Alice Higgitt, planner at Savills has become one of only two students in the country to achieve the Chartered Town Planner Apprenticeship.
She attended London South Bank University (LSBU), the first institution in the country to offer a chartered Masters in Planning and Urban Design. Savills was part of the Trailblazer group who helped design and launch the Planning Apprenticeship in collaboration with RTPI. Trailblazer groups help develop a new apprenticeship for an occupation.
At Savills Alice sits within the mixed-use planning team where she works on projects encompassing regeneration and development including smaller householder development. She was mentored throughout the process by Chris Brady, Associate Director at Savills.
Alice joined Savills in 2019 as a graduate planner after completing an undergraduate Geography degree at University of West England. The MA apprenticeship involved four days in the office and a fifth day studying – at first in person and then once Covid hit remotely. Alice completed her studies with LSBU in December and received her chartership last week. She will be graduating with a distinction in the autumn.
Savills currently has over 100 apprentices across the business.
Alice Higgitt says “It was great to be able to complete my studies alongside work and I was grateful to have a supportive team who all have years of planning experience. The course was really interesting and relevant for planning – it was an engaging way to learn as you can apply your studies directly to the projects you’re working on at the time.
Savills have an internal apprenticeship team who help you from day one of your apprenticeship all the way through to the day you receive confirmation of being elected as a Chartered Member. The whole team have been amazing and worked together with the University and the RTPI to solve any issues along the way but also to provide support where required. This level of support is something that I think employees at Savills on this route really benefit from.”
David Jackson, head of Planning at Savills comments “‘Being chartered is the gold standard of planning practice. The apprenticeship route has opened a new path to chartership, contributing to greater diversity within the profession. Savills worked alongside the RTPI to define the apprenticeship pathway and we are delighted now to see it reach fruition in this way. We now look forward to supporting future chartered planning apprentices and growing the profession further.”