Nour joined HTA’s award winning planning team in January 2020. Her role at HTA is to provide planning guidance on residential and mixed-use schemes, and to work collaboratively with a variety of clients to provide advice on planning policy. She is also well versed in drafting design guidance, as she has worked closely with the design team to draft a number of design guidance documents.

She received her MSc in Urban Design and City Planning (first class) from the Bartlett School of Planning in 2019 and comes from a background in architecture (overseas chartered architect) and urban design.

With over 7 years of experience in the built environment, Nour’s background in architecture and urban design enables her to approach urban planning from a comprehensive perspective which encompasses multiple scales, ranging from urban policy down to more detailed architectural principles. Her experience in design allows her to provide high quality planning advice grounded in an understanding of spatial quality. Nour is also a certified LEED (USGBC) Green Associate which allows her to incorporate principles of sustainability in her planning guidance.

Experience

During her time at HTA, Nour has provided planning guidance to a variety of clients for a diverse range of schemes in boroughs across London, including Islington and the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and Enfield alongside schemes in Oxford, Cambridge and Brentwood. She has worked on drafting a number of policy/guidance documents including:

Dunton Hills Garden Village SPD – for the DHGV Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), Nour worked closely with a large team comprised of a range of consultants, officers from Brentwood Borough Council, Essex County Council, a number of landowners and developers to prepare a Supplementary Planning Document which set out detailed design guidance that would guide development of a sustainable and healthy garden village.

The new village, set in a historic landscape, will provide up to 4,000 new homes alongside all of the necessary physical and community infrastructure. It was informed by a rigorous co-design process which entailed consulting with a range of stakeholders. The SPD was adopted in February 2023.

Bedford Town Centre Masterplans and SPDs – Nour worked with a team of consultants to prepare two masterplans and Design Code SPDs for circa 600 homes each for two town centre sites in Bedford.

Nour also worked on a number of innovative schemes including:

Naked House – a GLA supported and funded pilot project that will provide first time buyers with the opportunity to buy genuinely affordable homes that can be customised to respond to their owners’ unique requirements and to expand as their needs change (in many cases from 1b2p units to 3b6p homes), on highly constrained infill sites in the London Borough of Enfield.

The proposals were supported by fast-paced PPA alongside an integrated phased planning strategy that would facilitate future extensions for residents, comprised of a simplified hybrid planning permission, where the detailed application secured the ‘naked state, and an outline application to secure the first phase of expansion. Permitted Development Rights will allow the second phase of expansion. The maximum envelope implications for all homes have already been assessed and as such are acceptable. Planning permission for the three applications was secured in 2022.

Nour also coordinated and participated in several community consultation events and enjoys working with members of the design team to incorporate feedback from residents to produce spaces which better serve neighbourhoods and local communities.