Senior Building Surveyor

Buckinghamshire Council; England; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking a Senior Building Surveyor to join their Corporate Property & Assets Department. This role involves managing diverse property projects, providing technical support, and ensuring compliance with legal and safety standards. Ideal candidates will have a professional qualification in Building Surveying and experience in project management within a public sector context.

Benefits

Competitive employer pension contribution

Generous annual leave allowance

Discounts on services and restaurants

Qualifications

• Experience in managing construction works schemes up to £1M.
• Ability to diagnose issues found quickly and under pressure.
• Strong communication skills with clients and stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Manage planned maintenance and reactive maintenance requests.
• Oversee contractor management and ensure quality standards.
• Maintain accurate records of inspections and completed works.

Skills

Project Management

Technical Advice

Problem Solving

Education

Professional Qualification in Building Surveying

Job description

Are you looking for a new challenge where your skills and expertise can be truly valued? If so, this could be the role for you. We are looking for a Senior Building Surveyor to join our Planned and Reactive Maintenance Teams within the busy Corporate Property & Assets Department.

This is an extremely exciting time to join our expanding and forward-thinking Property team who are essential to the delivery of the Council’s Estate Strategy, Children's Homes Programme, Property Improvement Board and the implementation of a Corporate Landlord. No two days are the same, as you will be part of a team that manages and maintains a large, diverse and ever-changing property portfolio ranging from corporate offices, leisure centres, theatres, car parks, farms, schools and other assets across a ~1,000 individual estate.

About us

The Corporate Property & Assets Department, within the Council’s Communities Directorate, are responsible for maintaining the Corporate and Schools Estate. Our workload is dictated by the Council’s Capital budgeting, necessitating close interaction between Planned and Reactive Maintenance due to the nature of Property Maintenance.

Our service is committed to delivering the Council’s annual planned maintenance programme and several one-off minor works commissions. We pride ourselves on delivering high-quality property services that meet the needs of our clients and stakeholders. We value collaboration, innovation, and excellence in everything we do.

Why Join Us?

You will join a supportive team and gain fantastic exposure within the Public Sector environment. We support professional development and there are lots of opportunities to be part of high-end projects and to develop in your career with us.

Additionally, you will enjoy a range of benefits, including a very competitive employer pension contribution, a great work life balance, generous annual leave allowance, and discounts on a variety of services and restaurants.

About the role

We have opportunities available within our Planned Maintenance & Projects Team and our Reactive Maintenance & Contracts Team.

Planned Maintenance & Projects

As part of the Planned Maintenance & Projects team within Property Services, the purpose of the post is to be responsible for project managing construction works schemes (up to a value of approx. £1M each) running simultaneously from either the Authority’s capital programmes or ‘one-off’ commissions from frontline services. The role involves developing strong relationships with building occupiers, undertaking occasional building condition surveys for Authority properties, maintaining property records on property database and assisting when required in emergency situations or dealing with numerous reactive maintenance requests at any one time.

Reactive Maintenance & Contracts

As part of the Reactive Maintenance and Service Contract team within Property Services, the purpose of the post is to provide technical advice and support to the Planned Maintenance and the Reactive Maintenance and Service Contract team and all our clients. The objective is to ensure that all works meet legal, health, safety, and quality standards.

Responsibilities include reviewing and approving contractor quotations for repairs and maintenance work, overseeing the management of contractors and ensuring all works are completed to a high standard and within budget. Effective communication with clients regarding the progress of repairs and maintenance is essential, as is maintaining accurate records of inspections, completed works, and any arising issues.

The role involves managing numerous reactive, day-to-day maintenance requests (up to a value of approx. £100k each), assisting in the delivery of the PPM programme (up to a value of approx. £1.1m) ensuring that the Council always meets its Statutory obligations. Additionally, maintaining property records on property databases (PPM), assisting when required in emergency situations, developing strong relationships with building occupiers and undertaking occasional building condition surveys of the Authorities properties.

A ‘mobile’ role gives you the flexibility to schedule your own diary, so you can meet with colleagues and clients in a variety of locations. You’ll access digital folders and resources on your laptop and be able to use the network wherever you are based. Working from home will be common, as well as meeting your team in the office where necessary.

The roles are challenging but professionally very rewarding. The Council is looking for applicants who possess all the technical abilities required of a professionally qualified Building Surveyor and are also sufficiently experienced with the ability to problem solve for themselves whilst still working within a team, diagnosing issues found on site with both intelligent and workable resolutions. Because of the wide variety of building types to be found with the Council’s built estate this should be attractive and rewarding to applicants wanting constantly different professional challenges on a daily basis.

Key Accountabilities:

• To be part of the delivery of the Council’s programmes of planned maintenance works.
• To be able to personally design and oversee individual works packages through to completion.
• To be able to diagnose issues found quickly and under pressure.
• To be able to provide intelligent workable solutions to issues that they’ve been requested to investigate.
• To be an integral and reliable member of the Property Services team.

About you

We’re looking for applicants who possess all the necessary professional skills and attributes that are required to deliver the accountabilities listed here and in the job summary. Naturally, we are looking for you to have the necessary qualifications for a Senior Building Surveyor and possess sufficient experience in solving issues under pressure and uphold the Council’s ‘PACT Values’ – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

Other information

Please see the attached job summary for further information on this role and person specification.

Number of positions available: 1

Interview-type: In person in Aylesbury

If you would like to have an informal conversation with the recruiting/department managers, please contact: Matt Hayward 01296 387058 and George Thompson 01296 382595.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Our Communities directorate works across the county to deliver a number of the key customer-facing services that our residents, businesses and visitors rely on every day.

This directorate includes a wide range of services, including:

• collecting and disposing of waste and recycling
• maintaining our roads and Rights of Way network and parking
• ensuring the delivery of school transport, and supporting sustainable travel including public bus services and School Crossing Patrollers
• managing Country Parks
• leisure facilities, museums, theatres and libraries, as well as developing our Cultural Strategy
• licensing, cemeteries and crematoria

The customer is central to how we develop and deliver all of these services, which help promote our rich and vibrant culture and special environment.

We are looking for enthusiastic, ambitious and committed individuals to join our team and help us to continue to make Buckinghamshire a great place to live, work and visit. This is an exciting time for us as we bring together the services previously run by five separate councils before Buckinghamshire Council was created. Whilst making major changes to contracts affecting residents across Bucks, we continue to focus on delivering great customer service. You will join us on our journey of continuous improvement - whether that’s through developing strategies and ways of working or delivering services on the ground, every person in Communities is a valued member of the team.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.