Name: Willow Mercer
Title: Associate planner at Carter Jonas
What I do: Planning consultant – offices, commercial, research and development, storage and distribution mainly, residential, but I operate across all sectors.
Why I got into the built environment industry: I studied planning at university. To decide this, I put into an online career search engine that I liked geography and design; it came up with planning. After some investigating, I studied it at Cardiff University as an undergraduate.
When I became interested in the built environment: I grew up in central London and was aware of all the development going on all the time. To put this in perspective, my school bus stop was moved to allow work to the Elizabeth Line at Paddington, and nearly 20 years later, the Elizabeth Line opened! My primary school was a Grade II listed brutalist structure built by the famous Denys Lasdun, my secondary school building dated back to 1701, and my home was in a conservation area, so I grew up surrounded by beautiful buildings, which combined created a great sense of place. I took this for granted as a child, but as I became more aware of why the environment was built the way it was, I developed a keen interest; I wanted to know why decisions were made and why buildings were built.
My first proper job: I’ve worked on a jacket potato stall, at festivals, bar work, the Olympics, a salad bar and a restaurant and then undertook a year long industrial placement at Cardiff Council as a transport and land use planner; I then worked for a prominent solar developer in central London before relocating to the West Country and working for a general practice planning firm and then on to Carter Jonas.
How I got into my built environment career: Straight from uni.
My first project: At my placement, I was charged with finding sites for cycle parking across Cardiff and assessing them for suitability (whether they were near shops and facilities, pavement widths, or other street clutter).
My inspiration: I’ve never really had anyone who has been the inspiration for my career. I found something I liked and stuck at it!
My main career goals right now: I was promoted to associate in January, so my main career goals are to continue with where I am. Sometimes, it is important not always to be chasing the next goal.
The biggest challenge I’ve encountered to date: Going to university; it was so new. No one in my family had ever been, so taking that first step was daunting.
The job I’d be doing if I was not doing this: I’d run a B&B or campsite or be an events planner – anything organisational.
What I do in my downtime: I’m always outside—either camping, doing water sports, hiking, or gardening.
My advice for someone just starting out: Don’t be afraid to ask. Ask for help, a leg up, an invitation to an event, a coffee. Ask why someone is doing what they are doing. Don’t be afraid to question whether something is the best idea or can be done better. Just because someone is more senior than you doesn’t mean they have the best ideas! The built environment doesn’t have textbook answers for what is right or wrong, it needs people with real-world experience to try and improve it. It might just be your real-world experience that solves a problem.
The biggest misconception about the property industry: That we are all money-grabbing! Planners work to make decisions and develop schemes that benefit the public; most of my clients don’t seek to make as much money as possible on development; they seek to make high-quality schemes. Sometimes, people can’t see or understand the decision-making process (how we got to where we are) and can often get defensive about schemes as a result.
Who I’d invite, living or dead, to a dinner party: My friends – we all live around the country so that I would get us all together again.
What I would like to change about the industry: Built environment sectors/disciplines are not taught at school. Without a fundamental change, school-age pupils will be unaware of career options, which means diversity in the built environment will always struggle. Changing the curriculum to focus on the built environment more will expose children, who do not already have a family member working in the built environment, to career options.
Favourite building: My first home. It was nothing special, but your home should always be your favourite building! I’m now searching for my next home to purchase after selling my first home in December.
