Section 278 design
Your highway works designed, submitted and negotiated through to technical approval with the highway authority.
Section 278 design
Highways Consultancy
Highway design, approval and delivery, managed end to end.
Does your development need work on a public road? Those works are approved under a Section 278 agreement. I design the scheme, submit it to the highway authority, and manage the process through to technical approval.
I also take on wider highway design and project management, including work outside the transport sector.
No obligation, and the first conversation costs nothing. Or call 07967 123478.
What I do
Three things clients bring me in for
Project management
Programme, budget, risk and contractors held together by one person, to PRINCE2 principles.
Project managementTraining & systems
Bringing your own engineers up to speed, and designing the processes they work to.
Training & systemsAlso available by the hour. A second opinion, a review of someone else's design, or an engineer to represent you at a meeting with the highway authority. Engagements start at a single hour. Ways of working
Why me
Twenty years, both sides of the table
I spent most of my career inside a highway authority, latterly leading its design team. I have sat on the side of the table that reviews and approves schemes of this type.
That is the difference. I know what a good submission looks like, which comments are coming before they arrive, and which points are actually worth negotiating.
20+
Years designing and delivering highway schemes
1st
Turbo roundabout of its kind in the UK, designed and managed
£2m
Professional Indemnity cover, with £5m Public Liability
One
Point of contact, from first call to final handover
What that changes for you
Continuity of one engineer
The person you speak to first is the one drawing your scheme and sitting opposite the authority. Nothing is relayed second-hand, and nobody is reassigned part way through.
The fee is engineering time
No offices, no layers of management and no business development function to recover through charge-out rates. Senior experience, at rates well below those of a large consultancy.
Commitment that fits the job
An hour, a single scheme, or an agreed number of days each month. No minimum contract, and no expectation that a small piece of work becomes a larger one.
Trusted by
Developers, consultancies and public bodies
The short answers
Questions people ask first
What is a Section 278, in plain English?
The public road belongs to the highway authority, not to you. A Section 278 agreement is the mechanism that lets you carry out works to it at your own cost, once the authority is satisfied the design is safe, buildable and built to their standards.
Worth knowing: planning permission is not highway approval. Permission accepts the principle of your development, but gives you no right to alter the public road. That is approved separately, and in far greater detail.
How do I know if I need one?
You probably do if your planning permission carries a highways condition, if you need a new or altered access onto a public road, or if the authority has asked for a junction, crossing, footway or signals. If a design has already been produced and keeps being rejected, that is the same conversation.
Working out whether it applies to you is usually a short call, and not one I charge for.
What does it cost?
Most Section 278 work is quoted as a fixed price against an agreed scope, so you know the cost before committing. Day rates and hourly advice are also available where a fixed price would only be guesswork.
As an independent there is no office, no management layer and no business development function inside the fee, which is why rates sit well below those of a large consultancy. How engagements are structured
Third-party costs such as road safety audits, specialist surveys and the authority's own fees are separate, and are paid by you directly to the provider. I arrange them, but they are never marked up.
Can you take over a scheme that has stalled?
Yes, and it is a common request. I will review what exists and tell you plainly whether it can be salvaged or is better restarted, with the reasoning either way, before you commit to anything further.
Get started
Tell me about your scheme
Send a site plan, a planning condition, or just a description of the problem. I will tell you honestly what is involved, what it is likely to take, and whether you actually need it.
Enquiries come straight to me. I reply personally, normally within two working days.