Strategic Asset & Estates Manager

Job Title: Strategic Asset & Estates Manager
Starting Salary: £61,443 progressing to £68,775 per annum
Hours: 37
Location: Stevenage with hybrid working opportunities. Travel across the county will be required
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Resources

About the team

Part of the Resources Directorate at Hertfordshire County Council, the Property Team support all Service teams with their property requirements, including fire stations, registration offices, libraries, household waste recycling centres, supported living, care homes, day centres, highway depots, corporate offices and vacant properties.

The Strategic Assets and Estates Manager role manage a team of 6, which has a mix of Estates Officers and Asset Officers, and commissions the council’s property managing agents.

Each officer covers a geographical area providing support to the different internal clients for that area, supported by the Senior Assets Officers and Team Leader.

About the role

You will be involved in working on a varied portfolio and will be responsible for the professional and strategic management of property assets to support the delivery of the Council’s Services.

The role will be required to provide professional property advice on land and property matters in line with RICS standards and the County Council’s protocols. Responsibility for landlord and tenant activities (including rent reviews, lease renewals and lease regears), project work, strategic consultancy, professional estates advice to colleagues and other stakeholders, estate, asset and property management. For clarity this is not a facilities management role.

You will be required to provide instruction and manage our external property management consultants (and other external consultants as required). As well as be expected to liaise and work closely alongside colleagues in our Legal Services, Facilities Management, Development and Planning, Finance, and our service teams to ensure the best possible property solution is delivered. You will also oversee the process of gaining approvals within a political arena.

You will manage, support and develop a team of individuals who have responsibility for property transactions and data, maintaining relationships with Service teams to ensure properties are fit for purpose and to look for opportunities to improve asset utilisation.

Although the teams are well established you will use your professional insight to contribute to corporate policies, providing specialist advice and you will also have the opportunity to shape new policies and procedures that reflect best practice, address emerging risks, and capture new opportunities.

Under the current financial environment there is a drive to support the wider County Council budgets through efficient and effective use of property assets. You need to have lateral vision and a strategic approach including looking at opportunities to generate and maximise revenue and capital receipts and to consolidate and rationalise the estate whilst understanding the role of the County Council as a whole.

You will be responsible for the management and forecasting of financial budgets which includes income and expenditure, to ensure delivery of service priorities. These include rent, service charges, business rates, council tax, professional fees and other occupier obligations.

About you

Essential

• A member of a property related professional organisation such as The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors with highly developed knowledge of the principles, theory and practice in Property.
• Extensive experience of estates management/ property, planning, legal matters and political awareness.
• Experience of leading teams with the ability to coach and develop staff.
• Experience of budget management and financial forecasting.
• Strong report writing skills.
• Confident in briefing and presenting to senior leaders and councillors.
• Good time management dealing with multiple projects/tasks
• Proficient ICT and Microsoft Office skills are required.

Desirable

• Understanding of the public sector and the challenges it faces.
• Ability to develop and lead on the delivery of solutions across a range of stakeholders.
• Ability to develop, review and implement annual plans for a specific function taking account of business and service requirements.

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is within the Corporate Services, level CORP14 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Corporate services

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Stuart.Paskins@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: to be confirmed

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Additional information

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Driving required
You’ll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.