Estates Work Supervisor

About the Job

Forestry England is the nation’s largest land manager, expanding and promoting the sustainable management of woodlands and increasing their value to society and the environment. We have around 1,000 staff and 20,000 volunteers looking after more land and more trees than any other organisation. We also work in partnership with others across government and the charitable and private sectors. 

Yorkshire Forest District, with 65 directly employed staff, covers 21,000 hectares. Alongside our traditional timber production the District offers extensive recreational opportunities for people to enjoy across dozens of beautiful woodlands. We protect and enhances valuable habitats for the benefit of wildlife; and deliver economic growth by supporting local businesses and rural employment.

The estate is predominantly woodland of varied character but also includes extensive tracts of open habitats such as moorland and heath. These forests receive around 460,000 visits by the public each year mainly for informal recreation such as walking and cycling. With Dalby Forest hosting the main hub of recreational facilities; visitor centre, toilets, trails, café, cycle hire.

Yorkshire Forest District incorporates a diverse range of built property, including houses and farms, office and operational depot facilities, as well as the off grid services infrastructure.

There are a variety of tenanted activities, such as Go Ape, cafes, cycle hire, minerals, telecommunication masts, residential, agricultural land and sporting lets.

The diversity and location of the property portfolio, both freehold and leasehold, mainly in the designated landscapes of the North York Moors National Park brings a high level of complexity, stakeholder engagement and interest to the work undertaken.

The Estates team in Yorkshire Forest District comprises of a Senior Surveyor, Estates Surveyor, Building Surveyor, Estates Works Supervisor and Administrative Officer.

The Estates Work Supervisor will work alongside the building surveyor, Estates Staff and wider staff groups to deliver professional management of buildings, utilities and general estate services by the most efficient means across the district.

Job Description

Key Work Areas

The Estates Work Supervisor will:

1. Plan, specify and supervise a range of contracts to maintain, repair and improve the built estate and ensure statutory compliance and efficiencies.
2. Implement and monitor programmes of work to a high standard ensuring compliance with legislation and Forestry England processes, policy and guidance. This will mean the EWS will promote adherence to relevant policies, procedures, regulations and legislation, including equality and diversity and health and safety, ensuring that recognised control procedures and practices are maintained. To do this the EWS must be able to confidently handle challenging conversations and be competent at organising stakeholders (e.g. colleagues, tenants) and coordinating work.
3. Support and guide staff involved in the management and maintenance of all Forestry England property and built assets. This will include carrying out building inspection reports (BIR) and assisting the wider Estates Department to review BIR produced by building managers across the District.
4. With reference to the wider Estates Department, liaise with tenants to implement and review works carried out on let properties.
5. Plan and monitor the progress and quality of routine contract work and assist the wider Estates Department to do the same on more complex projects. This will be achieved by visiting active contract sites for pre-start meetings and making subsequent visits at a frequency appropriate to the contract.
6. Robustly respond to any breaches of contract conditions. including health and safety. Experience of producing and complying with risk assessments and method statements will be essential, an understanding of the current Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 requirements would be a benefit.
7. Complete or oversee contractor and staff completion of regular resumption items assigned to the role for the management of the built Estate including compliance related activities such as waste management, asbestos, water hygiene and private water supply, fire risk management electrical and gas safety.

Person Specification

Essential:

• Previous Experience in property and construction contract management and supervising site works.
• Experience in producing and reviewing Risk Assessments and Method Statements.
• Demonstrable experience in clearly and concisely communicating, both verbally and in writing.
• Experience and competency in IT packages including Microsoft Office Applications.
• Full UK Driving Licence.

Desirable:

• A Higher National Qualification in construction, construction management, building services or similar.
• Experience of buildings or facilities management.
• Experience of producing basis specifications and coordinating programmes of work.
• Experience of undertaking and/or overseeing statutory compliance tasks.
• An Understanding of CDM 2015 regulations.
• Experience in GIS or similar software.

Full job details and how to apply.