WYG appoints Anne Clements as first Planning Director

Anne Clements has been selected to fill the newly created role of Planning Director at global professional services firm WYG. Clements has spent over 30 years in the urban regeneration sector, and joins having worked on high profile projects such as the Wembley Park regeneration.

International professional services firm WYG operates from more than 50 locations across the UK, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The firm helps its clients create value, protect value, and manage risk, serving them through six business streams; International Development, Infrastructure & Built Environment, Programme & Project Management, Surveying & Asset Management, Environmental, Planning and Transport.

In response to the changing demands of an expanding client portfolio, WYG has created a new role of Planning Director to further bolster this important service line at the firm. Anne Clements, a regeneration specialist with over three decades of industrial experience, has been chosen as the first professional to take up the position.

Clements arrives at WYG from her most recent role with Countryside Properties, a UK house building and urban regeneration company, primarily operating in London and the South East of England. During her term at the firm, Clements worked in the Corporate Team reporting to the Finance Director. Speaking on her time at the firm, Clements commented, “It was a great opportunity but my first love is the operational side and I am pleased to have had the chance to return to the ‘front line’ with WYG”.

Prior to her spell with Countryside Properties, Clements worked as a Planning Director at Quintain, a British-based property investment and development business, which operates through Urban Regeneration, focussed on schemes in Wembley Park and Asset Management. During her stay with the London-based firm, Clements worked on the £3 billion Wembley Park regeneration from 2003 to 2016, where she was responsible for managing design and technical teams (including transport), while negotiating with major stakeholders including the Football Association, the Greater London Assembly, Transport for London and LB Brent, and delivering the planning permissions to support the regeneration around the hallowed Wembley Stadium turf.

Clements’ period with Quintain was preceded by a stint with global professional services Jones Lang Wootton (now JLL), where she worked in the Fund Management team before moving to the first iteration of the Corporate Finance team (JLW Finance). Now, as Planning Director at WYG, Anne Clements will work to use her more than 30 years of industry experience to help the firm deliver services for high density, residential-led, mixed use development projects.

Remarking on her new challenge, Clements said, "I am thrilled to be joining WYG, one of the leading planning consultancies in the UK. I have spent many years working alongside their accomplished team on a selection of projects. I am looking forward to being part of that team, delivering impressive results for their diverse portfolio of clients and helping to further expand the existing client base."

Paula Carney, Head of Planning for WYG in London, said, “Anne has a proven track record as a highly skilled regeneration specialist, broad knowledge of the development business and critical understanding of viability and delivery… building external relationships, to expertly handling negotiations or managing complex projects involving numerous stakeholders, we feel confident that thanks to her impressive industry experience she will hit the ground running.”

Related: Former BBC Director Simon Marr leads Risk & Security consultancy wing of WYG.