Maria is a senior consultant Strategic Planner at HillPDA’s strategic and economic planning team. Maria has over nine years’ urban planning experience working in the public and the private sector in Australia, Ireland and the United States. Maria’s specialities are in social and economic impact assessments, social infrastructure assessments, community and stakeholder engagement and project management. Prior to joining HillPDA, Maria worked in Project Management. During this time Maria project managed or assisted on a wide variety of development projects. Maria specialised in the design development, feasibility and approval phases of development projects. As a result of this experience, Maria gained a deep understanding of the different components involved in the development process which enables her to adopt a commercially viable and strategic approach.After completing a Masters in Spatial Regeneration at Queens University Belfast Maria spent two years working in Ireland as a private consultant to Dublin City Council, Age Friendly Ireland and Volunteers Ireland. During this time she gained extensive experience in strategic planning, social planning, public consultation and urban renewal.

• Provided planning assistance and advice in relation to the approval process for wide range of developments • Managing project timelines and budgets • Assessing and processing consultant invoices • Peer reviewing and assessing consultant reports • Assisted in managing the planning processes in the design development phase of projects • Administration of a construction contract in line with client and contractual requirements.• Preparation of weekly and monthly project control group (PCG) reports

• Formed a project steering group and facilitated the coordination of various group departments, external agencies and key stakeholders• Consulted extensively with older people (aged 55+) by means of public meetings and focus groups, stakeholder interviews, walkability audits and surveys• Conducted research, analysis and mapping to prepare a town profile• Developed an Age Friendly action plan informed by research, analysis and the priorities and preferences of older adults as emerged from the consultations• Project management roles including resource co-ordination and managing the delivery of the short, medium and long-term actions during the implementation phase

Urban villages regeneration project with Dublin City Council.• Submitted tender to produce an urban village improvement plan document (High volume with time constraints)• Analysed urban areas, urban design & physical landscape• Conducted user/customer analysis and profiled the footfall• Conducted an accessibility and mobility audit• Mapped existing assets and services using GIS and adobe design software• Designed and hosted public consultation campaigns, on street, online and key stakeholder consultations• Designed urban regeneration projects and proposed recommendations for the areas improvement

Services• Urban Planning and Design• Urban Renewal • Public Consultation Services • Town Planning • Academic research projectsClients • European Seating Symposium • Central Remedial Clinic• CRC Medical• Ageing Well Network• Av-Ed Aviation • Docklands Community Projects• Volunteers Ireland

• Development of the GIS data layers needed to represent the city’s zoning and base map features.• Creating Special Purpose District layer for New Zoning and Land use Application Zola• Attending site visits and conducting site appraisals.• Digitalizing historic planning maps and the creation of a new historic zoning layer.• Attending Planning commission meetings and agency wide meetings.