Lambert Smith Hampton has strengthened the development and planning team in its Birmingham office with the appointment of a new planner.

Stephen Hemming joins Lambert Smith Hampton as an associate director from Inventures, the property consultancy arm of NHS Estates, where he was head of the national planning team for five years.

At NHS Estates Mr Hemming worked on a range of projects across the UK. These included securing consents for residential and commercial use on surplus hospital sites, and gaining planning consent for a number of new major hospitals across the UK, including a new £100 million facility in Oxford.

He also recently gained consent to demolish a listed building to make way for an extension to University College Hospital, London, and latterly was working on the transfer of surplus NHS land to English Partnerships as part of the Government's new low cost housing initiative.

Mr Hemming has more than 15 years experience as a planner. Before joining NHS Estates, he worked for the Royal Town Planning Institute and a number of local authorities, as well as running his own planning practice.

At Lambert Smith Hampton, Mr Hemming will work with the commercial property consultancy's clients on all aspects of planning including planning consents and appraisals, as well as monitoring local development frameworks to secure allocation of land for development.