NSIP Consents Specialists · DCO · Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025
Strategic Project Services is a specialist consents consultancy for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. We work across the full DCO lifecycle — from pre-application strategy through to examination close. Credible, agile, and without the big consultancy price tag.
The large consultancies carry significant overhead and spread their teams thin across unfamiliar regimes. SPS delivers focused, senior-level consents expertise — on NSIP projects specifically, nothing else.
From scoping to Secretary of State decision, SPS can support at any stage of the DCO process. Whether you need a consents function built from scratch or targeted support on a live examination, we operate across the full timeline.
The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 is reshaping how NSIPs are consented. SPS tracks legislative change as it happens and translates it into practical programme implications for clients.
Every DCO project moves through the same statutory stages — but the consents demands at each stage are different. SPS offers targeted support at any point on that timeline, or end-to-end involvement from the outset. Here is what we do and when we do it.
Before anything is submitted, the consents strategy defines whether a project is deliverable on programme. Poor decisions here compound through every subsequent stage.
DCO applications are complex, multi-volume submissions. Getting accepted at the first attempt requires the right preparation and a clear understanding of PINS thresholds.
The examination is where projects are won or lost. Missed deadlines, weak issue responses, and poor ExA relationship management all carry programme consequences.
The decision is the beginning, not the end. DCO Requirements, pre-commencement conditions, and LPA discharge processes continue to carry consents risk into construction.
At the major consultancies, the senior planner who wins your project often hands it to a junior team. At SPS, the person you speak to is the person doing the work. Chartered, experienced, and accountable directly to you.
Direct deliveryNSIP consents expertise should not be the exclusive preserve of promoters with eight-figure professional fees budgets. SPS works with developers, contractors, EPC firms, and supply chain businesses of all sizes, on day-rate and fixed-fee bases.
Transparent pricingSPS carries no internal overhead to recover through your fees. Every pound spent goes into the work. For clients who have been through a large consultancy and felt the cost did not match the output, the difference is immediate.
Lean structureThe statutory consents framework is evolving. New infrastructure categories are being brought within scope, thresholds are changing, and the examination process is being reformed. SPS tracks this landscape continuously.
The DCO regime now covers a broader range of infrastructure types than ever before. If you are unsure whether your project requires DCO consent or could benefit from it, that is precisely the conversation SPS exists to have.
Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 compliantHVDC, HVAC, converter stations, overhead line, substations
Generation, export cabling, onshore grid connection
Pipeline infrastructure, compressor stations, import terminals
New nuclear, carbon capture and storage, battery storage
Strategic reservoirs, water transfer, major treatment works
Strategic highways, rail, ports and harbour infrastructure
Large-scale hyperscale facilities approaching NSIP thresholds
If you are unsure whether your project falls within the NSIP regime, get in touch
Strategic Project Services Ltd is an independent consents consultancy with a single focus: Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects and the Development Consent Order regime.
Most planning consultancies treat NSIPs as one service line among many. SPS exists solely in this space, which means our understanding of the Planning Inspectorate process, examination dynamics, and the interface between consents and construction is significantly deeper than a generalist firm can offer.
We hold Chartered Town Planner (MRTPI) status and have direct, hands-on experience managing DCO examinations on major UK energy infrastructure projects under both the Planning Act 2008 and the new Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 framework.
| Factor | Large consultancy | SPS |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | Variable team, often junior | Senior, chartered, always |
| NSIP specialism | One team among many | Only thing we do |
| Fee structure | High day rates, large teams | Day-rate or fixed fee |
| Mobilisation | Weeks to onboard | Immediate deployment |
| Accountability | Account manager layer | Direct to director |
| Supply chain fit | Rarely structured for it | Built for it |
Whether you are a developer, EPC contractor, supply chain firm, or landowner with an infrastructure project on the horizon, SPS can help you understand the consents route and what it takes to get there.
Initial conversations are without obligation. All enquiries are treated in confidence.
Projects taken on a day-rate or fixed-fee basis. Framework arrangements considered.
Send an enquiry