the Volterra team
Our economic consultants apply cutting edge economic, behavioural and scientific analysis to forge a new perspective on business and public issues. Our experts have a vast array of combined experience and areas of expertise.
Our Partners and Associates
Ellie Evans
Senior Partner
Ellie is the Senior Partner at Volterra, specialising in the economic impact of development proposals, and manages many of the company’s projects on economic impact, regeneration, transport and development. She delivers high quality projects to clients across the public and private sector.
With nearly twenty years experience at Volterra delivering high quality projects to clients across the public and private sector, Ellie has expertise in developing methods of estimating economic impact where complex issues exist with regards to deadweight, displacement and additionality.
Ellie has significant experience in estimating the economic impact across all types of property development including residential, leisure, office and mixed use schemes.
Project management of recent high profile schemes include the luxury hotel London Peninsula, Battersea Power Station and the Nova scheme at London Victoria. Ellie has also led studies across the country estimating the economic and regeneration impact of proposed transport investments, including studies on HS2 and Crossrail.
Paul Ormerod
Partner
Paul is a founding partner of Volterra and has many years of experience in business consultancy. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the computer science department at University College London.
He was a founder of the Henley Centre for Forecasting which was sold by the management to WPP Group plc in the 1990s.
Since 2020, Paul has been non-executive chair of the Rochdale Development Agency and in 2022 was appointed by Andy Burnham as non-exec chair of Atom Valley Greater Manchester Mayoral Development Zone, a major development in the poorer northern and eastern boroughs of the city region.
Paul is a best-selling and award winning author. He has authored four books, published in many languages.
Paul originally read Economics at Cambridge University, then took the MPhil in economics and econometrics at Oxford University. In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences.
Alex O'Byrne
Partner
Alex O’Byrne, Partner at Volterra, is an experienced economic consultant specialising in economic, health and social impact, economic strategy, project appraisal and socio-economic planning matters.
Alex leads Volterra’s work in the property development sector. He specialises in assessing economic and health impact and developing social value strategies for a wide range of property developments. He has specific expertise in responding to policies on affordable workspace and employment and skills. Alex has worked on some of the most high profile developments in the UK, including Battersea Power Station, Olympia London, Royal Street, MSG Sphere and Westfield.
Alex is also experienced at socio-economic and health assessments of major infrastructure. He has led economic appraisal of major transport schemes and a range of Development Consent Order (DCOs) for renewable energy.
Alex specialises in working with project teams to ensure developments respond to local need and maximise community benefit.
Luke Thurley
Associate
Luke, Associate at Volterra, is experienced in economic impact modelling, economic strategies and economic forecasting. He is well versed in understanding the links between policy interventions and the economic environment, with specific skills in econometric modelling, socio-economic assessments and economic masterplanning.
Luke’s work focuses primarily on supporting public sector clients to produce business cases and economic strategies, as well as providing socio-economic analysis on proposed nationally significant infrastructure project. His recent projects include leading on developing an Economic Strategy and Skills & Employment Strategy for the city of Peterborough. He has also recently worked on Development Consent Order (DCO) projects related to freight and renewable energy.
Luke has led several high profile business cases. He recently authored the strategic and economic case for investment in Oxford’s West End. He also led most of Volterra’s contributions to our successful LUF round 2 bids.
Luke developed the methodologies behind many of Volterra’s most recent innovations in transport economics, including for monetising the economic impacts of shared e-scooters and increased rail freight through the Channel Tunnel. In his other work, Luke has recently given evidence at public inquiry in support of proposed housing development.
Elizabeth Bamford
Associate
Elizabeth is interested in social impact with a particular focus on employment and skills.
She has authored multiple social value statements for clients which focus on qualitative as well as quantitative measures of social impact. She is currently completing her Level 1 Associate social impact qualification.
Elizabeth recently set up the social value strategy at Volterra and manages the employment and skills element of Volterra’s internal social value programme.
Engagement is a key part of much of Elizabeth’s work. She has experience leading programmes of stakeholder engagement for complex employment and skills strategies and has experience in primary research with service users to identify social and equality impacts of programmes and proposed projects.
Outside social impact, Elizabeth has extensive experience on retail and leisure schemes, authoring multiple leisure impact assessments and economic impact assessments for visitor economy clients.
Andy McNaught
Associate
Andy has a range of experience in transport economics, business case development, and socio-economic assessment. He takes particular interest in projects where transport and development meet, leading Volterra’s recent work on the socio-economic and health appraisal of the proposed over-station development, and station improvements, to Liverpool Street Station.
He has been heavily involved in many of Volterra’s recent innovations in transport economics, developing bespoke methodologies for the economic appraisal of shared e-scooters and rail freight, and is currently leading Volterra’s work on the proposed West London Orbital service. He presented at the 2022 Transport Practitioners’ Meeting on “Valuing Travel Time Savings in the Context of Achieving Net Zero”.
