From Lockdown Start-Up to a Growing Sheffield Consultancy

16th March 2026

We’re Nota Bene Consulting, a Sheffield transport consultancy that grew from a one-person start-up during COVID to a team of eight. We’re introducing ourselves and would love to connect as we continue supporting people-focused transport planning.

As fellow members of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce community, we thought it was a good moment to introduce ourselves and share a little about who we are at Nota Bene Consulting.

Nota Bene is a Sheffield-based transport consultancy that began during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. What started as a one-person venture founded by Neal Byers has grown steadily over the past few years into a team of eight transport professionals.

In the early days, like many businesses starting out during lockdown, the company began as what you might call a “one-man band”. Since then, we’ve been fortunate to grow into a small but diverse team, bringing together experienced transport planners alongside graduates who have joined us and developed their careers within the company.

A number of the graduates we’ve welcomed into the team studied at the universities here in Sheffield, which makes it especially rewarding to be able to support local talent and see them build their careers in the city.

Our work focuses on transport planning and strategy, working closely with local authorities to help shape how places move and function. A big part of what we do is making sure our analysis stays grounded in the real experiences of people, understanding how communities actually travel and what they want from the transport systems around them.

One of the things we are most proud of is the team we’ve built. Having planners with many years of experience working alongside early-career professionals creates a collaborative environment where people can learn from one another and grow together.

Our development has also been supported by grants that have helped us invest in new software, training and professional development. These opportunities have allowed us to strengthen our technical capabilities and continue improving the way we support our clients.

Alongside our consultancy work, we’re also keen to create opportunities for learning and knowledge sharing within the sector. Recently we hosted our first event bringing together local authorities and specialists working with some of the latest techniques and technologies in transport planning. The aim was to create an open space to discuss forward-thinking ideas, including topics such as transport for humans, and explore how new approaches can help us all make better decisions when planning and designing transport systems.

For us, this is an important part of what we do. We care deeply about the role transport plays in people’s everyday lives, and we want to help support the wider community of professionals to stay informed, share ideas and continue improving how we plan for the future.

Looking back, the journey from a single founder during lockdown to a growing team has been incredibly rewarding. As a Sheffield-based business, we’re proud to be part of the city’s professional community and grateful for the support we’ve received along the way.

By sharing our story, we simply wanted other Chamber members to know a little more about who we are, what we do, and the kind of team we’re building here in Sheffield.

If you’re a fellow Chamber member and ould like to learn more about our work, explore opportunities to collaborate, or simply say hello, we’d love to hear from you.

You can get in touch with us at info@notabeneconsulting.co.uk message us directly through the Sheffield Chamber member platform, or feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn. We’re always happy to meet other businesses in the Chamber community and look forward to building new connections across Sheffield.