Our Story
Speer & Speer was established in 1988 out of a desire to provide professional and positive assistance with a wide range of projects that involve development strategies including site analysis and selection, design input from a land planning perspective and assistance with council approvals. This work is based upon knowledge and experience gained from a number of years working at a senior level within the private commercial sector and also in the public sector now coupled with an appreciation of the need to create viable, liveable and sustainable projects.
Robert Speer
Director - Strategic Planning and Market Research
Robert is a respected planning professional in New Zealand and is known for bringing a practical commercial background to planning and market research projects. Before moving into consulting, he spent 10 years in senior corporate positions with Countdown Supermarkets (Group Manager, Property Research & Development) and Lion Corporation (General Manager Property). Core areas of responsibility included national property strategies, site-specific feasibility assessment, development design and project management, as well as site acquisition and ongoing property management.
Robert moved into consulting in 1988. In the retail and general commercial business field, he has considerable experience in market research and strategic planning for new business/store locations and overall store networks, completing both big-picture network strategies followed by detailed site-specific assessments.
In the town planning field, Robert has been involved in several economic retail assessment projects, acting on behalf of private developers and also on behalf of district councils in assessing the needs for new commercial and industrial land zonings, including providing expert evidence to council and environment court hearings.
Education
Masters of Arts (honours) in Urban Geography, University of Auckland
Masters of Planning Practice (honours), University of Auckland
Expertise
Store location market research
Retail network strategy
Trade area analysis
Store location criteria
Strategic planning for new retail centres
Economic planning assessments
Resource consents
Peer review assessments
Suzanne Speer
Director - Planning
Suzanne brings significant planning and resource management experience to the team. She has over 25 years professional experience gained from her time with Auckland City and Manukau City and several private planning consultancy firms prior to the establishment of Speer & Speer Associates in 1988.
Suzanne has undertaken numerous projects for both private and public body clients, particularly in statutory planning covering resource consents that have spanned a wide range of land use activities. She has in particular completed several projects relating to natural hazards around the city, especially cliff-stability and associated palisade wall structures, and also heritage buildings and special character residential areas.
Suzanne has strong co-ordinator and communication skills often necessary in working with a team of experts to design a project and achieve a successful resource consent. She also works well and collaboratively with consent authorities to help smooth the path for successful projects.
Suzanne is active in the New Zealand Planning Institute often interviewing new applicants for membership in the Institute. In private capacity, she also has governance experience as a past Board Member of both Swimming New Zealand and Auckland Swimming where she was involved in bringing recent change to the sport.
Education
Bachelor of Planning, University of Auckland
Professional Affiliations
Full Member, New Zealand Planning Institute
Member, Resource Management Law Association
Member, NZ Historic Places Trust
Member, DOCOMOMO New Zealand
Expertise
Project management
Heritage planning
Commercial land use planning
Assessments of Environmental Effects
Resource consents
Urban planning
Statutory planning and policy preparation
