Position Details
Estates
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £46,735 to £55,755 with potential progression once in post to £62,728
Grade: 8
Full Time, Permanent
Closing date: 10th April 2025
Are you considering a career at the University of Birmingham? Our Recruitment Team is hosting one-to-one conversations to help you understand the application process, provide updates on existing applications, and answer general questions about working at the University. Our next appointments are available on Friday 28th March; click here to book.
Our offer to you
People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.
We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.
We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.
Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University, and we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high-quality subsidised day nurseries.
The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.
Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham.
Background
The University of Birmingham Estates Office is responsible for both the master planning and management of our extensive estate. Our team is made up of over 180 dedicated members of staff, including approximately 15 apprentices across the department; all striving to deliver a world-class university experience for the benefit of all students, staff, academics and visitors.
After our students and staff, our physical estate is the largest single enabler for our world-class teaching and research and provides a fantastic student experience. Our estate is large and varied covering 672 acres, with over 200 buildings of different ages, complexities, physical condition, and use - ranging from grade 1 and 2 listed properties to brand new state of the art learning and research spaces. It consists of two main campus sites (Edgbaston & Selly Oak) along with properties in Stratford upon Avon, Ansty (near Coventry), Coniston (in Cumbria), Ironbridge and Dubai.
We are committed to sustainability and have achieved a 20% reduction in CO2 four years ahead of target and we generate 75% of our own energy via on-site combined heat and power plants. Furthermore, we continue to reduce our carbon footprint by 3,000 tonnes per year on average and maintain more than 9,200 trees.
Role Summary
To manage large or multiple projects across the University that will safely manage the University’s electrical low voltage (LV) and high voltage (HV) systems. You will be responsible for Authorised Person (AP) duties on these systems when required. This role will provide technical support and advise to the Estates project team for the delivery of new-build, alteration and refurbishment projects to meet the University goals for net zero carbon.
Main Duties
* To provide a service that is understanding of the requirements of the University and their customers both internal and external. Liaise and collaborate with professional services departments, colleges, schools, student guild, framework partners and other groups.
* Regularly review and manage technical policies and procedures including any associated standards and processes for compliance, statutory inspections, maintenance, and insurance. Investigation of any proposed changes to policy or legislation shall also be conducted.
* Providing expert professional advice on all electrical infrastructure services works, supporting the Projects section on major projects planning and implementation works, taking a proactive role in directing resource in support of capital projects and other operational teams.
* Continuous review of key electrical infrastructure plant, services and equipment, identifying, planning and implementing work to key points of failure and resilience. Identify and implement continuous improvement to quality and efficiency of services with positive maintenance, life cycle analysis and industry best practices in the short and long term.
* Out of Hours - Participate in the Estates Office’s 24-hour emergency service provision, on a rota basis taking full managerial responsibility for the estate during periods of on-call cover (implementing escalation procedures and liaising with Senior University Staff during emergencies). This will require an element of weekend work.
* Provide support and assistance with compiling and or reviewing relevant Infrastructure information such as, BIM requirements, O&M manuals, H&S documents and specialist support, service plans and compliance.
Project Delivery
Responsible for managing large or multiple projects that may have contributors from multiple areas. This will include:
* Leading on the management of the project, including influencing and developing complex project plans creating and maintaining an overall project management plan for the whole project or projects using project management principles and using appropriate software.
* Identifying objectives and indicators of success.
* Planning, organising and maintaining a regular schedule of project meetings and ensuring sufficient engagement by all relevant parties to the project.
* Establish effective networking relationships with all stakeholders.
* Managing the budget for the project and ensuring the delivery of cost-effective work that demonstrates good value, and work towards zero-based budgets.
* Delivering project outputs agreed with senior management, on time, to budget and to the agreed quality standard.
* Managing the health and safety on projects.
Monitoring, evaluation and communication
* Develop and implement a comprehensive evaluation strategy for the project.
* Establish and implement reporting procedures which meet requirements, and ensure all necessary data is gathered in a timely and efficient manner.
* Analyse data to determine if it is fit for purpose, and take appropriate action to ensure data quality where necessary.
* Develop reporting mechanisms for the project then report on project progress to the project board or equivalent and highlight any risks.
* Maintain a risk register as appropriate, and communicate risks in a timely manner, proactively proposing solutions.
* Engage and communicate with a variety of stakeholders to ensure progress but also to disseminate outputs of the project as appropriate.
