The opportunity
Are you searching for a better work-life balance? Would you like to move client-side? Would you like to move away from fee earning? Would you like to work on a large commercial property portfolio and be Cambridgeshire based? If the answer to these questions is yes, this might be the perfect job opportunity for you…
About Us
Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.
Located 50 miles north of London is Cambridge, a world-famous, a university city with beautiful architecture and a population of only around 125,000, it's a highly desirable, compact location surrounded by beautiful countryside. Cambridgeshire County Council owns 33,000 acres of farmland and occupies around 1400 buildings across the county, with a portfolio value of c£1.4Bn that generates £16m of rental income each year.
CCC is proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want their workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which they believe benefits their employees, the organisation, and their local communities. Cambridgeshire County Council is a pioneer in energy efficiency and renewable energy generation investment with a target of becoming NetZero by 2045.
About the Role
You will be joining a friendly, passionate and multi-disciplined property team of approximately 50, which cover asset management, compliance and facilities from New Shire Hall in Alconbury, a brand new and state of the art, purpose-built facility. The facilities team has 21 members, covering soft services, hard services, building surveying, project management and site facilities staff.
The Building Surveyor will report into the Head of Facilities Management and will manage lifecycle planning and maintenance related projects across around 150 commercial premises. The portfolio is diverse and spread across the county, it consists of properties including New Shire Hall, Libraries, Corporate offices, Respite Centres, Highways depots, playgroups and community centres.
As the Building Surveyor, you will be working closely with the internal teams as well as managing out-sourced building contractors and professional services including consultants, architects, engineers, surveyors, and project managers. We expect that you will be in the office for 1-2 days per week and with hybrid working in place you’ll have the option to work from home the rest of the week. You will travel to various locations across Cambridgeshire, providing professional and technical advice regarding building fabric, maintenance issues, CDM, building regulations, building compliance etc.
You will be dealing with both reactive and planned works with projects ranging from alterations, to changes of use and improvement works. You will manage up to 30 projects at any one time with values over £100k, from survey and specification to completion. You will be responsible for the financial management of these projects, project plans and will also support with developing long term asset plans. The Building Surveyor will also be involved in a range of carbon reduction and NetZero linked projects, supporting with hitting sustainability targets by 2045. The annual capital programme is valued at c£15m with most projects being sub c£1m.
About You
As the successful candidate you will be educated to at least HNC/HND level in Building Surveying or have an equivalent comparable professional qualification. Membership of a professional body such as RICS, CIOB is essential though the client may consider someone working towards chartership. A Health and Safety related qualification such as IOSH would be beneficial.
This is a role that will require you to be a competent communicator and able to develop customer relationships at both strategic and operational levels. Stakeholder management experience is key as you will be working closely with councillors, partners, the public, consultants and contractors. You’ll be able to work autonomously and manage your own diary, visiting properties and sites/contractors whilst projects are ongoing.
You will have experience of working as a Building Surveyor, ideally within local government, and must have had experience of dealing with commercial properties such as offices, retail, industrial. You’ll have experience of leading on projects with values up to £1m, surveying and specifying, procuring contractors, managing budgets and reporting on progress throughout the project lifecycle.
You will act as a subject matter expert, providing advice and direction across all levels of the organisation. A thorough understanding of relevant legislation, industry best practice, compliance, building regulations and planning is essential. A driving license is essential due to the travel required across the county.
Benefits
The organisation values its colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have a range of benefits:
- Salary £52,055 to £53,379
- 28 days annual leave + Bank Holidays
- 8.30-4.30pm with Flexible working available
- Flexible Bank Holidays
- A comprehensive wellbeing package
- Cambs Rewards employee discounts
- A comprehensive pension scheme - 8.5% employee contribution, 17.5% employer contribution
- IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network.
- Camweb our staff intranet helping to keep you informed
- An employee recognition scheme
Interviews
Interviews are likely to be held between the 26th and 28th of June. Interviews will ideally be in person at our headquarters in Alconbury Weald though a virtual meeting using Microsoft Teams may also be possible. If you are shortlisted, we will agree a suitable interview arrangement with you. We reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applicants.
For more information or for a confidential conversation about this position please contact John Martin at Hays, the retained consultant managing this vacancy, on 01223 464 677 or john.martin@hays.com.
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