In today's episode, we tackle a significant and often challenging aspect of the utility and infrastructure sectors: Claimant Conflict and Mental Health. As the world becomes busier and projects grow in scale, managing conflicts and ensuring the mental well-being of all stakeholders is more critical than ever. 

Joining CEO James Neil for this important discussion are Associate Director Pippa Wright and Project Manager Alasdair Breed.  

Pippa has extensive experience across various sectors, including water, power generation and infrastructure. Alasdair, relatively new to DM, brings a fresh perspective from his background in motor insurance and as a mental health first aider as part of his role at DM. 

Together, we talk about how DM approaches claimant conflict, emphasising the importance of transparent communication with landowners and the strategies used to support staff during these processes. 

From the complexities of large-scale projects, the consultation processes, and the legal frameworks involved, we'll discuss the human side of these projects, sharing real-life examples of conflicts and the measures taken to ensure the safety and mental health of DM's team members. Topics include dynamic risk assessments to bespoke training programmes, this podcast will provide insights into how DM prepares its staff to handle potentially difficult situations effectively. 

Whether you're a utility client, an infrastructure developer, or interested in the intersection of mental health and project management, this episode offers valuable perspectives on navigating the challenges of claimant conflict while prioritising mental wellbeing of everyone involved.  

At Dalcour Maclaren, we unlock consents for the utilities and infrastructure sector.  

U&I is your go-to podcast for the utility and infrastructure sectors, and is packed full of industry insight and expert perspectives.  

Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities in: land and property development, environment and planning, geomatics, land surveying, land referencing - power networks - power generation - telecoms - water management - transport and infrastructure. We discuss complex issues in an honest and practical way, from policy updates to planning and project delivery.  

You can follow James Neil on LinkedIn or email him directly:

James Neil, CEO: [email protected]

Alasdair Breed: [email protected] or LinkedIn

Pippa Wright: [email protected] or LinkedIn

Follow us at:

LinkedIn: (1) Dalcour Maclaren: Overview | LinkedIn

Instagram: Dalcour Maclaren (@dalcourmaclaren) • Instagram photos and videos

Facebook: Dalcour Maclaren | Bicester | Facebook

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is the energy mix that will get the UK to Net Zero?

In this episode, James Neil, CEO of Dalcour Maclaren, is joined by Hugh Gilmour from Telis Energy (a Europe-wide green energy development platform) to discuss the potential of small energy hubs, SMRs and solar. Hugh, Land Consent Manager and former DM employee, shares his extensive experience in the industry, including his work on major infrastructure projects and his current focus on large-scale solar developments.

Energy hubs are a critical concept for the UK's energy future, aiming to bring multiple technologies together through a single grid connection. Hugh explains how this approach can improve efficiency and grid balancing, integrating technologies such as battery storage, solar, onshore wind, hydrogen, and potentially small modular reactors.

The conversation also covers the challenges of land use, consenting regimes, and the complexities of grid connections. Hugh provides insights into the current state of the grid queue and the reforms needed to streamline the process, ensuring that real projects can move forward.

Additionally, the episode delves into the future of nuclear power, discussing the potential of small modular reactors and the importance of maintaining a skilled workforce to build and operate these technologies.

At Dalcour Maclaren, we unlock consents for the utilities and infrastructure sector.

U&I is your go-to podcast for the utility and infrastructure sectors, and is packed full of industry insight and expert perspectives.

Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities in: land and property development, environment and planning, geomatics, land surveying, land referencing - power networks - power generation - telecoms - water management - transport and infrastructure.

We discuss complex issues in an honest and practical way, from policy updates to planning and project delivery.

Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities in:

· land consent

· environmental and planning

· geomatics

· land surveying

· land referencing

· power networks

· power generation

· digital infrastructure

· water management

· infrastructure

· property management

You can follow James Neil on LinkedIn or email him directly:

James Neil, CEO [email protected]

Follow us at:

LinkedIn: (1) Dalcour Maclaren: Overview | LinkedIn

Instagram: Dalcour Maclaren (@dalcourmaclaren) • Instagram photos and videos

Facebook: Dalcour Maclaren | Bicester | Facebook

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s 2025 and the Dalcour Maclaren podcast is back. If you work in land consent, environment and planning, geomatics or land referencing (or if you want work in our industry), this should be your podcast of choice.

At the heart of DM is a saying that is part of our original story. We thought it is was time we explained exactly what it means and how our clients in the utilities and infrastructure sector benefit from it.

Always for, never against. It means that we only represent our clients in gaining land consent. Our competitors will field land agents to represent landowners but for James Neil CEO, he had one too many brushes on the doorstep of farms and rural businesses with his colleagues. And it didn’t feel right.

So, when he founded Dalcour Maclaren, he decided to promise his clients that his team would only ever act for and never against them. It’s part of what has helped us grow, gain the trust and respect of our clients and truly act as partners.

In this episode, James chats to Power Generation Director, Simon Hinchliffe (dubbed King of DCOs at DM), about his view of Always for, never against and how it has resulted in a new piece of research – Insights. Shared exclusively with our clients, it lists land agent fees, by geographic region, seniority, sector and more. It’s ideal for clients to ensure they know what reasonable (and unreasonable) fees look like. It also gives advice on how they should engage with landowners over payments of those fees.

Want access to insights like this? Sign up and one of our experts will be in touch. Register to be contacted about our DM Insights

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This is your go-to podcast for the utility and infrastructure sectors. Brought to you by Dalcour Maclaren, U&I is packed full of industry insight and expert perspectives. We discuss complex issues in an honest and practical way, from policy updates to planning and project delivery.

Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities in:

• land consent
• environmental and planning
• geomatics
• land surveying
• land referencing
• power networks
• power generation
• digital infrastructure
• water management
• infrastructure
• property management
• 
  

At Dalcour Maclaren, we unlock consents for the utilities and infrastructure sector.

You can follow James Neil and Simon Hinchliffe on LinkedIn or email them directly:

James Neil, CEO

[email protected]

Simon Hinchliffe, Director, Power Generation

[email protected]

Follow us at:

LinkedIn:

Instagram:

Facebook:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The legislation that came into force in earlier this year for certain projects, where developers need to ensure that the land is left in a measurably better state (minimum 10%), is known as BNG (Biodiversity Net Gain). And this improved biodiversity must be guaranteed for 30 years. Potentially a headache for developers, but according to our experts – it’s not insurmountable. In February 2025, similar legislation will be coming in for NSIPs.

So how is biodiversity measured – and how is that gain achieved? It’s going to be an ongoing challenge for the utility and infrastructure sectors, but one that can absolutely be achieved.

In this episode, our Environmental & Planning experts talk to James about the options we make available to our clients, the easy wins and how to take on the more challenging situations. Hear James throwing a wealth of those challenges at the team and they provide solutions to each one (and no, they weren’t primed beforehand!).

Caroline Morris, Director, and James Bird, Technical Director explain the different options available including exceptions such as Permitted Development rights, effects of moving red line boundaries and the importance of bringing in the whole project team at the very beginning of planning - even at site selection stage.

Of course, for many of our clients, they don’t own the land, so we have developed bespoke advice on how to support landowners and their responsibilities.

This podcast is packed full of the sort of specialist knowledge, insights and pragmatic recommendations that Dalcour Maclaren is known for.

At Dalcour Maclaren, we unlock consents for the utilities and infrastructure sector.

U&I is your go-to podcast for the utility and infrastructure sectors. Brought to you by Dalcour Maclaren, it is packed full of industry insight and expert perspectives. The U&I podcast. Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities in: - land and property development - environment and planning - geomatics - land surveying - land referencing - power networks - power generation - telecoms - water management - transport and infrastructure. We discuss complex issues in an honest and practical way, from policy updates to planning and project delivery.

You can follow James Neil, Caroline Morris and James Bird on LinkedIn or email us directly.

