex, Hertfordshire, the Thames Valley and outer London.

Joshua joins us from Stantec (previously Barton Willmore) where he was director, helping to lead the Kent office and acted as strategic land sector lead for London and the South East.

Roland joins from Knight Frank where he was partner leading the strategic land team from London, covering the wider South East.

Both bring their wealth of experience working on residential-led developments including green field sites, urban extensions and garden communities for housebuilders, promoters, public sector and other landowners and private individuals.

Joshua and Roland’s expertise in identifying strategies for complex sites, including those in the green belt, increases our established experience in these areas, aligned strongly with the Government’s recently proposed planning reforms and emphasis on increasing house building.

In their new roles, Joshua and Roland are focused on growing our presence across the region, using their local knowledge and project experience to identify successful planning strategies to secure consents and allocations on behalf of clients.

Commenting on his new role, Roland said: “As well as supporting clients and driving projects forward, I’m really excited to continue to provide useful insight on planning policy, especially around the green belt – and grey belt – and how we best use this evolving source of land supply to achieve growth ambitions, need local needs, deliver sustainable development and look after the environment and future generations.

“I was attracted to Marrons because the in-house multidisciplinary approach, including design and economics, means that we are built to achieve consents and allocations. Strategic planning is at the heart of what we do.”

Joshua said: “Marrons is clearly a very people-centric consultancy with an understanding of what is important to its team members and clients, as well as having the expertise needed to deliver planning consents.

“I am looking forward to using my strong local knowledge of Kent, Sussex and the wider region, and experience of working on strategic and complex schemes to grow the team.”

Head of Marrons, Brian Mullin said: “We already have a significant client base in the South East and are excited to do more, as we see huge growth potential for us in the South region. We’re delighted to welcome both Joshua and Roland to the team.”