Andy has also led the socio-economic assessment of multiple major development projects such as Euston Tower, Royal Street, 1 Victoria Street, and 980 Great West Road.
expert advisor
Bridget Rosewell
Bridget is one of the founders of Volterra. She is Chair of Audit and Risk at the National Infrastructure Bank appointed at its inception in 2022, and was previously a Commissioner for the National Infrastructure Commission. As one of the UK’s most influential economists, she has an extensive track record in advising public and private sector clients on key strategic issues.
Bridget has direct experience of corporate decision making as well as advisory and modelling projects.
Other specialist expertise includes economic development, transport and agglomeration economics, development evaluation, infrastructure, forecasting, industry dynamics and competition as well as policy analysis related to these areas.
Bridget was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours list for services to the economy.
THE TEAM
Peter Reddy
Senior Consultant
Peter is an economist with experience working across the private and public sectors. He has supported a number of government departments and public bodies to develop economic strategy, and works frequently with private organisations to make the case for development and infrastructure.
Peter provided the economic case to secure approximately £80 million of investment in town centres through both the Future High Streets Fund and Levelling Up Fund, and has experience applying guidance to develop appraisal for regeneration, development and transport projects.
He has led assessment of socio-economic and health impact of a range of different interventions, including the economic impacts of public realm interventions for Healthy Streets projects in London, the health impact of cumulative construction work in Tower Hamlets, and the case for the HS2 Eastern Leg.
Peter is a member of the Royal Economic Society with interests in welfare analysis and programme evaluation.
Adam Sands
Senior Consultant
Adam is a senior consultant at Volterra, and has a keen interest in making the socio-economic case for culture and leisure development.
Adam has provided socioeconomic support and analysis for several complex schemes, often incorporating formal value for money analysis and the consideration for wider impacts relevant to local context. In the culture and leisure space this has included Leadenhall Market and 85 Gracechurch Street, Marlow Film Studios, ExCeL London and other major arenas capable of attracting millions of visitors each year.
Adam is experienced in socio-economic evaluation, assessing the impact of interventions after a period of operation. To date, Adam has led Volterra’s work on evaluating the socio-economic impact of projects funded by the European Regional Development Fund. This includes the University of Bath’s CAMERA Innovation Programme that provided small businesses and start-ups in the creative and health sectors with access to motion capture technology to help drive innovation.
Sofia Kaur
Senior Consultant
Sofia is a senior consultant at Volterra and has a range of experience evaluating the socio-economic impacts across a range development and regeneration projects.
Sofia has worked on a range of large-scale residential schemes, often providing support throughout the masterplanning process to help clients understand the type of provision of residential and non-residential uses in response to local need. This includes population modelling to understand the timing and phasing of such delivery to best support the local community.
Sofia has recently led Volterra’s work on a number of PBSA schemes across London given the growing demand for such forms of accommodation and it’s increasing presence in policy.
Sofia is currently working on one of Volterra’s DCO projects within renewable energy – assessing the socio-economic and health impacts of the NSIP.
Marie Williams
Senior Social Impact Consultant
Marie is a Level 1 Social Value Associate Practitioner, with a background in research and engagement. Her career so far has required her to apply her expertise to engage with harder-to-reach groups for private, public and third sector clients. She has also co-developed an engagement toolkit, which has been used for a wide range of audiences and purposes.
Marie has a keen interest in using research-led stakeholder and community engagement as a tool to better understand social complexities, and to unearth innovative stakeholder-led solutions to address societal needs.
Notable engagement projects include identifying and exploring Transport-Related Social Exclusion for Transport for the North, developing an Inclusive Service Plan to expand North Yorkshire County Council’s wheelchair-accessible vehicle provision, and engaging with schools and residents to assess and justify the expansion of Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM)’s School Streets programme.
Joe Harman
Consultant
Joe is a consultant at Volterra and has experience working closely with both public and private sector clients. Recently Joe has been heavily involved in Volterra’s transport and NSIP work. He has undertaken analysis and drafted written submissions to aid the Planning Inspectorate with a particular emphasis on road, rail and shipping freight. As part of this Joe has experience in producing Green Book compliant Value for Money assessments.
Currently, Joe is developing a bespoke model as part of research into how increased social housing delivery may be achieved.
Beyond this he has produced a range of deliverables including affordable workspace strategies, economic and regeneration statements, employment and skills strategies, equalities statements and socio-economic chapters.
Joe has worked on a variety of developments across the UK including co-living, hotel, large office, life science, logistics and PBSA schemes.
Miraj Mistry
Consultant
Miraj has been a consultant at Volterra for over two years. He has experience providing economic support for a wide variety of developments across the country, some examples include lab and office developments, housing, hotels, shopping centres, residential developments, and data centres. Miraj has shown particular interest in developing strategies that aim to overcome identified local employment and skills issues.
Miraj has also gained experience in evaluating the economic impacts of major schemes. The first of these being the socio-economic impact assessment on e-scooter trials in UK cities. He is currently working on the national evaluation of free bike schemes across Birmingham, areas of Essex and Southall. Within these Miraj has applied Green Book guidance to assess the viability of the schemes in terms of Value for Money.
Outside of work Miraj’s economics interest lie with the London Doughnut Economics Coalition, a group whose aim is to inspire change makers in London to adopt a better, fairer and regenerative approach to the economy.