James Neil, CEO:

[email protected]

Caroline Morris, Director:

[email protected]

James Bird, Technical Director:

[email protected]

Follow us at:

 LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever wanted to know what makes DM tick?

ONETEAM is not just one of our Values. It’s the glue, the power, the inspiration for everyone at DM to work together internally. It’s also why our clients believe we create effective partnerships with them.

If you are interested in working at DM or are a client, listen on to find out what Dalcour Maclaren is all about and what the DM Way is (it’s definitely a good thing).

In this episode, you’ll find out why ONETEAM matters so much to our CEO James Neil, how jigsaw puzzles bring teams together but maybe not chess (looking at you Jo Middleton, Head of Talent Acquisition and James Irving, Associate Director, T&I).

Culture isn’t just an internal thing. Mike Lee, Director, Power Generation, talks about how our clients value our ONETEAM attitude and how it shows up in their day-to-day experience of how DM delivers for them.

What you will discover is the easy camaraderie that exists between people at DM – and how that gives everyone confidence to act, knowing their colleagues will have their back.

At Dalcour Maclaren, we unlock consents for the utilities and infrastructure sector.

U&I is your go-to podcast for the utility and infrastructure sectors. Brought to you by Dalcour Maclaren, it is packed full of industry insight and expert perspectives. The U&I podcast. Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities in: - land and property development - environment and planning - geomatics - land surveying - land referencing - power networks - power generation - telecoms - water management - transport and infrastructure. We discuss complex issues in an honest and practical way, from policy updates to planning and project delivery.

You can follow James Neil, Jo Middleton, James Irving and Mike Lee on LinkedIn or email us directly

James Neil, CEO:

[email protected]

Jo Middleton, Head of Talent Acquisition:

[email protected]

Mike Lee, Director, Power Generation:

[email protected]

James Irving, Associate Director, Transport & Infrastructure and heads up DM Way:

[email protected]

Follow us at:

LinkedIn:

Instagram:

Facebook:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Go on, Lucy, make utilities & infrastructure sound not dull’. And she succeeds, with ease. From arriving at DM a disillusioned surveyor 9 years ago, L&P Director Lucy Tolley has found it a place where she can thrive, be challenged and welcome in the next generation of brilliant surveyors, planners, land referencers and environmental specialists.

Increasingly, water companies and other U&I organisations are relying on companies such as DM to ensure consents get through, constraints are minimised and landowners are supported throughout the process.

Listen to Lucy and James discuss the rapidly approaching issues across the sector with the new demand for land, the benefits of using a professional services company that only specialises in U&I, as well as the difference it makes when the team are all trained in landowner negotiation.

At Dalcour Maclaren, we unlock consents for the utilities and infrastructure sector.

U&I is your go-to podcast for the utility and infrastructure sectors. Brought to you by Dalcour Maclaren, it is packed full of industry insight and expert perspectives. The U&I podcast. Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities in: - land and property development - environment and planning - geomatics - land surveying - land referencing - power networks - power generation - telecoms - water management - transport and infrastructure. We discuss complex issues in an honest and practical way, from policy updates to planning and project delivery.

You can follow James Neil and Lucy Tolley on LinkedIn or email us directly

[email protected]

[email protected]

Follow us at:

LinkedIn:   / dalcour-maclaren-chartered-surveyors  

Instagram:   / dalcourmaclaren  

Facebook:   / dalcourmaclarencareers  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dalcour Maclaren’s latest podcast invites Sam Catling and Simon Navin into our studio to be grilled by CEO James Neil.

Sam heads up our Geomatics business and Simon is a key director in the 80-strong team.

In this episode we look at what Geomatics offers and the difference it can make to any U&I project.

From a Book of Reference with more than 14,000 pages for Gatwick Airport to the laser scanning of historic buildings in order for gas mains to be added, we focus on how data-driven services deliver on speed, accuracy and resilience for our clients. But, as always at DM, the data is complemented by human expertise in negotiation, project management and creating effective partnerships.

