Cost Manager – Safer & Greener Buildings

Building a strong Commercial Function in Government, and with it the right commercial capability, is at the heart of a far-reaching programme of Civil Service reform.

We are building a cadre of commercial talent in all Government departments; people who can manage our commercial portfolios, who can lead our most complex and novel programmes and projects, people who have the gravitas and depth of experience to work alongside our policy and operational leaders to develop innovative commercial arrangements, whether through joint ventures, outsourcing or best-in-class contracts.

The Government Commercial Organisation is an employer which is truly committed to creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and are able to perform to their potential. We understand the importance of diversity and inclusion and strive for a workplace that reflects the communities which we serve. We especially welcome applications from underrepresented groups including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates, candidates with a disability and candidates with gender-diverse identities. Appointments will be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

We have already made significant progress through the establishment of the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO), our single employer of senior commercial talent across government. This role will sit within the GCO, but based in our DLUHC commercial team delivering departmental objectives.

Important information: If you are the successful candidate for this position and select London as your location you will need to undergo and obtain  Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) to be able to take up the position due to office access in London.

This is an exciting opportunity to work within a dynamic, customer-focused team leading commercial engagement across a: 

• Wide range of stakeholders, including programme and portfolio team members, Ministers, policy officials, suppliers, and internal teams. 
• Variety of projects including high-profile, complex, strategic data initiatives. 
• Range of commercial MI processes, systems, tools, and datasets.

We have a Cost Manager role on offer, reporting to the Head of Commercial MI & Cost Benchmarking, working to support the Safer and Greener Buildings (SGB) Portfolio and associated delivery programmes. We are seeking an experienced cost management professional to make a significant contribution to the Commercial Function’s role in advising and supporting the work the Department is doing within SGB. This work has three main aspects:

• Remediation: Identify high rise residential buildings that have unsafe constructional aspects and monitor and support their remediation.
• Building Regulatory Review: Implement the changes identified in Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations that are needed to make the building safety system fit for purpose.
• Net Zero: Implement building standards and corresponding measures supporting delivery of the Government’s target of net zero emissions by 2050.

A flavour of the type, scale and stretch of the work that our SGB Commercial Team supports is included here;  

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1066636/April_2022_BSF_Registrations__prospectus.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-dluhc-to-residential-property-developers-on-industry-negotiations

You’ll play an important role in embedding, implementing and continuously improving the quality of cost management information and cost data available across the Remediation portfolio and associated programmes (Building Safety Fund, Cladding Safety Scheme, Developer Responsible Actors Scheme and Social Sector). You would work to produce commercial insights, construction cost benchmarks and tools to support senior leader decision-making and drive value for money across the portfolio. This will help to develop ways of working and shape the future of the Commercial function in DLUHC by applying the cost management and “should cost” methodologies in the Construction Playbook.  Within your area you’ll have a broad construction cost management and cost data remit as well as the freedom to engage with and influence a community of likeminded analysts, cost managers and statisticians in the delivery of strategically important commercial activities across this innovative Department. The team you’ll be part of supports the SGB Portfolio and programmes teams in making well thought through data driven decisions via timely and accessible data analysis, insights and dashboards.

• Be part of the team responsible for providing oversight of all Portfolio commercial MI and associated analytics, performance metrics and construction cost benchmarks which feed into the wider portfolio data ecosystem and senior level decision making
• Lead on the liaison with programme teams to establish data requirements and how construction cost data can be captured from across the programmes and portfolio:
• Manage, clean, extract, collate and aggregate cost data from across different systems  
• Analyse, summarise and present data, insights, conclusions and recommendations in the most appropriate format for users 
• Collaborate with the Analysis and Data Directorate to challenge and improve the accuracy of our cost data, ensuring it is captured and stored in line with our ‘Single Data Ecosystem’ approach
• Monitor, manage and influence other analysts within the team who use cost data
• Lead on the development of PowerApps and PowerBI dashboards to be shared with wider stakeholders
• Validate and verify the work of the other analysts within the team, and work with Analysis and Data Directorate to establish quality assurance processes
• Communicate findings and insights in a clear and engaging way often having to make sense of significant volumes data from multiple sources and of varying quality
• Contribute to specialist / subject matter expert groups, which draw in external expertise to agree and promulgate principles, standards and outputs delivering effective commercial and cost intelligence for the remediation market.

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Manages Complexity – Experience in cost data analytics/insights/reporting and able to draw conclusions and make recommendations based on a range of programme data sources, accounting for differences in data assumptions and standards
• Commercial Focus – Benchmarking experience demonstrating knowledge of construction industry commercial practices incl. liability / risk allocation and inflation arrangements. Able to use knowledge of cost drivers to help maximise value for money
• Builds Relationships – Can foster & manage positive internal & external relationships, challenge without alienating and embed approaches to deliver across organisation boundaries, able to remain resilient and influence in challenging circumstances
• Coaching Manager – Able to influence, coach and monitor others concerning the importance of good quality cost data by promoting an inquiring/objective mind set to help others make improvements and better informed decisions
• Contract and Supply Management – Good commercial MI & cost benchmarking experience that also demonstrates practical knowledge of construction, or similar capital projects. Achieved relevant commercial/cost management/data analysis qualifications

For existing Civil Servants: For full details of the impact on any move across the civil service on your existing terms and conditions, please read the candidate pack. Please note that any move across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to continue to claim childcare vouchers.

Job contact :

• Name : Sean Kelly
• Email : commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk