Rapleys expands in Birmingham as it brings in regional Planning Team

UK, March 2026 – Rapleys has continued to grow strategically with the addition of two senior planning appointments in its fast-growing Birmingham office.

Sachin Parmar has 17 years’ experience in planning and joins as Partner. Sachin arrives from Marrons where he was a Director with responsibility for building a Midlands based planning practice, which advised a diverse range of clients on contentious and complex planning issues.

John Nicol joins as Associate from Fisher German with over 7 years’ experience of planning in the private sector. He advises abroad range of clients, including those in the residential, energy, infrastructure and strategic planning sectors.

Prior to their time in the private sector, Sachin and John first worked together at Broxtowe Borough Council in Nottingham, between 2014 and 2017.

Rapleys has been growing its Birmingham office over the last two years adding a Land Development Project Management Team and a new Utilities Consulting service alongside other Consultancy offers in the region. The appointment of Sachin and John will cement Rapleys Planning offer in the City and region.

Robert Clarke, Senior Partner at Rapleys (who has been key in driving the Partnership’s growth), said: “Our business strategy over the last three years has been focused on, and will continue to foster, expansion, but with the right people and in the right places so that it is sustainable. Planning has been and will continue to be a core area of growth, and we see huge opportunities to build both the national Division but also have locally focused and experienced planners in our regional offices. We have seen huge success with this strategy having welcomed seven Southwest-focused planners to our Bristol office three years ago and adding five more senior planners to Manchester just last year. The addition of Sachin and John to Birmingham adds a new regionally focused Planning discipline that will leverage the platform we have already built in the city and work closely with the existing teams there. We will continue to add great people, teams and services in line with our growth plan both nationally and regionally over the coming months.”

Sachin Parmar said: “Rapleys has proven it is committed to strategic growth, building up teams and services both nationally and regionally. We are delighted to become a key part of this growth story in Birmingham, working with the national Planning Division and adding our regional expertise and knowledge to leverage the team and client base that already exists there. With so much change within the planning process, clients need navigation more than ever in order to deliver viable developments, whilst our insight and experience working client-side at both public and private organisations will be extremely helpful at a regional level.”

Rapleys has been strategically growing for three years now, building up and diversifying its business to add services and people that will serve its increasing client portfolio. In addition to Planning, in Commercial it has brought in a team from AY in retail agency and acquired office agency experts Mellersh & Harding, bringing in new clients such as Sainsburys, Stansted Airport and Boots. Rapleys has also added several new services in Building Consultancy (including Health & Safety and Retrofitting) and Residential (Public Sector), launched a new Cardiff team, which it has since trebled in size, and doubled the size of its Manchester team.