Heart of the City - Masterplan Strategy and Delivery - Sheffield

Julian Stephenson has been a Partner in Montagu Evans’ 100 strong planning team for over 20 years and leads its Commercial Team based in London. He is a dual qualified Surveyor and Planner and has led some of the firm’s largest planning instructions involving major transformation of urban sites.

He led the planning on Westfield London, for both Westfield and previously Chelsfield from when it was a brownfield site through successive stages of development.  This is where Montagu Evans first worked with David Leonard and John Morgan when they were both at Westfield before setting up LDA.  He has also advised various institutional investors on town centre mixed use regeneration including abrdn (previously Standard Life Investments), Romulus, DWS, Quadrant, Sovereign Centros, Rivington Hark and UBS.  Julian also has advised on various major leisure developments, including most notably the O2 at Greenwich for AEG/Crosstree.  This has meant that he has a broad range of experience on retail, leisure, office./workspace and high density residential developments around the country. Julian continues to focus on the challenges faced by cities and using the lessons learned nationally can be applied to frame a local solution, which has community buy in.

He has been working on various projects in Sheffield for over a decade.   He led the planning, heritage and townscape advice on Heart of the City II when the original team with Turner & Townsend, Arup and LDA were appointed.  This set the planning strategy, advice on policy, the outline scheme and then Montagu Evans negotiated planning permission for the individual blocks including HSBC (Grosvenor House), the Isaacs Building, Burgess House/ Laycock House, Leah’s Yard, Elshaw House Cambridge Street Collective/Bethel Chapel and the Radisson Hotel.  He has also worked for the University of Sheffield for many years and has delivered signature buildings such as The Wave and the recently permitted Central Teaching Labs.  He is now working on the team appointed by the University to produce a new campus-wide masterplan.  Julian is also advising Sheffield Hallam University and has advised on various other sites in the City.

Master Planning, Architecture and Design

David has over 35 years’ experience designing and delivering landmark master plans and developments in the UK and around the world, and has worked closely with funds, councils, developers, entrepreneurs, stakeholders and occupiers. He is hands on, supportive and collaborative, and can get to the heart of unlocking successful development to realise their full place making, social, sustainability and financial potential.  

He combines global knowledge, strategic thinking and experience in residential, retail and f&b, leisure, culture, entertainment, workplaces, life sciences and labs, movie studios, hotels, sport, health and transportation. He has a passion for creating sustainable popular places, sustainable buildings and great design. 

Working with thoughtful people on fantastic projects in great locations around the world has great advantages by experiencing and understanding different markets and cultures and different ways of doing things, and this has helped shape David’s approach.

David’s work has taken him across the UK and Europe, Asia and Australia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas

He started working on the Sheffield Heart of the City masterplan from its inception through to the delivery of several buildings, helping to create a mixed use, nature led masterplan of pedestrian friendly streets and public spaces, re-using several existing buildings and introducing a wide range of development typologies including offices, hotels, residences, student, leisure, shops, restaurants, cafes, social spaces, makers units and

David started Leonard Design Architects in 2006 and, with his co-Directors, has grown the team into a vibrant creative business, working across a wide range of projects across the world and with a wide range of clients.

John is director at Leonard Design Architects, an award-winning global architectural practice headquartered in Nottingham, with three further offices in London, Kuala Lumpur and Sydney, Australia. John has more than 20 years’ experience as a chartered architect with a focus on the design and delivery side of the retail, sports and leisure, commercial and residential sectors.

Prior to joining Leonard Design Architects, he worked for the world’s largest shopping centre group, Westfield, as design director, taking on the delivery of many of its major developments as well as playing a leading role in the successful negotiation of key business objectives and department store negotiations.

In-depth, diverse knowledge and extensive experience working on, leading and delivering some of the most prestigious retail regeneration projects in the UK and Europe over the past decade and beyond. John is passionate about making a difference to the landscape and environment we inhabit every day.

Michael joined the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield as a Lecturer in Urban Design and Planning in September 2021. He previously worked in Denmark as a Lecturer in Urban Design at Aalborg University and prior to that in the Department of Planning and Environmental Management at the University of Manchester, as well as in urban design/planning consultancy firm Urban Imprint.

Michael is the Director of the MA Urban Design and Planning (fully RTPI accredited) and the Deputy Director of Doctoral Research in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Michael’s research focuses on child-friendly cities, cities for play, temporary urban development and urban regeneration, as well as placemaking. He has undertaken research funded by charities, public bodies and local government in the UK and Denmark including the Economic and Social Research Council and LEGO Foundation/Capital of Children and published his results in leading international journals, including Children’s Geographies, Urban Studies, Planning Practice & Research and Town Planning Review.

Clare is a Chartered Town Planner and Associate Chartered Surveyor. She has extensive experience, acting on behalf of major private and public sector clients, including landowners and developers, in the residential and commercial sectors across the north and midlands regions. Clare led the on-site planning strategy for 7 phases of the Heart of the City development and continues to be involved in collaborative renewal of the city centre through her roles at nineteen47 and the Sheffield Property Association.

Megan is 2024 Chair of the RTPI East Midlands Young Planners Committee, and Junior Vice Chair of the RTPI East Midlands RMB/RAC Committee. Megan is a Chartered member of the RTPI and CIH and currently works for Marrons as a Planning Director. She specialises in residential and economic development, including the preparation of Local Plan evidence, 5-Year Housing Land Supply Assessments and Economic Benefits Assessments. Alongside her strategic planning work, Megan prepares and manages a range of residential planning applications for local and national developers and housebuilders. Prior to joining DLP, she worked in housebuilding and strategic land promotion. Megan joined the East Midlands Young Planners Committee in 2021 and has assisted in organising both in-person and webinar-based events for RTPI members. Outside of planning, she enjoys travelling, reading and spoiling her nephew.