Forestry England Property
Building Surveyors
Meet The Team
The national estates function is headed by Carol Hawkey, Director of Estates, supported by Graham Waddell as Head of Sustainability, Penny Simpson, Head of Estates and Edward Johnson, Lead Building Surveyor.
We are a team of Rural, Land and Building surveyors with a wide mix of experience and backgrounds. Many of us started out our careers in property and land in private practice environments, large corporate city based consultancies and the lure of working in nature, being involved in the protection and commercial success of our nations forests and woodlands were the motivation for us to join the Forestry England Estates Team.
Being able to work autonomously and deliver really exciting professional work in rural environments is so unique and a real driver for our team. While we are strong independently we join our resource nationally to support one another and create confidence in decision making and encourage innovation.
Penny Simpson, Head of Estates
I have been with Forestry England for 15 years. Post Graduation I joined a practice for 4 years and following a number of consultancy interviews felt a move client side would suit me better as I am more of a doer rather than a salesy person and just wanted to get the work done! I was really interested in the variety of the role and it has not disappointed.
Alongside the enormous variety, a huge part of what I love about the role is the people. They are a great group of people that are genuinely interested in building the estate, for wildlife, generating income and ensuring that we are fundamentally sustainable.
Watching my team develop and progress has been my greatest success in my career here at Forestry England. Being able to mentor my team through their APC and watch them go on and flourish in confidence and ability will always be my favourite part of the role.
Ed Johnson, National Building Surveying Lead
I originally graduated in Architectural Engineering, and quickly decided to retrain and get a post grad in Building surveying. I then went down the traditional route of joining a practice to complete my APC and really enjoyed the core technical elements of the Building Surveying role. I was looking to relocate and saw a Building Surveying role advertised at Forestry England in a more rural location. I love mountain biking, hiking and nature, so when the opportunity came up it just felt like it could be a great fit.
There is a lot to like about the role, the diversity of what we do, the diversity of the estate portfolio coupled with the environment is really unmatched. No two days are the same and there are often some really complex challenges to get stuck into and some hugely innovative projects to lead on.
I have had many highlights in the role, some really meaty projects to take ownership of that you would not be able to find elsewhere, championing sustainable building methodologies, as well as more strategic work around developing the processes we work to. I have now been promoted within the team to now lead the National Building Surveying function.
Supporting Documents
National Estates TeamLatest jobs
| Title | Location | Salary | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building Surveyor (Assets & Compliance) - Work from Home | Bristol & Southwest England | Flexible Daily Rate | Temporary |
| Building Surveyor (Part-Time) - Gloucestershire | Gloucester - Hybrid Working | £23,418 (pro-rata) | Permanent |
