Pre Construction Manager

Target Staff Ltd; Trafford; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

£75,000 salary

33 days' holiday (including bank)

Pension scheme

Medicash scheme

Job summary

Target Staff Ltd is seeking a seasoned Pre-Construction Manager to lead planning for fit-out and refurbishment projects across healthcare, education and commercial environments in the Northwest. You will translate surveys into delivery strategies, develop programmes and logistics plans, and align scope, cost and schedule with estimating, design and operations.

You will manage tender content, coordinate site surveys, risk registers and phasing for occupied buildings, and drive a clear handover

Qualifications

• Essential: proven ability to independently prepare detailed programmes and logistics plans.
• Experience developing competitive tenders and client-led schemes is required.
• Strong risk, buildability and resource-planning judgement needed.

Responsibilities

• Review tender information and develop construction methodologies, programmes, logistics proposals and content for submissions.
• Coordinate surveys, options, design inputs and cost development through decision points.
• Produce and maintain programmes covering design, approvals, procurement, mobilisation, construction and handover.

Skills

Construction delivery

Programme planning

Tendering experience

Client communication

Coordination

Risk management

Education

Construction qualification

Equivalent experience

Tools

MS Project

Planning software

Job description

Role Overview

Our client delivers fit-out and refurbishment projects across healthcare, mental healthcare, education and commercial office environments, frequently within occupied buildings. Projects typically range from £5,000 to £2.5 million, with varying procurement routes and contractor design responsibilities.

As Pre-Construction Manager, you will lead the operational planning input into competitive tenders and develop direct-award schemes collaboratively with clients. You will translate project requirements, surveys and design information into practical delivery strategies, detailed programmes and logistics plans.

Working with estimating, commercial, design and operational colleagues, you will align scope, cost, programme and delivery assumptions. Your principal output will be a clear, coordinated and executable project plan, reviewed with the delivery team before handover, with outstanding matters explicitly recorded and allocated.

In this role, you will support the following objectives:

1. 1. Deliver a better construction journey
2. 2. Create positive experiences and outcomes
3. 3. Continuously improve ways of working
4. 4. Work collaboratively across the team

Key Responsibilities

• Competitive tenders: Review tender information and develop construction methodologies, programmes, logistics proposals and operational content for quality submissions and tender interviews.
• Direct-award schemes: Work with clients to establish briefs, scope boundaries, priorities and constraints; coordinate surveys, options, design inputs and cost development through agreed decision points.
• Site surveys: Attend and coordinate site visits, recording existing conditions, access, occupancy, services interfaces and information gaps; arrange specialist investigations where required.
• Detailed programmes: Produce and maintain programmes covering design, approvals, procurement, mobilisation, construction, commissioning and handover, with dependencies, critical activities, milestones and realistic durations.
• Logistics plans: Prepare clear drawings and supporting plans covering access, deliveries, storage, welfare, waste, segregation, emergency routes and phased site arrangements.
• Occupied buildings: Develop phasing and continuity proposals addressing decanting, shutdowns, noise, dust, safeguarding and infection prevention, with client and specialist input where needed.
• Risk and opportunity: Maintain project-specific registers, assess cost and programme implications, allocate actions and incorporate agreed mitigation and opportunities into the delivery plan.
• Buildability: Challenge sequencing and design proposals with operational teams and specialists; identify temporary works requirements and coordinate appropriate specialist input.
• Cost alignment: Provide estimating and commercial teams with resource, duration, preliminaries and logistics assumptions; reconcile these with the programme and proposed methodology.
• Procurement and readiness: Identify long-lead items, subcontractor requirements, information release dates, approvals and client decisions needed to support the planned start and completion.
• Client relationships and engagement: Strengthen relationships with existing clients and build new relationships through proactive engagement, reliable advice and collaborative scheme development. Understand clients' operational needs and future project plans, identify opportunities for repeat and new business, and coordinate follow-up with the client's leadership team. Lead pre-construction discussions, explain delivery options and implications, and maintain clear records of agreed scope, decisions and commitments.
• Operational handover: Present an agreed package covering scope, programme, logistics, methodology, resources, procurement, risks, commitments and outstanding actions; obtain delivery-team review and record acceptance or required changes.
• Mobilisation and improvement: Support early mobilisation, resolve pre-construction queries and incorporate delivery feedback into future planning standards and processes.

Key Skills & Knowledge

Essential: substantial construction delivery experience, particularly refurbishment or fit-out; ability to independently prepare detailed programmes and logistics plans; experience developing competitive tenders and client-led schemes; strong risk, buildability and resource-planning judgement; confident client communication; and effective multidisciplinary coordination.

Working knowledge of JCT/NEC arrangements, contractor design responsibilities and construction safety requirements. Ability to recognise regulatory and sector constraints affecting delivery and coordinate technical advice from the responsible designers and specialists.

Relevant construction qualification or equivalent demonstrable experience. Proficiency in construction planning software and Microsoft Office, with MS Project essential, and the ability to produce clear graphical logistics information. Eligibility to work in the UK and ability to travel across the Northwest.

Desirable: healthcare, education and occupied-office experience; direct-award/framework experience; and CIOB or equivalent professional membership.

Personal Attributes

An organised, practical and commercially aware team player who values respect, trust and collaboration. Comfortable challenging unrealistic assumptions, communicating uncertainty and following actions through to resolution. Calm under pressure, attentive to detail and committed to giving delivery teams plans they can confidently execute.

Benefits

• £75,000 salary
• 33 days' holiday (including bank holidays)
• Pension scheme
• Medicash scheme