Rapleys has bolstered its planning division in Manchester recruiting two new partners from Stantec.
Bernard Greep has joined the business as equity partner and Michael Gilbert has joined as partner.
Greep has around 27 years of experience acting for national and local housebuilders, developers, land promoters, landowners/investors and public sector organisations. He was the head of Stantec’s Manchester office and prior to that he was co-owner of Peter Brett Associates LLP.
Gilbert has 18 years’ experience of town planning and has acted for a range of private and public sector clients, including national and local housebuilders, strategic land development companies, private landowners, operators and commercial investors.
Robert Clarke, senior partner and head of the planning division at Rapleys, said: “Rapleys has gone from strength-to-strength since our repositioning in 2022. Each acquisition and recruit has been carefully selected to fit the culture of our business which is people-led and best-in-class in the areas and services we choose to focus on. Bernard and Michael are excellent examples of this strategy, bringing with them decades of first-class experience and knowledge to our national planning division and our Manchester-based team.
“Welcoming them into the team will help us in our continuing aspiration to build our strength within the Greater Manchester area as well as supporting the growth of the planning division across other areas of the country. We are proud that experts such as Bernard and Michael are attracted by our flexible working culture and innovative People Plan which has seen us become an employer of choice within the industry and accredited with Investors in People at the same time.”
Greep added: “Rapleys is one of the leading planning consultancies nationally in the UK, whilst also being multi-disciplinary. This provides a compelling business model with plenty of work to share across all disciplines. Furthermore, its agility as a partnership and focus on further growth – of the right kind – is hugely attractive. We have known the Rapleys Manchester planning team for some time and look forward to working with them to build market share in the region, as well as nationally and across disciplines, and to leverage our shared client network and expertise.”
