PJA hires Manchester director
The transport planning, placemaking and engineering consultancy has opened an office at 3 Piccadilly Place and appointed Chris Sibthorpe as its director.
The consultancy already has offices in Birmingham, London, Reading, Bristol and Exeter.
PJA said its expansion into Manchester, where Sibthorpe will lead a team of six, comes as a result of an increase in enquiries for advice on adapting streets to facilitate cycling and walking.
Sibthorpe will lead both the newly founded Manchester operation and the company’s national active travel division.
He joins from engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald, where he spent three years as project director. During this time, Sibthorpe led on the Greater Manchester Streets for All project, a scheme to make streets more people focused.
“We have been at the forefront of active travel delivery in the UK for many years,” said Nigel Millington, joint managing director of PJA.
“We have been looking to expand in the North West as part of our growth strategy, and with the recent rush in client demand this is the right time.”
Sibthorpe added: “Local authorities and developers are keen to restart the economy in a healthy way.
“Increasing the proportion of people using active travel modes is going to be key to achieving this, building on the momentum for travel behaviour change arising from the pandemic.”
