Land Manager

The Berry Group; East Midlands; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Performance-based incentive

Job summary

The Berry Group, based in Derby with Midlands travel, seeks an ownership-driven land and commercial property professional. You will source, appraise, secure and progress opportunities from first approach to unconditional acquisition, for development or sale with planning profit.

You will run the process end to end and be measured on deals landed, with responsibility for building occupier relationships and guiding the project through planning and delivery.

Qualifications

• Experience is essential and a proven track record in land/commercial site acquisition.
• Strong negotiation and due diligence skills across planning, finance and delivery.
• Extensive network with agents, landowners, occupiers and asset managers.
• Full UK driving licence is required.

Responsibilities

• Source off-market and on-market opportunities through your network.
• Appraise and assess land and commercial sites for value and feasibility.
• Negotiate heads of terms, options, contracts and promotion agreements.
• Drive planning with internal/external consultants to a determination.
• Manage lawyers, surveyors and professionals through due diligence to completion.
• Build occupier relationships to pre-let or pre-sell schemes.
• Maintain a live pipeline with clear reporting to the Director.
• Identify exit strategies for each deal: build, forward fund, or sell with consent.

Skills

Land acquisition experience

Negotiation

Planning knowledge

Networking with agents/landowners

UK driving licence

Job description

Location: Head office, Derby. Site travel across the Midlands and wider UK.

Reports to: Director

Type: Full time, permanent

About us

The Berry Group is a property development and construction business. We develop and hold residential and commercial assets, and we build out our own schemes in-house.

The role

This is an ownership role, not a support role. You will source, appraise, secure and progress land and commercial property opportunities from first approach through to unconditional acquisition, either for us to develop or to sell on with planning at a profit.

You will run the process end to end and be measured on deals landed.

What you will own

• Sourcing off-market and on-market opportunities through your own network of agents, landowners, occupiers and asset managers
• Initial appraisal and residual land value assessment, and presenting a clear recommendation on whether to pursue
• Negotiating heads of terms, options, conditional contracts and promotion agreements
• Driving the planning process, coordinating our in-house architect, external planning consultants and technical consultants to a determination
• Managing solicitors, surveyors and the wider professional team through due diligence to exchange and completion
• Building and maintaining occupier relationships with convenience, coffee, QSR and food store operators to pre-let or pre-sell schemes
• Maintaining a live, prioritised pipeline with realistic timescales and clear reporting to the Director
• Identifying the exit on every deal at the outset: build out, forward fund, or sell with consent
• What you need to bring
• Experience is essential. You will already have done this and have the track record to prove it.
• Demonstrable history of land and commercial site acquisition, with deals you can talk through from introduction to completion
• Direct experience in our markets: commercial to residential conversion, convenience store sites, drive thru units, general commercial, day nurseries and roadside
• Strong working knowledge of the UK planning system, including permitted development rights, Class MA conversions and change of use
• Confident appraising sites and understanding residual land value, build costs, yields and profit on cost
• An established network of agents, promoters, operators and landowners you can activate from day one
• Commercially sharp negotiator, comfortable leading conversations with landowners and national occupiers
• Self-starting and organised, able to run multiple deals at different stages without supervision
• Full UK driving licence

Package

Competitive basic salary plus a performance-based incentive linked to deals delivered.

The right person will have real autonomy and direct access to the decision maker.