GL Hearn was established in London in 1923 and was one of the first property consultancies to establish its own planning department in 1970. The firm now also has oYces in five regional locations including Glasgow, Manchester and Belfast. Its London base was at London Bridge until 2003 when it moved to the West End.
We became involved in the Paddington Health Campus about1998 when we won the commission to prepare a "Planning and Property" study through a competitive interview. Our presentation was made by two senior Directors, David Napier and David Beardmore, who have a total of over 55 years professional experience at that time. We subsequently undertook the work personally.
By then we had an established track record of major planning and property commissions from the NHS. While the majority of these were in the West Midlands and South West England we also worked on substantial health care projects in London. In 1998-2000 were working on the redevelopment of Springfield Hospital Tooting.
As a practice we were actively working, or had recently done so, on a number of major infrastructure projects. We acted as the lead planning consultant for BAA at the Terminal Five Inquiry, including providing the expert witness covering all aspects of planning policy. We also were responsible for the acquisition of all of the land required for the London section of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link on behalf of Union Rail.
Our commercial activities in both planning and property fields are extensive. In London we were responsible for the development of the Hays Galleria at London Bridge while in Sheffield we were responsible for obtaining the permissions and acquiring the land for the Meadowhall Shopping Centre. We also gave commercial advice abroad for projects such as Granary Island, Gdansk in Poland.
We have advised public authorities throughout the UK on a variety of planning and property related issues. In 2001 we provided two of the English Heritage witnesses at the high profile Heron Tower Inquiry. We have also acted for public bodies in mainland Europe including French Regional Authorities in the Pas de Calais and in the area around Orleans. We have been involved, usually as lead consultants, in Regeneration Studies commissioned by public authorities in Cornwall, Devon, Bristol, Sunderland and Liverpool.