Senior Design, Conservation and Sustainability Officer WCC620260
Salary range: £41,580 - £45,399 per annum
Work location: Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, SW1E 6QP
Hours per week: 36
Contract type: Temporary up to 12 months
Closing date: 24 March 2025
Interview date: 3 April 2025
About Us:
Regeneration, Economy and Planning in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where innovative and open-minded people bring everything to the cause. Even expertise from surprising places.
As Senior Design, Conservation and Sustainability Officer, you can make your own powerful impact on Westminster’s iconic urban design and landscape. Working within the heart of London, in an area which includes a high number of historic and landmark buildings, you will provide insightful urban design and heritage conservation advice to your colleagues, members of the public and applicants.
Our multidisciplinary Design, Conservation and Sustainability team face the most interesting yet complex challenges. They must support the ever-changing appearance, needs and community requirements of Westminster, while protecting its historical environment. As such, this is a wonderful opportunity to work with a talented professional team that includes Architects, Urban Designers and a broad array of specialists, helping them find the perfect balance for a vibrant economy and a constantly growing community.
Every day will present you with an interesting array of projects, so this role offers genuine variety with the scope to develop your professional expertise. For example, our Planning Officers might ask you to attend a site visit to assess applications affecting listed buildings, or you might be called on to determine the suitability of advertisement applications. Alternatively, you might monitor the condition of historic buildings and advise building owners on their care and protection, or you might attend appeal hearings to give evidence on whether energy efficiency adaptations are suitable. Whatever you are doing, you will ensure that every project has received the attention it needs, ensuring deadlines are being met.
You can expect to handle a busy caseload, with lots of requests for your expertise, but with plenty of support from the team, you will find an unparalleled opportunity to make a significant impact on the evolution of this world-famous area.
The sheer scope of this role means that it would be well-suited to an organised individual who is keen to develop their knowledge. With a degree (or currently working towards achieving this) in architecture, architectural conservation, urban design or similar, you will be keen to secure a professional qualification.
Coming from a relevant background in which you have dealt with planning and related applications, you will be comfortable negotiating with applicants, and upholding enforcement actions. Furthermore, you will support prosecutions in relation to unauthorised works to listed buildings, the demolition of buildings in Conservation Areas and emergency repair notices, so you will have a good knowledge of the relevant planning law, statutes, circulars, rules and regulations. Specifically, you will have specialist expertise in conservation, care and protection of historic buildings, and you will be well-versed in suitable adaptive measures to traditional buildings which will address climate change and energy efficiency.
As you will contribute to the preparation and production of studies, guidelines and policies, you will have well-developed research and written skills, and you will be IT literate.
From a ‘soft’ skills perspective, you will be a team-player who can confidently manage your own workload, and you will enjoy collaborating with both members of the public and professional partners and colleagues.
What We Offer:
Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.
At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way.
As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.
The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.
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