About Us
We bring together bespoke teams with experience and knowledge tailored to the individual needs of our clients.
Our clients trust us to deliver industry-leading expertise
Our Social Value Commitment
As a company we believe that our activities should generate Social Value benefits to society and to the economy, whilst minimising damage to the environment. As professionals involved in the planning and construction stages for large scale development projects, we see innovative and holistic opportunities to embed Social Value into all stages of a development lifecycle from project inception, through planning, design and construction to operation and decommissioning. Juno’s Social Value activities include; our work with local communities to explain the concept of Social Value, directly supporting the education and careers of young planners, providing pro bono planning advice to a community charity and sports organisations, supporting charity fund raising, supporting social enterprises, and through non paid involvement in organisations such as Choice Housing. We review our Social Value contribution twice-yearly.
The Planning Team
Managing Director
Helen Harrison
With 25+years’ experience in the industry, Director Helen Harrison was previously the all-Ireland Director of Planning at BDP and spent 4 years working in local planning authorities in England. Helen is a former Chair of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) NI Executive Committee and is highly respected in the planning industry with an interest in education through ongoing involvement and experience as Professional Accreditation Advisor and External Examiner to both Queen’s University Belfast and University of Ulster Planning Schools. In addition to her leadership of Juno, Helen is Group Board Member of Choice Housing and a Director of Maple and May Ltd.
Areas of expertise include; planning strategies for complex development projects, major brownfield redevelopment; renewable energy (wind, energy from waste & battery storage); essential infrastructure (rail/road/water/waste/grid); environmental assessments; expert witness; managing multidiscipline teams; master planning; statutory development plans (preparing and making representations); land disposal/asset realisation strategies, forensic planning/due diligence, and Social Value.
Projects
- Belfast Transport Hub (Grand Central Station)
- Weavers Cross Regeneration
- University of Ulster Belfast Campus
- Driver Vehicle Agency HQ and Test Centres
- Renewable Energy Projects – Commercial Wind Farms, Energy from Waste, Battery Storage
- Large Scale Industrial Facilities – Bombardier/ Old Bushmills Distillery/Invest NI/AMIC
- Primary and Secondary Schools Projects
- Major Health & Care Centre Projects
- Site Selection & Feasibility Projects
- Forensic planning work and due diligence
- Planning Appeals
- Environmental Assessments
- Social Value Plans
Principal Planner
Orlaith Kirk
Orlaith joined JUNO Planning & Environmental Ltd in 2012 and is a principal planner with almost 20 years professional planning experience, having worked for both private planning consultancies (BDP and Tom Philips & Associates Ltd) and local authorities (Louth County Council) in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Orlaith is a member of the Irish Planning Institute and Social Value UK.
Over the past 20 years Orlaith has worked with and provided professional planning advice to public and private sector clients on a range of development projects. On a day to day basis, she manages regionally significant and major planning applications, prepares planning appeals and feasibility reports, coordinates pre-application communication consultations for major planning applications, and coordinates Environmental statements. Orlaith also provides professional social value advice to a number of clients which involves the preparation of social value plans, advice on social value for procurement and bids and ongoing social value delivery monitoring and measurement.
Orlaith’s areas of professional expertise include: planning consultancy services for renewable energy projects (wind energy, battery storage and solar) including due diligence and planning red-flag reviews; retail studies including town/ city centre health checks; environmental impact assessments; planning feasibility studies; managing residential and mixed-use planning applications; managing multi-disciplinary teams; planning appeals; planning in ROI; (planning applications/ planning appeals/ preparation of local area plans); coordinating and managing pre-application community consultations for major developments including stakeholder engagement and mapping; preparation of Social Value Plans and Social Value Measurement, Monitoring and Assessment.
Projects
- Corkey and Rigged Hill Wind Farms Repowering Projects
- Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service Phase 2 Learning & Development Centre
- Ballykeel Wind Farm
- Belfast Transport Hub- Social Value Plan & Ongoing Monitoring and Measurement
- Gaelcholáiste Dhoire
- Elginny & Shantavny Scotch Wind Farms
- Ulster University- Belfast Campus
- Retail Study for Derry City & Strabane District Council
- Forensic planning work and due diligence
- Planning Advice to Local Authorities (ROI) & NI Public Sector Clients (Invest NI)
Senior Planner
Emma Aldridge
Emma is a Senior Planner with over 7 years professional planning experience, having worked across both the public sector and private sector in England and working for a large British retailer. Emma moved to JUNO Planning and Environmental Ltd and has been working within the Northern Irish planning system since early 2022. She has been elected to sit on the RTPI NI Executive Committee for 2023/24 and appointed as a Chartered Member on the RTPI’s General Assembly 2023/24.
Areas of expertise include: Planning feasibility studies; managing residential and mixed use planning applications; retail studies (retail impact assessments); renewable energy projects; managing multi-disciplinary teams; preparing Area Plan Representations, Planning Appeal Statements of Case, Presenting at Planning Committee; Planning for England (planning applications/ planning appeals/ preparation of local area plans);
Projects
- Belfast Transport Hub (Grand Central Station)
- Driver Vehicle Agency HQ and Test Centres
- Renewable Energy Projects – Commercial Wind Farms
- Large Scale Industrial Facilities – AMIC
- Primary and Secondary Schools Projects
- Major Health & Care Centre Projects
- Planning Appeals
- Environmental Assessments
- Forensic planning work and due diligence
- Site Selection & Feasibility Projects
We work with some of the most notable businesses and projects
