Kate Ahern

Expertise

Green infrastructure
Landscape capacity and sensitivity studies
Landscape management
Landscape planning and character assessment
Protected area planning and management

Professional bodies

Member, Landscape Institute (Management Division)

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) Geography, University of Exeter
MSc Landscape Ecology, Design and Maintenance, Wye College, University of London

Contact

kate.ahern@landuse.co.uk
020 7383 5784

Profile

Kate Ahern, Principal, leads our portfolio of landscape planning and character assessment.  With over 20 years experience as a landscape planner and manager, Kate is an expert in evaluative techniques and has received awards for her policy research and delivery of landscape planning projects.  For example, the ‘Sensitivity Study for the location of wind turbines in the East of England’ received the Landscape Institute Strategic Landscape Planning Award. 

Kate champions the protection, management and planning of landscapes at different scales and manages national, regional, local and site specific projects.  A specialist in using landscape character assessment to determine sensitivity and capacity for change, Kate has extensive experience in assessing wind turbine development, employment and housing development. 

With excellent knowledge of protected area planning and management, Kate has prepared national park and area of outstanding national beauty assessments and defined potential new national park boundaries for the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks.  She is experienced in facilitating stakeholder consultation to aid decision making, enabling people to express local values through the landscape assessment process.