General
* Actively manage equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenging unacceptable behaviour.
* Support the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
* Any other duties commensurate with the grade.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
* Relevant degree or relevant equivalent professional qualification, plus significant project management experience (in increasingly large and/or complex projects) or substantial relevant experience evidencing the experience required in this role.
* Proven technical specialist knowledge and understanding of electrical infrastructure services and statutory requirements for a large and diverse portfolio of buildings.
* An understanding of the requirements of the Construction Design and Management (CDM) Regulations.
* Authoritative knowledge of the work practices, processes and procedures relevant to the role, including broader sector/commercial awareness.
* Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly for a variety of audiences, and to produce and analyse source material, information and data.
* Proven ability to meet targets, with minimal supervision to deadlines.
* Substantial experience of engaging, and collaborating, with internal and external stakeholders.
* Proven analytical and problem-solving skills that will help to identify and implement improvements and efficiencies across the project or projects you work on.
* Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence and negotiate effectively with a range of stakeholders.
* Experience of managing large financial budgets along with experience of budget planning and forecasting.
* Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office suite. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
* High level of self-motivation and personal accountability with ability to plan and deliver goals to deadlines under pressure.
* Highly developed knowledge of the principles and current best practice of infrastructure and critical services in public sector organisations, and an understanding and recommendations on future technological and process change and innovation.
* A clear understanding of the Health and Safety issues relating to construction/building services and infrastructure and the ability to discharge the associated responsibilities.
* Substantial experience of developing and managing infrastructure and investment plans for both statutory and non-statutory work streams via technical staff across diverse technical backgrounds.
* Knowledge of legal and operational contract principles and management.
* Well-developed knowledge of infrastructure and critical services activities inter-relate with other activities within a significant and diverse HE, Public Sector or Commercial property portfolio.
* Ability to monitor and evaluate the extent to which equality and diversity legislation, policies, procedures are applied.
* Ability to identify issues with the potential to impact on protected groups and take appropriate action.
* Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area.
It would be desirable if you had the following:
* Membership of a relevant professional body.
* Completed an electrical apprenticeship and/or other relevant experience/qualifications.
* A thorough knowledge of project management, contract administration and the operation of building contracts, backed by substantial experience.
* Thorough knowledge and experience of steam and heating infrastructure with a proven acumen to learn any missing skill set.
* The ability to communicate through the use of drawings.
* Experience of Building Information Modelling (BIM) processes.
* A full and clean driving licence.
Dimensions
Roles at this level provide authoritative professional advice across a range of activities and/or will lead and manage diverse team(s) and resources. You will use your professional skills to resolve problems where the solution is not immediately apparent. Significant evaluation and independent thought is therefore required to resolve ambiguity. You will have wide discretion to decide on direction whilst ensuring activities are broadly consistent with operational policies. You will be able to influence policy through advising on the impact of policy change and implementation in your area of work. You will need to assess the impact of your activities across your area, with related areas and to ensure they fit with the broader objectives of the University.
Planning and Organising
* Provide professional expertise, and manage resources and/or a diverse team;
* Integrate and co-ordinate work across different parts of the department/university;
* Lead and manage staff who are likely to be carrying out diverse duties, and ensure collaborative working to deliver a successful service;
* Project manage activities to facilitate major changes;
* Develop policy within functional guidelines, and contribute to strategic development within own area;
* Be accountable for the quality and professionalism of service delivery, with an appreciation of longer term issues.
Problem Solving and decision making
* Anticipate, interpret and assess customer needs, identifying trends, generating original ideas and testing innovative solutions;
* Deal with significant people management issues such as change programmes;
* Resolve issues which may not have arisen before through use of experience and judgement.
Internal and External relationships
* Has an excellent understanding of their own working area and a broad understanding of the contribution other areas make to the success of the University;
* Has an excellent understanding of how the University operates, together with an understanding of how academia operates in the UK;
* Demonstrates empathy with the academic endeavour and seeks to encourage others to do so;
* Use coaching skills to motivate and develop staff;
* Proactively and sensitively manage the performance of their team and create a motivating environment;
* Influence others (including across the University) to follow a particular course of action;
* Represent the department at internal and external meetings/events/network with colleagues in other institutions to share best practice.
Informal enquiries to Marcus Vaughan, email: m.p.vaughan@bham.ac.uk
View our staff values and behaviours here.
We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy.You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyoneon our website.
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