Applied through: Experience Practitioner APC route

Commended: PES, PCS

Qualifications

• Bachelors Political Science and Law at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
• MA Environemental Policy - Lincoln University, New Zealand

Experience

During my studies, the 2010/11 Canterbury earthquakes destroyed much of the city, an experience which heavily influenced my future career – as it resulted in me wanting to become a planner. In 2012, I started as a graduate planner in development management at Christchurch City Council, working mainly on the rebuild of the city, including the repair of its infrastructure such as the industrial port. Infrastructure planning quickly became a particular interest of mine.

In 2015, I moved to London, starting as a planning officer in development management at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Initially, I was mainly responsible for processing householder, listed building and other types of planning applications. The following year I was promoted into a senior officer role in strategic developments and had the opportunity to work on major regeneration projects, council-own developments, as well as the delivery of a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) which required a development consent order (DCO) under the Planning Act 2008 – the Thames Tideway Tunnel.

I continued working on a variety of schemes in my next role as a senior planner at the London Borough of Wandsworth before moving into the private sector in 2017. At WSP, I started as a senior planning consultant before being promoted into a principal and now associate role, where I am mainly working on the delivery of NSIPs in the energy, aviation and transport sectors. To date, planning for resilient infrastructure remains my passion.

APC tips

1. Understand that preparing your application is not a tick-box exercise. Your PCS is not about simply listing examples of how you met each competency from the guidance, it’s about presenting an analytical and rounded demonstration of your skills, competencies and experience. I approached it how I would approach the preparation of a planning statement or officer’s report – I wouldn’t look at a single policy in isolation when assessing a proposed development, likewise I took a holistic approach to my submission and made sure I connected the dots between my competencies, case studies and the PCS, PES and PDP. The APC guidance is extremely helpful for this – read it very carefully, and then re-read it regularly while preparing your submission.
   
   
2. Allow for enough time to prepare your submission and choose a good mentor who also has the time, and the expertise, to support you. After I prepared my first draft, I left it for a week or two and then revisited it together with my mentor. Upon reflection it turned out that some of my examples I had chosen to demonstrate competencies were not the best choice, which I only realised after looking at my PCS with a fresh pair of eyes and after analysing it with my mentor in more detail. If you leave it until the last minute you won’t have time for this. Listen to your mentor’s feedback – it can be invaluable.

3. Preparing your application whilst also juggling work and private life can be stressful, but try to get the most out of it by using the process as an opportunity to reflect on your career to date, and on your goals for the future. Be honest about areas where you may need to improve, or about things that have gone wrong in the past. The core competency of reflection and review, and the PDP, are there for a reason. Having gone through the Experienced Practitioner APC-Route was a great opportunity for me to take stock of my career and revisit some lessons learnt, which really helped me to build a clearer vision of where I want my career to go and what skillsets I want to develop further.