Lichfields appoints new senior director

Planning and development consultancy Lichfields has appointed planner Michael Lowndes as a senior director at its London-based major projects team.

He will be based in Lichfields’ major projects hub in the company’s London headquarters and will work on large developments in the capital. He will also assume overall responsibility for Lichfields’ heritage, townscape and visual impact assessment functions across all its offices.

Lowndes has previously worked for local planning authorities in Bromley, Hackney and Westminster, as well as 15 years at planning consultancy Turley. While working in the private sector, he has advised on mixed-use London developments including a series of academic buildings for the London School of Economics, Camden Goods Yard and the Whiteleys redevelopment in Bayswater.

Lowndes said: “I am passionate about making our great city attractive, accessible and inclusive and like to work at the interface of planning, heritage, urban planning and townscape, where it is possible to optimise value for client, place and community.”

Lichfields’ chief executive James Fennell said “[Lowndes] offers strategic planning and master planning advice along with acting as an expert witness on town planning and urban design matters and will complement the skills within the London senior director group very well.”