Fore has based a small team in Newcastle since April, and the new office, at City Quadrant, 11 Waterloo Square, will be staffed permanently with immediate effect to manage new and ongoing projects.  Fore’s ethos behind the expansion is that existing clients will benefit from the service of a regionally based team with the aim of growing the business by attracting new clients and projects.

Fore currently offers three key services: development planning; strategy, planning & delivery and modelling & evaluation.  Fore is already working across these three work areas across the North East undertaking projects in Newcastle’s city centre, Hartlepool, Stockton and Durham, to Darlington, Catterick and Northallerton.  Other key projects include major work with Tees Valley Metro, the Stockton Infrastructure Strategy and Tees Valley Bus Network Improvements, a wide range of employment, commercial and residential sites, as well as work to support the development of a derelict brownfield site on the north-west fringe of Darlington.

Says Paul Irwin Director: ‘We have an excellent team of people in Newcastle, some of whom have worked with us in Leeds and who have worked with our North East based clients for some time.  We are looking to integrate additional staff to support this over the next few months.  Our priority is to ensure our clients benefit from our being on the ground in the local area and further enhance our ‘director-led’ approach to work.  Fore goes from strength to strength and the Newcastle and Leeds based teams will continue to work seamlessly to enable us to provide the very best service for our private and public clients.’

Recent North East Planning Win

Fore has recently assisted in securing a planning consent for Lateral Property Group and LBW Investments Limited.  Darlington Borough Council has given planning consent for a new food store, petrol station and car park on a derelict brownfield site at Faverdale on the north-west fringe of Darlington.

Fore supported the planning application preparing a Transport Assessment and Travel Plan. Fore’s Aimsun Microsimulation Modelling was also a key factor in the success of the application.

Andrew Bradshaw, Director of Fore Consulting said: ‘Our modelling confirmed that any local impacts associated with the proposed food store could be mitigated on the A68 corridor. Importantly the work demonstrated that there would be significant benefits in reducing the numbers and distance of food shopping trips that would otherwise need to use busy town centre routes. This proved to be a vital element within the success of the planning consent and we are delighted on behalf of our client.’

Chris Newsome, Development Director at Lateral Property Group added: ‘Fore’s clear communication skills, technical expertise and excellent working relationship with Darlington Borough Council’s officers have hugely assisted us in successfully negotiating the traffic-related issues associated with the redevelopment of a brownfield site that has long been an eyesore in the local area.’