DHA are leaders in the education sector, working with a wide range of contractors, Local Education Authorities, Schools, Trusts, Universities and the Department for Education to deliver a large number of projects across the country.
In the last 5 years alone, DHA have helped secure over 40,000 new primary, secondary and SEN school places alongside new nursery and university provision. Our Planning and Transport teams are well versed in the particular issues that education schemes can encounter and always look to work collaboratively with stakeholders to identify solutions and deliver valuable social infrastructure.
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Case studies in this sector
A new two-form entry primary school on the outskirts of Canterbury.
On behalf of Tilbury Douglas for the Department for Education, DHA’s education team secures permission for replacement school.
New school ties Cable Wharf community together.
Partial demolition and rebuilding of a Greenbelt secondary school.
New teaching block in Wolverhampton.
A new nursery and primary academy for the Trent Basin Waterside residential development.
People who work in this area
Adam is an Associate in our Transport Planning team leading our small to medium sized projects as well as taking an active role in helping to deliver our larger Transport projects.
Alex has worked at DHA for more than 15 years and became Managing Director in 2016. Alongside overseeing the day-to-day running of the business, he remains passionate about planning and development. He enjoys meeting clients, exploring opportunities, and advising on how DHA can help maximise the value of their land.
Alice joined DHA as a Graduate Transport Planner in September 2025.
Emily undertook a yearlong Placement at DHA from September 2023 to September 2024 as part of her BSc in Urban Planning. Having now completed her undergraduate at Loughborough University, she has now returned to DHA full time as of September 2025.
Gemma is a Senior Transport Planner within our Gatwick Team.
Holly is a Senior Transport Planner in our London team.
Jonathan is a Director heading up our Crawley/Gatwick office. He joined DHA in 2005 and has 25 years experience in planning consultancy, having previously worked on major regeneration projects, including the Emirates Stadium, with Hepher Dixon (now Savills) in Milton Keynes and London.
Katie joined DHA as a Graduate Planner in September 2025 upon completion of her Masters in Urban Design and Planning at London South Bank University.
Laura joined DHA in 2004 as part of our original Graduate intake. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) Degree in Geography and Sports Science from Loughborough University, and an MA in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Westminster. She is also a member of the RTPI.
Louise joined DHA in December 2025 as the firm’s London Planning Director.
Martha joined DHA in September 2025 for her placement year, as part of her undergraduate Geography Degree (BSc) at Loughborough University.
Mathew joined DHA as one of our original graduate intake in 2004. He has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Westminster, having previously studied Geography at the University of Birmingham.
Nasim joined DHA in September 2025 as a Graduate Transport Planner, based in our Gatwick office.
Olivia joined DHA in July 2025 as a Transport Planner, bringing with her three years' of transport planning experience across a diverse range of projects. She earned a First Class BSc in Geography from UCL in 2021.
Purdey joined DHA in October 2022 as a Graduate Planner after graduating from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Geography. A year after joining, she began her Masters in Town and Country Planning (Part-Time) at London South Bank University.
Bex applied for the role of Graduate Planner at DHA after working for a Local Authority, in the Regeneration Team for 18 months, where she gained experience on large town centre regeneration projects and project management. Prior to this, she graduated from the University of Greenwich in 2019 with a BSc (Hons) in Geography and has now graduated from the University of Westminster with an MA in Urban and Regional Planning.
Sascha joined DHA in 2025 and has nearly 20 years of planning consultancy experience in a range of sectors including housing, tourist and leisure accommodation, student and specialist older persons accommodation.
Zohaib is an Architectural Designer with a strong academic and professional background in architecture. He studied at the University of Kent, where he completed both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Architecture, developing a solid foundation in design, technical detailing, and project delivery.
Sectors you may be interested in
DHA have market leading experience in creating new communities. This is evident in the scale and success of the projects worked on across the country.
Services we work in
DHA's Transport and Infrastructure Team specialise in creating robust and cost-effective transport planning solutions to optimise development projects of all sizes.
DHA's Design team combines a wide range of design skills to offer the high level of experience and knowledge necessary to deliver viable, well designed, imaginative schemes which satisfy the needs of the client as well as the community.
DHA’s viability team provides specialist advice to public and private sector clients on development viability. This includes advising on the initial feasibility stages, through the application and late-stage review mechanisms, Section 106 agreements and CIL contributions on a range of schemes.
22.04.2025
DHA's Viability TeamDHA’s Development Viability team has grown from strength to strength having initially been set up by MD Alex Hicken, and now led by Danielle Lawrence.
10.04.2025
Blueprint Spring 2025Our Spring newsletter highlighting some of our key planning successes.
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