Howes Percival has appointed highly regarded planning Partner Marco Mauro to its nationally recognised planning law team, following a significant increase in new instructions.
Marco joins the rapidly growing team along with Associate Solicitor, Daniel Giblett, and Trainee, Olivia Angier, who will qualify into the team as an Associate Solicitor in September.
Initially based in the East Midlands, Marco is recognised as one of the go-to planning lawyers nationally and was Head of Planning for many years at his previous firm. Marco’s practice covers the Central, Home Counties, the Midlands and beyond.
Marco has over 17 years' experience gained in all areas of planning, acting for developers, landowners, housing associations, investors, financial institutions, occupiers and high net worth individuals. His experience includes dealing with complicated planning obligations and infrastructure agreements, providing due diligence on property and corporate transactions and advising on and dealing with legal oversight of planning applications, appeals and claims for judicial review.
Howes Percival’s planning team's reputation at both national and regional levels has grown in recent years, as the team has advised on some of the largest development projects across the regions and nationally. The team are recognised as leading planning law experts by both legal directories The Legal 500 UK and Chambers and Partners and in June, was ranked one of the highest rated planning law teams nationally in Planning Resource’s Annual Planning Law Survey.
As part of its wider real estate offering, the team acts for major housebuilders, SME developers, promoters and housing associations, as well as private individuals, businesses and public sector bodies.
As a result, Howes Percival provides clients with a comprehensive development proposition, guiding them through site acquisition, planning, construction, and disposal.
Jay Mehta, Head of Planning, commented,
We are absolutely delighted to welcome Marco to Howes Percival. He is very well known and regarded, right across the planning sector, and brings a wealth of experience. We pride ourselves on being solution focused and providing excellent client service. Marco is renowned for his 'can do' approach, proactive manner and ability to find solutions for clients, which has made him a recognised expert in his field and a perfect fit for our growing team.
The addition of Marco, Dan and Olivia to the national planning team will further strengthen and build on the reputation of the team and enable us to offer a greater range of planning services and support to clients across the country.
The planning system – and indeed legislation and case law – continues to evolve at a record pace and will continue to do so following the election, with the Labour Government pledging to “bulldoze through” planning rules to boost housing delivery to 1.5m homes and support other developments, including infrastructure and renewable energy schemes. However, in recent years, environmental issues including water scarcity, nutrient neutrality and air quality have stalled the delivery of new developments, particularly housing, across the UK. As a consequence, the importance of the planning law team’s role for our clients has expanded, which has led to a significant increase in instructions year on year as we help our clients navigate such complexities to enable their development projects to continue.