Charlie Crosbie
Consultant
Charlie is a consultant at Volterra and has experience across a wide range of deliverables including economic and regeneration statements, employment and skills strategies, socio-economic chapters.
Recently, Charlie has been heavily involved in public sector work and is assisting in developing an economic strategy for Peterborough City Council. This work has involved identifying specific economic interventions that are feasible and will contribute to the city’s economic aspirations.
Charlie has also worked on major developments within London, such as helping develop the socio-economic case for the proposed Liverpool Street Station. This was a comprehensive piece of work which covered the socio-economic impacts of commercial space, hotel provision, and operational improvements to the station.
Charlie has also assisted in producing the economic impacts of a major events space. This work included estimating visitor numbers and their expenditure and employment generation.
Beyond this, Charlie has worked on a range of life sciences developments across the Golden Triangle.
Karishma Panchani
Consultant
Karishma has extensive experience in socio-economic analyses. She has produced several economic impact assessments and community needs assessments.
She has been part of socially motivated projects. On our ongoing project, national evaluation of Free Bikes Schemes, she analysed extensive data to understand scheme treatment areas. She engaged with scheme participants to gather vital information for the evaluation. On another project, she lent support to develop a financial model for housing delivery aimed at alleviating the UK housing crisis.
Karishma has also applied her expertise to residential developments. She previously assessed social infrastructure provision in the villages of West Oxfordshire. For this, she analysed housing, health provision, education and community infrastructure. Following this, she made tailored recommendations to help each village thrive in a sustainable network.
She also undertook economic analyses on life sciences developments across all three locations in the Golden Triangle. She takes a keen interest in topics such as poverty and regional inequalities.
Nicholas Hutchinson
Consultant
Nick specialises in delivering economic statements, health and equality impact assessments, and needs assessments across a diverse range of projects. These assessments determine and evaluate the potential impact on communities, aiding decision-makers in the planning process. Nick is dedicated to driving positive change and creating sustainable, inclusive environments that benefit residents and stakeholders alike.
Nick has a particular interest in renewable energy projects and is actively involved in the Development Consent Order application process for a solar farm project. He is shaping the project’s employment and skills strategy with the goal of establishing a legacy in the area, ensuring the project fosters economic growth and community development.
Nick also has experience in evaluations and business cases. Currently, he is collaborating with Active Luton to assess the socio-economic benefits of their facilities. Nick is also actively involved in advocating for inclusive design practices, championing the need for buildings that consider the diverse needs of all individuals.
Andrew Cuttle
Consultant
Andrew is a consultant at Volterra with a background in transport appraisal, business case development and rail regulation.
During his time at Volterra, he has gained experience across a range of different deliverables including economic and regeneration statements, social value statements, and needs cases.
He recently supported on the regeneration statement for the Kingsway Exchange, a network of wartime-era tunnels beneath central London that has the potential to be turned into a major new tourist attraction in the capital.
Andrew is currently working with the Department for Transport to develop new evaluation guidance for schemes developed within the DfT’s Local Authority Major Scheme Programme.
Roberto Vedova
Consultant
Roberto is a consultant at Volterra, with a background in Finance and Economic Development. He has experience in financial analysis in the private sector and has also worked as an economic consultant for public sector clients in the UK. Roberto is particularly interested transport, infrastructure, and how investment can be optimised to deliver community benefits.
Roberto has experience in supporting the economic case for public investment proposals, developing the cost-benefit analysis for various schemes including local authority investment funds and cycling infrastructure. He has also undertaken quantitative and qualitative analysis to support research on a range of themes including local employment and skills, green jobs, and EDI.
Since joining Volterra, Roberto has worked on a variety of projects across the UK, including a major office redevelopment, co-living and student accommodation schemes, and supporting the economic case for public investment in passenger rail and electric vehicle manufacturing.
Thomas Ure
Graduate Consultant
Tom is a graduate consultant at Volterra with an interest in health, education, and development economics. He has put these interests to use since joining, working on a wide range of projects that evaluate the social and economic impacts of major developments.
In one such project, he analysed the socio-economic impact of a large property portfolio, developing bespoke methodologies to understand these impacts within the context of their respective local areas.
More recently, he has worked on projects analysing the impacts of major office, residential, and hotel schemes. Through these projects he has gained extensive experience of a wide range of analytical techniques, and further, how this analysis can be conducted with the priorities of local communities and governments in mind.
He is currently working on the inquiry process for a major hotel development, providing estimates of its socio-economic impact.
Nicola Pallai
Office Manager
Nikki is the Office Manager at Volterra. She has over 25 years of professional experience in managing administrative and operational positions for various organisations. Nikki’s strong organisational skills, attention to detail and ability to multitask have been instrumental in ensuring the smooth running of the office operations.
Aside from ensuring that everything runs smoothly in the office which she undertakes whilst supporting the rest of the team. Her ability to work collaboratively with team members has also helped to foster positive working relationships within the workplace.
Taking pride in maintaining a clean, safe, and professional working environment, Nikki is always looking for ways to improve office processes and procedures.