At Dalcour Maclaren, our Geomatics services include:

Land Surveying: Topographic, Utility, LiDAR and UAV surveys

Land Referencing: DCO, CPO, Book of Reference, and Data Acquisition and Cleansing

GIS, CAD and Data: Spatial Data Analysis, Plan Production, Visualisation, and Connect Platform

And yes, of course, we talk about AI!

U&I is your go-to podcast for the utility and infrastructure sectors. Brought to you by Dalcour Maclaren, it is packed full of industry insight and expert perspectives. The U&I podcast Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities in: - land and property development - environment and planning - geomatics - land surveying - land referencing - power networks - power generation - telecoms - water management - transport and infrastructure. We discuss complex issues in an honest and practical way, from policy updates to planning and project delivery.

You can follow James Neil, Sam Catling and Simon Navin on LinkedIn or email them directly:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Follow us at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dalcour-maclaren-chartered-surveyors/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dalcourmaclaren/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DalcourMaclarenCareers

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At a time when getting projects started is a key focus of this Government’s strategy, the bottleneck in planning is causing headaches for organisations in the utilities and infrastructure sectors.

‘At the moment there is a lack of resource, be it planners, ecologists, heritage experts, etc’ says Allison Pritchard, Director of Environment and Planning at Dalcour Maclaren. But she also explains in our second DM podcast that there are solutions and there are ways to ensure your proposals get through planning on time, keeping your project on budget.

Host and CEO James Neil asks why everyone is pointing their finger at planning and, if getting the right resourcing in place is a long-term solution, what do we do in the meantime?

Allison gives her expert advice, which has been hugely beneficial to our clients over the past six years, on how DM finds short-term solutions, such as:

• How to prevent the need for planning permission
• Why our team’s legislation knowledge makes a difference
• The rules behind writing a planning submission so it won’t get rejected

If you are facing challenges in getting planning permission on your utilities or infrastructure project, you must listen to this podcast, and even better – get in touch with Allison at: [email protected]

U&I is your go-to podcast for the utility and infrastructure sectors. Brought to you by Dalcour Maclaren, it is packed full of industry insight and expert perspectives. 

Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities in:

• land and property development
• environment and planning
• geomatics
• land surveying
• land referencing 
• power networks
• power generation 
• telecoms
• water management
• transport and infrastructure 

We discuss complex issues in an honest and practical way, from policy updates to planning and project delivery.

You can follow James Neil and Allison Pritchard on LinkedIn or email them directly:

[email protected]

[email protected]

Follow us at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dalcour-maclaren-chartered-surveyors/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dalcourmaclaren/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DalcourMaclarenCareers

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Your go-to podcast for the utility and infrastructure sectors. Brought to you by Dalcour Maclaren, U&I is packed full of industry insight and expert perspectives. Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities in:

• land and property development

• environmental and planning

• geomatics

• land surveying and referencing

• power networks

• power generation

• telecoms

• water management

• transport and infrastructure

We discuss complex issues in an honest and practical way, from policy updates to planning and project delivery.

Our first episode introduces host James Neil, CEO of Dalcour Maclaren, who explores the broader implications of the King's Speech 2024 with our non-executive director and former energy retail CEO, Monica Collings, and our MD, Andrew Barker.

Can the water and energy infrastructure projects mentioned in the Speech be delivered and what might need to change to ensure this? Is private sector investment going to be forthcoming? And just how much investment will be necessary?

James challenges Monica and Andrew with the important question: as a nation, have we really grasped the enormity of net zero 2030?

With factors such as the cost of living affecting adoption of lower carbon initiatives and the difficulty of decommissioning of gas networks, this episode is a must-listen!

Daclour Maclaren is the land and environmental consultancy of choice for the utility and infrastructure sectors in the UK and Ireland

Follow us at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dalcour-maclaren-chartered-surveyors/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dalcourmaclaren/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DalcourMaclarenCareers

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.