Mark Connellan Email & Phone Number

Brisbane, Australia

Mark is the Director and owner of Vitality Town Planning, a Brisbane based consultancy specialising in the provision of development assessment services to private sector clients in South East Queensland.Mark has over 20 years experience in development assessment, gained in the private sector and local government. Mark is highly experienced in providing due diligence advice, project co-ordination, preparing development applications and negotiating with Local and State Government to ensure the best possible outcomes for residential, retail, commercial, mixed use and industrial projects.Mark has successfully managed the development approval process for small, medium and large scale projects, ranging from house extensions, in-fill subdivisions, new housing estates and aged care projects.Mark’s extensive experience gained in senior technical roles and leadership positions at Brisbane City Council has given Mark a very good understanding of Council processes and the ability to cut through red tape.Mark is highly skilled in providing development advice that addresses the complexities of planning schemes and provides the best possible outcome for clients.

Brisbane, Australia

Mark was previously the Associate Director at Town Planning Alliance, one of Brisbane’s busiest consultancies which specialised in development assessment and provided consultancy services to any type and size of project throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory.Mark provided technical advisory and leadership to the Town Planning Alliance Team to ensure projects were undertaken with a clear risk assessment and strategy preparedness, to achieve result for clients. Mark was responsible for negotiating and obtaining development approvals for aged care accommodation, retirements villages, childcare centres, service stations and medium density residential schemes. Mark also led Town Planning Alliance’s domestic team which specialised in demolition approvals, dwelling house extensions, in-fill subdivisions, dual occupancies, small town houses and multiple dwelling developments. Mark is also experienced in attending Planning and Environment Court mediations and negotiating outcomes on behalf of clients.

Brisbane, Australia

Acting Team Leader of the City Plan Operations Team for 6 months.Responsible for coordinating the final amendment package and final complete version of City Plan 2000. Provided Strategic Advice to the Development Assessment Branch on complex policy issues.Assisted in the review and implementation of the new City Plan 2014.Team Leader of Council’s RiskSMART program which at the time determined over 25% of all development applications lodged with Council in less than 5 business days.Formulated and implemented the RiskSMART report card system which is a powerful tool for auditing and providing feedback to the RiskSMART consultants. Received the Divisional Award for Innovation in 2013 for the report card system and other improvement initiatives in RiskSMART. Drafted the new RiskSMART Criteria for City Plan 2014.Set up Council’s internal fast track team (AssessSMART) which processed and assessed all suitable low and medium risk applications. AssessSMART was responsible for determining over 20% of all development applications lodged in record times.Formulated the early referral system to Council’s specialists which resulted in all low/ medium risk applications being fully scoped within 5 days from when they are received. The early referral system was expanded to apply to every development application received by Council with saved 1000’s of days of processing time. Received the Divisional Award for Innovation in 2012 for setting up AssessSMART and implementing the early referral system.Assisted the Project Team in setting up SealSMART which was Council’s initiative to process plan sealing applications in 5 business days.Acting Team Leader of DA South Team and Express Services. Principal Urban Planner and Council's Delegate for DA East Team, DA South Team, DA North Team and Express Services.

Brisbane, Australia

Assessment Manager for Rochedale and responsible for bringing together policy outcomes from across Council in order to deliver a master planned urban community for over 20,000 people. Member of the Project Team that drafted and negotiated the Infrastructure Agreements for Rochedale which delivered new roads, public parks, habitat land, public waterways corridors, community facilities, and a drinking/non-drinking water pipe network. Highly experienced in negotiating outcomes and timings for projects which require the provision of major trunk infrastructure items.Provided development assessment advice for proposed Local Plans including Rochedale, Woolloongabba, Eastern Corridor and Archerfield Airport Masterplan.Co-ordinated advice on the approvals process for Council’s Ferry Terminal upgrade project. Experienced in dealing with applications for prescribed tidal works.Experienced in negotiating and managing the expectations of other Council Program Areas, State Government Departments and developers in order to achieve project objectives

Brisbane, Australia

London, United Kingdom

Birmingham, United Kingdom

Assessed major applications for industrial, residential, educational and community uses, telecommunication applications and notifications, listed building consents, conservation area consents and hazardous substances consents.Provided detailed planning advice for Urban Renewal Projects for inner city Birmingham.Provided Environmental Impact Assessment screening opinions.Represented Council at Public Hearings.Negotiated ‘heads of terms’ for legal agreements to secure planning contributions.

Birmingham, United Kingdom

Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

Hampshire, United Kingdom

New South Wales, Australia

Employed as a town planner in a rural/coastal shire in northern New South Wales.Processed and assessed all types of development applications including major applications for residential and rural subdivisions.Prepared environmental studies, Local Environmental Plan amendments, updated Development Control Plans and planning enforcement procedures.Liaised and negotiated with State Government Departments on new policies and environmental standards affecting Nambucca Shire.Prepared reports for planning committee.Monitored and reported on illegal land uses and non-compliance with development approvals.

Brisbane, Australia

Advised clients on town planning matters and obtained development approvals for construction projects and rural subdivisions in south-east Queensland.Obtained a development approval for a dangerous goods warehouse.

Mackay, Queensland

Employed as an assistant planner in a consultancy based in Mackay that provided town planning services to private and public sector clients.Undertook planning investigations, prepared development applications and obtained planning permissions for residential, commercial, industrial and rural land uses.Assisted in the master planning of residential estates.Organised and implemented company advertising.Formulated budget and time estimations for projects.Prepared local plan amendments on behalf of local government authorities.