The platform was built as a transparent, step-by-step process, with clear links to data sources, analysis and regulatory references at every stage. Engineers stay in control, while leveraging the full speed of AI.

Co-Founder and alumnus James Griffith

Over the past year, the Y Combinator-backed^[1] start-up, co-founded by James Griffith and Andrew Browning, has been used by civil and environmental engineers to generate more than 4,000 planning reports across the UK and US. By integrating AI with deterministic systems, SchemeFlow allows civil engineers to deliver technical documents 60 to 80% faster, unlocking delivery models that were not previously possible.

“But speed alone isn't enough,” says James, who specialised in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering for his Master of Engineering (MEng) at Cambridge. “Civil engineering is a trust-based profession, where decisions carry real accountability and public safety is always at stake. Engineers won't sign off output that they can't interrogate.”

James (Emmanuel College 2010) explains: “The platform was built as a transparent, step-by-step process, with clear links to data sources, analysis and regulatory references at every stage. Engineers stay in control, while leveraging the full speed of AI.

“For comparison, in the UK, a typical planning application for a 20-home development might require over 40 technical reports, e.g. flood risk assessments, transport assessments, travel plans and environmental statements, on top of architectural and engineering drawings. Expensive, slow and growing in complexity every year, the result is years of delay before ground is ever broken.”

He added: “Within the next two years, most technical planning and permitting reports will be produced by AI. The limiting factor won’t be writing them; it will be how quickly experts can review and approve them.”

From Cambridge to Silicon Valley – a fusion of belief, expertise and execution

James describes the first two years of his MEng as providing him with the ability to consider multiple creative solutions to a problem.

“The breadth of the first two years was something I didn't fully appreciate at the time but have come to value enormously. Exposure to structures, thermodynamics, electrical systems and computing gave me a lateral fluency that is genuinely useful when building a technology company in a technical industry.

“The other takeaways from my time at Cambridge are ones I only fully recognised once I became a founder.

“The first is multidisciplinary thinking. Every real engineering project draws on structures, fluid mechanics, materials and computing, often simultaneously. The first two years at Cambridge are deliberately designed to build that breadth, and it turns out that building a company demands the same instinct: product, sales, finance and technology all at once.

“The second is learning to operate under volume. Cambridge forces you to juggle an extraordinary number of things simultaneously – problem sets, labs, supervisions, deadlines – and that relentless workload is, in retrospect, perfect preparation for founder life, where the to-do list never gets shorter.

“The third is performing under pressure. The exams were painful, but they taught you to deliver on the day, regardless of circumstances. That ability to execute when it matters – not just when conditions are ideal – is something I draw on constantly.”

The collegiate system – forging friendships that last a lifetime

James reflects on the social side of his time at Cambridge, describing it as a unique experience.

“Socially, Emmanuel College was a wonderful base. The collegiate system brings together an extraordinary range of people and backgrounds, interests and ambitions that you simply wouldn't encounter elsewhere, and that diversity of perspective stays with you long after graduation. I was also heavily involved with the University Athletics Club, running for the Blues, which gave me a real sense of competition and camaraderie outside of the academic pressure.

“Most of all though, it’s about the friendships. Now a decade later, many of those same people are doing incredible things: starting companies, leading institutions and pushing boundaries in their fields. Cambridge has a way of concentrating remarkable people at a formative moment in their lives, and the friendships forged there genuinely last a lifetime.”

The origins of SchemeFlow

After graduating from Cambridge, James spent a decade at Arup in London and San Francisco, working on projects including the completion of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona and the seismic rebuild of Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology. Across the wider civil engineering industry, it was clear, he said, that technical reporting requirements were steadily expanding, placing increasing pressure on teams.

Meanwhile, Andrew, a Cambridge History graduate (St John's College 2008), spent five years as Chief of Staff to the Mayor of the West Midlands, attempting to accelerate transport and housing delivery for a city region of three million people. He said he witnessed firsthand how projects like the Dudley Metro, first proposed in 1984, did not begin construction until 2020.

Together they founded SchemeFlow in 2023. The duo then teamed up with AI engineer and childhood friend, Jonny Browning.

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^[1] Y Combinator is a Silicon Valley start-up accelerator.