MoJ Property Directorate Role Profile

Overview 

Property Directorate is a customer service organisation that exists to enable our customers to perform to their best. We do this by providing working environments in which our customers want to work, and which support them in delivering their outputs efficiently, and by providing high quality, easy to use services. We manage one of the most diverse and complex estates in Government, hosted in MoJ, including the estates of the Home Office, Prisons, Probation, MoJ HQ and Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs).

We provide specialist services including facilities management, health & safety, fire safety and security; technical design expertise and sustainability, our cluster partners are supported by account management teams, and we have business management teams supporting the overall Directorate. Our portfolio consists of properties valued at £8.5bn for the MoJ alone.

We work closely with our cluster partners and the Government Property Agency, encouraging healthy collaboration and driving a professional service delivery approach.

We continue to deliver new ways of working across the estates cluster - leading on the scale and pace of activity on this for central government - providing more dynamic and flexible workspace while reducing the cost of the estate.

Team Overview

This is an exciting and challenging role leading an award-winning Technical Standards and Digital team that is vital in the execution of several key MoJ and Government policies that will have a major effect on the Prison sector. This role sits within the Prison Infrastructure and Technical Standards Division and will be a key member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) of this division and will be responsible for the overall leadership and management of the Technical Standards and Digital team which includes the BIM and MMC team.

The role will help shape the direction of the estate for the foreseeable future through the leadership of the teams responsible for Technical Specifications and Design Guides.

The Technical Services & Design Lead is responsible for managing and developing the technical specifications and design guides for both Custodial facilities and a proportion of Home Office facilities. The individual will also play a key role in the transition of the new ISO19650 BIM requirements into current and future programmes and will assist in implementing the MoJ’s MMC strategy alongside the Head of BIM & MMC role. As such, this will be a greatly rewarding and challenging post for a high calibre individual who is well organised, flexible, and able to work to tight deadlines with experience of leading teams to implement fundamental change and improvement. The role will require senior management engagement (including to Ministers), liaising with other government departments to develop a suite of fit for purpose and forward-thinking design guides, and will foster innovation, share lessons learned, and promoting technical standards internally and externally to move the construction industry forwards.

Your input will be integral to drive forward the leading role MoJ has played across Government in terms of Digital, MMC and Platform approaches. This is excellent opportunity to balance your senior management skills with your technical expertise.

Job Description, Duties and Responsibilities - 

We are looking for a talented individual to lead this team and use their knowledge, experience and drive to implement and embed existing strategies, whilst continuing to develop and improve technical specifications and design guides for the future.

Responsibilities will include the following:

Specifications & Design Guides

• Ensuring that design standards, specifications and guides are compliant with legislation, fit for purpose and provide value for money.

• Continue to rationalise specifications and seek avenues to harmonise across the MoJ’s assets and wider Government Departments.

• Develop systems and products that meeting MoJ’s needs, such as Net Zero, reducing reoffending and providing safer, compliant environments.

• Support the project teams in all design matters where specialist advice is needed to overcome challenges or uncertainty.

• Chair the MoJ Standards Governance Board, seeking stakeholders’ agreement to all changes.

• Consider and make decisions on all Value Engineering that relates to technical specifications and consider all non-compliance requests through a derogation process.

• Support both new and existing suppliers understanding of MoJ’s requirements and where applicable oversee the product testing procedure and product acceptance criteria.

Team Management

• Responsible for the overall leadership and management of the Technical Standards and Digital team which includes the BIM and MMC team.

• General management of the technical team, providing clear direction and focus to a busy team, visibly championing the changes which deliver greater efficiencies.

• Continue to improve processes and develop strategies to implement on projects at differing stages.

• Promote & support wellbeing and personal development in a team spread nationally.

• Seek funding and develop the required business cases and justifications for projects or specific work tasks.

Leadership is a critical element of this role, as is the ability to prioritise and manage a workload, analyse complex information, present recommendations and make effective decisions.

Skills and Experience 

You should be able to work with minimum supervision, taking responsibility and accountability for outcomes.

Experience of tackling problems and finding suitable solutions for end customer requirements.

Experience of effectively working through a diverse range of stakeholders, to achieve successful outcomes.

You should have experience of delivering projects to a standard control framework process.

Essential 

General skills & experience:

• Leading a varied and senior team of professionals to deliver ambitious targets

• Setting strategy to a 5-year horizon

• Complex stakeholder management

• Leading role in complex and high value project/framework procurement processes

• Risk management and opportunity and benefits realisation

Skills:

• A strong communicator and able to present confidently to a wide range of audiences

• A strong delivery and commercial focus with understanding of potential cost reduction strategies and leveraging purchasing power to drive savings and benefits

• IT literate

Highly Desirable 

• Knowledge of the wider (global) offsite market

• Knowledge of RIBA stages and experience of construction projects  

• Financial management experience

• Contract management experience such as PPC 2000, NEC3 forms of contracts and contract remedies.

• Understating of Project Management techniques and processes

• Awareness of Government Property Profession

Qualifications

• Undergraduate Degree or equivalent in a related subject (e.g. project management, quantity surveying, design/architectural, building surveyor, engineering, construction or relevant subject matter).

• Accreditation with an engineering or design/architectural institution

Government Property Profession (GPP) Technical Skills

The GPP Framework is aimed at staff working in property or property-related roles and consider property to be their career anchor profession. This usually encompasses posts where professional qualifications and experience are directly relevant to the work being undertaken. However, it is also applicable to those who are currently not qualified property practitioners but wish to make this their profession of choice. Those with a property background at any level are encouraged to register with the GPP, which exists to support property practitioners at all levels. Details of the GPP Career Framework can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-government-property-profession-career-framework--2

Property Professional Expertise A

Analytical Decision Making W

Technology and Innovation A

Behaviours

We will assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership

• Changing and Improving

• Flexible working hours

The Property Directorate offers a flexible working system in many teams.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. We are happy to accommodate any reasonable adjustments you may require during the selection process. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

The Directorate is supportive of and encourages flexible working. Non-civil service candidates would typically start on the pay band minimum.