Working at Tibbalds

Ileana joined Tibbalds as an Urban Design intern, coming from a background in Geography and Spatial Planning at King’s College London and University College London.

“While my master’s degree was in fact in Planning, I undertook some modules in Urban Design and thoroughly enjoyed the creative and architectural element to it. I came across Tibbalds through the Urban Design Group website, so, when I came across this internship role, I was keen to put myself forward. Throughout this experience, I have been given the opportunity to go on numerous site visits, attend team meetings and workshops while enriching my skills in 3D modelling with Sketchup which I wasn’t that confident in prior to this. I also have had the chance to carry out some work on Vectorworks, a 3D design software which I had never used and now have some foundational skills in.”

Samuel joined Tibbalds as a Planning intern, coming from a similar background in Geography at The University of Exeter and Urban Planning at Newcastle University.

“Upon finding this internship role and being impressed by Tibbalds’ work and ethos, it felt like the perfect opportunity to gain my first real experience in the field of planning. My time at Tibbalds has allowed me to further develop the skills and principles I have learnt in my planning education, applying them to real projects in far more detail than ever before. The wide variety of projects and tasks I have been involved in has meant that I have learned a great amount about how planning projects are undertaken at all stages and feel significantly more confident about my capacity for future work in the field.”

As part of their experience Ileana and Samuel undertook a design and planning exercise to review the planning context and development potential of two sites in London.

Initial site analysis sketch

Samuel reflects:

“This exercise has let me carry out planning policy research and analysis in much more detail than during my planning education. It was really enjoyable to delve into the challenges that potential development could present and I think it has been a valuable experience that will definitely benefit my future planning career. The numerous other projects I have helped with have been very beneficial too, ranging from small enquiries to large developments. The wide variety of tasks and contexts they presented have meant that I was able to gain practical experience of many different aspects of planning that I was once unfamiliar with.

The six weeks I have completed with Tibbalds have been a brilliant introduction to planning as a career, facilitated by a super welcoming team that have always been willing to help and guide me.”

Ileana concludes:

“Working to visualise our findings and develop 3D models for the exercise has been really useful in improving my familiarity with design software. I’ve also been able to conduct a detailed site analysis for a town centre regeneration project, offering even more hands-on experience with the beginning of the design process. Additionally, I had the opportunity to carry out some policy research, and it was nice to work on the planning side of things too and understand how planning and design work together!

The last few weeks have been invaluable to me and I am very grateful to everyone at Tibbalds who have all been incredibly supportive, making me feel a part of the team.”

Opportunities, constraints and influences diagram