MEND Architect/Surveyor

• Historic England
• Employment type: Full Time – 6 months Fixed-Term Contract
• Location: Hybrid · York · Birmingham · Newcastle · Manchester
• Salary: £36,603 - £38,800 pro-rata, plus generous benefits
• Closing: 11:59pm, 15th April 2024

Job Description

Summary

We are the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them.

Historic England have a fantastic opportunity for you to join us as our MEND Architect/Surveyor as part of our Regions Group. In this role you will use both your expert technical knowledge and their excellent interpersonal skills to advise on and develop sustainable proposals for repair and adaptive re-use of traditional buildings.

The post will principally be concerned with providing technical and professional support on behalf of Historic England to the Museum Estate and Development Fund, which is administered on behalf of DCMS by the Arts Council England (details of which can be found at https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/museum-estate-and-development-fund-mend).

Alongside this chief role, you will also have the opportunity to work with Historic England’s Partnerships Teams.  Partnerships teams are one of several specialist teams located in Historic England’s regional offices.  They are principally responsible for the delivery of HE’s discretionary services (as opposed to its statutory duties) for and with local partners in places.  Partnerships teams’ chief duty is to advocate for the care and conservation, and, where appropriate, creative reuse of the historic environment so that the key contribution it makes in improving quality of life can be realised.

As a key member of the regional Partnerships teams, architects and surveyors use their expert technical skills to advise partners and help them to develop proposals for repair and alteration of heritage assets and give guidance on areas of change in historic townscapes and landscapes in which those assets sit. You have a unique opportunity to impact directly on the conservation of our national heritage and to improve people’s lives by doing so.

This is an opportunity to impact directly on the conservation of our national heritage by working with owners and communities to find sustainable solutions for traditional buildings and historic areas, as well as to exchange skills and knowledge with our team of heritage professionals with expertise in historic building conservation.

What you will be doing

To advise partners on working collaboratively with local communities to ascertain their requirements and develop a brief from which to grow a design for the re-use of traditional buildings and enable their retention.

To act as intelligent client for the owners and users of historic buildings and places, in relation to the provision of feasibility studies, options appraisals, specialist advice, cost estimates and contractual arrangements.

To work proactively with owners, local authorities, funding bodies and building preservation trusts to promote a sustainable and viable future for traditional buildings, and help to encourage and facilitate applications for grant-aid, liaising with professional advisers as required.

To undertake the assessment and professional management of applications for grant-aided projects to repair existing buildings, including examining and assessing specifications and drawings, and recommending appropriate action.

To monitor grant-aided or commissioned work to confirm that it meets the necessary standard, recommend grant payments, and to undertake post-grant monitoring.

To be an effective advocate of the benefits for local places of ‘Constructive Conservation’ and ‘Building in Context’, and to champion the work of Historic England.

To undertake any other reasonable duties commensurate with the grade and competencies required of the post requested by line management.

Please note that the role:

• will require regular travel to sites which may not be serviced by public transport across England but principally based in the midlands and north.
• may require visiting/inspecting sites where climbing scaffolding and negotiating confined spaces will be necessary.
• may require attendance at community meetings, which are often held at evenings or weekends.

Who we are looking for

• Extensive wide-ranging experience of the repair, alteration and adaption of traditional and historic buildings, and of design in a historic context.
• Experience of specifying works to upgrade traditional buildings to meet current regulations and standards.
• Experience in project management.
• Ability to coordinate and prioritise own workload and to work to tight deadlines.
• Ability to adapt communication styles to a variety of circumstances.

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive pension scheme starting at 26% contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England want all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process. Please tell us what we can do to make sure you can show us your very best self. You can contact us by email at recruitmentTeam@Historicengland.org.uk if you have any recruitment queries. 

To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.

Interview dates: week commencing 21/04/2024

Please follow the link for a full copy of the Job Description –

https://historicengland.org.uk/media/n0rby4dq/mend-architect-surveyor.odt