David Pugh

David Pugh is an Associate Director within Assisting Success Limited, leading the company’s Utility Advisory Services offer. He brings more than 30 years of experience supporting some of the UK’s largest and most complex infrastructure programmes, with particular expertise in utility legislation, statutory undertaker engagement, consents, and third-party agreements.

David is widely recognised for his deep understanding of the HS2 Act, the New Roads and Street Works Act, and related statutory frameworks. He has shaped strategic approaches to statutory undertaker contributions, protective provisions, utility land rights and complex consent pathways, helping clients navigate highly regulated environments with confidence and clarity.

Most recently, David played a pivotal role at HS2 (High Speed Two) Ltd, where he led the development and negotiation of bespoke utility land rights and third-party agreements with a combined value exceeding £2.5bn. His work supported teams across Utilities, Land & Property, Legal and programme delivery, ensuring that operational requirements, legislative obligations and statutory undertaker interests were aligned to enable programme progress.

David has also delivered significant value for Severn Trent Water, managing the Developer Services workstream through a competitive OJEU tender process for AMP6. He provided specialist support on Highways England (now National Highways) projects involving potable and wastewater diversions, and later supported major post-contract negotiations on the largest single strategic project undertaken by the organisation, strengthening governance, reducing risk and improving commercial certainty.

Throughout his consultancy career, David has built a strong reputation for driving collaboration through effective stakeholder engagement and for finding innovative solutions to contentious, novel and complex challenges. With a background in civil engineering and an early career focus on supply chain management, he excels at bridging the gap between concept and delivery through lateral thinking, pragmatic problem-solving and proactive engagement.

As Assisting Success continues to grow its Utility Advisory Services, David leads the expansion of the firm’s capability to support clients navigating Development Consent Orders (DCOs), Transport and Works Act Orders (TWAOs) and other nationally significant infrastructure planning and consents processes. His ability to interpret legislation, negotiate complex agreements and resolve multi-stakeholder utility issues is central to delivering successful outcomes for clients.