Graduate Design & Conservation Officer

Swindon Borough Council; Swindon; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 34,000; Full time

Job summary

Swindon Borough Council is recruiting a Graduate Design & Conservation Officer to join the Design & Conservation team. You will provide specialist advice on planning and listed building consent, contributing to town centre regeneration and heritage-led projects across the Borough.

The role focuses on conservation area appraisals and the Local List, with close collaboration with stakeholders, public consultations and site visits.

Job description

Graduate Design & Conservation Officer

Ref: 192038

Salary: £31,015 p.a. plus benefits

37 hours per week

Swindon Borough Council are on an exciting journey to transform service delivery. We want our town to be the best it can be. Our ambitious vision in the new Swindon Plan is supported by realistic transformation programmes, with the people of Swindon at their heart. Because that’s who we’re doing it for – the communities and businesses that make our town great. As part of the Council, you’ll support a friendly local authority making decisions with real impact. It’s all for better public services. Better processes. And a better quality of life, for everyone. Join us, and Swindon will be better with you.

The conservation of Swindon’s historic built environment is a key part of the council’s growth strategy. The Borough features a number of exciting heritage-led projects which need careful guidance and expertise to ensure their legacies. Swindon has a large number of historic industrial and commercial buildings but also a collection of picturesque medieval villages, offering a wide range of conservation challenges. Most recently we have engaged with listed building projects from Sir Norman Foster’s Spectrum Building to Great Western Railway’s Health Hydro, with more on the horizon. Projects are often undertaken in close collaboration with Historic England, elected members and local stakeholder groups.

In this graduate role you will gain experience as part of the council’s Design & Conservation team to provide specialist advice on planning and listed building consent applications involving heritage and will contribute to projects including town centre regeneration and relevant policy creation; promoting high quality built and historic environments in Swindon.

More specifically, this role is focused on the heritage-led project delivery of conservation area appraisals and a Local List, cataloguing non-designated heritage assets across the Borough. Projects will involve close collaboration with stakeholders, public consultations and site visits to assess and adopt appraisal and local list documents.

Your next role

You will support the Senior Design & Conservation Officer to respond to consultation requests and deliver on longer term projects within the team. The role is aimed at early career professionals at graduate level who are looking to gain experience in public-sector heritage conservation and the planning system. In addition to firsthand training on the job, you will receive support for continued professional development through online and in-person training.

You must be fluent in the English language (as a requirement of Part 7 of the Immigration Act “for the effective performance of a customer-facing role”).

The ability to travel throughout the Borough will be required and access to a car.

As an employee, you will receive a diverse and exciting environment in which to work, encouraging creativity and innovation whilst recognising the need to support ongoing personal development and a flexible work life balance.

For Swindon to thrive in the future, we need to lay the foundations now. It’s why our regeneration and transformation programmes are already underway. So, you’ll be joining us at an exciting time on our journey. We’ll look to you to share your knowledge, influence decisions and drive real, positive change. With your contributions, we’ll achieve our vision of a prosperous, re-vitalised Swindon together. And you’ll be proud to say it was made better with you.

Potential applicants are sometimes put off if they don’t meet 100% of the requirements. We think individual experience, skills and passion make all the difference, so if you meet the majority of the criteria, we’d love to hear from you.

Your next steps

As an inclusive employer, we welcome applications from a diverse range of communities, and in particular disabled people and people from ethnic minorities.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early so early applications are encouraged.

Closing date: 8 November 2026

Interview date: 19 November 2026