Neil Black

A principal and senior planner with over 17 years of experience, Neil is part of the HG contingent working in the LEAD Alliance for Kāinga Ora.

Known for his strong, collaborative relationships with his clients, Neil believes urban regeneration has a significant part to play in helping solve the housing shortage in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Neil enjoys the variety of projects at HG from district plan policy reviews, greenfield developments, national infrastructure rollouts and television shows. ''These experiences have helped me understand the things I enjoy working on and HG has been supportive in enabling me to follow a career path that I want.'' 

More recently at LEAD, Neil has enjoyed seeing the full project life cycle working closely and collaborating with all parties involved throughout the entire project. It has helped him to understand the range of critical factors and interdependencies throughout a project. ''It means I can set consenting strategies that best respond to these complexities and contribute to the successful and timely delivery of land that is ready for redevelopment.''

''And there’s always been good people around to have a laugh with along the way!'' says Neil.

Outside of work, life is all about his young family. He's a big football fan – but these days it’s playing with his son rather than getting on the pitch himself!

Neil is a member of the New Zealand Planning Institute.