Astute recruits two directors

Richard Whiting and Adam Smith have joined the Manchester-based transport planning consultancy, which launched in July.

Whiting and Smith have joined Astute Transport Planning as directors. The two were most recently employed at SLR. Like Astute founders Phil Tilby and Olly McLaughlin, both also worked at Vectos prior to that company being bought out by SLR.

During their time at SLR and Vectos, the four Astute staff members worked on projects for Peel, Homes England, Muse, Harworth, Gleeson Homes, ECF, Landsec, and Bruntwood.

Tilby reflected on the reunion between himself and Whiting and Smith.

“After a bright start to our new business, we are thrilled to be joined by Richard and Adam at Astute,” said Tilby.

“We have all worked together for a number of years and they bring with them so much project experience, knowledge of the local area, and contacts within local authority highway departments.”

Whiting added: “I look forward to reconnecting with colleagues and supporting clients to bring forward great projects.”

As for Smith, he expanded on what he was expecting from his new role.

“Having recently operated in a senior management role, where I looked after a number of regional transport planning teams, I am looking forward to getting back to the day job and working within an independent and specialist consultancy,” Smith said.

“My values match those of Astute, who aim to have senior input into every project and who understand the benefit of providing thorough, early advice.’

Astute offers transport consultancy services throughout the development process, from initial pre-planning stages up to post-planning support. The group also has expert witness capability. Astute said that since it was founded in July it has been asked to consider more than 50 sites located across the UK.