Last night Prior + Partners was honoured by the Royal Town Planning Institute, who crowned us as the winners for two categories at their Awards for Planning Excellence 2024. Now in their 47th year, the awards programme showcases and celebrates the very best plans, people and projects, and highlights the positive contribution planning professionals make in communities around the world.
Prior + Partners award for Planning Consultancy of the Year recognises the significant work our team have achieved in six years of practice. In this short time, we have worked on transformational urban regeneration and new community projects across the UK and globe, from the scale of city and region, to town, street and block. The judges described Prior + Partners as ”an aspiring and inspiring organisation that has demonstrated its capacity to work within and lead multi-disciplinary teams and projects, its commitment to staff development at all levels, and its involvement within the RTPI.”
Our clients benefit from our integrated multi-disciplinary offer which comprises planners (including RTPI and RICS accredited), economists, masterplanners, urban designers, landscape architects and engagement specialists. Of rapidly increasing significance to our work is spatial data and analytics, with our in-house team of data scientists developing innovative tools that bring clarity and understanding to our clients’ complex problems and enriching our solutions to these.
Another particular success over the past six years has been developing deep expertise around strategic spatial planning, skills we are enthused to soon deploy across a reformed planning agenda in England – but that we have been fortunate to continually practice across the world. This includes leading the Thimphu Structure Plan 2023, which received last night’s International Award for Planning Excellence.
Thimphu is the capital and largest city of Bhutan, a landlocked Buddhist kingdom located in the Himalaya Mountains. Our recently adopted Thimphu Structure Plan articulates the future vision for the City through a regenerative framework, limiting further land conversion and promoting revitalisation within existing boundaries to ensure the environment is protected for future generations.
Judges expressed high praise for this project, describing it as ”fantastically innovative, collaborative, and deeply meaningful.” They highlighted its ”exemplary performance in achieving essential planning goals such as sustainable development, inclusivity, and addressing climate change, showcasing how diverse community involvement can lead to more resilient solutions.”
In developing the Thimphu Structure Plan, we worked arm in arm with our client, the Ministry of Transport and Thimphu Thromde, and led an inter-disciplinary consultant team including Arup and Gerald Eve, with specialist advice from Peter Studdert MRTPI, feedback from of an International Advisory Panel including chair Jonathan F.P. Rose, and experts such as Dame Alison Nimmo DBE and Janette Sadik-Khan, along with guidance from Kate Raworth and the Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL).
Thank you to the RTPI for these honours and congratulations to all the Prior + Partners team, as well as our clients and collaborators, who have been part of our journey – we are looking forward to 2025 and beyond.
More can be read about the RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence 2024 on their website.
