Head of Technical Assurance

The Government Property Agency is changing the way the Civil Service works and is at the forefront of Government’s transformation agenda; reshaping the relationship civil servants have with their place of work. The Agency is central to the delivery of key Government policies including moving 22,000 Civil Service roles out of London by 2030 and tackling climate change by contributing to the Net Zero agenda. To do this we are delivering a major change programme across the UK and consolidating our portfolio in order to save £1.4 Bn over 10 years.

Beyond the bricks and mortar, the GPA is about providing great workplaces for our people. Through programmes like Hubs, Whitehall Campus and Smart Working you will be in the vanguard of creating model working environments and promoting flexible working practices.

This is an ambitious and exciting task, for which we need innovative people, with strong commercial acumen, who are passionate about visualising and implementing customer needs. Launched as an Executive Agency of the Cabinet Office in 2018, we’re a relatively new department and we are growing fast so we also need people who thrive in ambiguity, can adapt quickly to change and are comfortable stepping outside of their remit to drive outcomes.

The GPA is committed to representing the communities we serve by making Diversity, Equality and Inclusion part of everything we do.
To ensure that we are always recruiting and retaining a diverse mix of talent, we are particularly inviting applications from candidates who are disabled, ethnically or gender diverse, and people who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

The Capital Projects team delivers the Government Hubs and Whitehall Campus property programmes that sit within the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP). Supporting these programmes is Innovation & Assurance, who lead innovation in the design of workspace and set guidance and standards for GPA buildings, to assure healthy, sustainable and inclusive buildings for a modern civil service.

The Head of Technical Assurance, is responsible for determining the guidance and standards against which our strategic partners design, construct and fit out our buildings, and where applicable maintain throughout the life of the building. This would also include the Employers Requirements and Requests for Proposals used to procure new buildings /sites whether freehold or leasehold.

In addition, the role is responsible for assuring that the guidance and standards are correctly utilised / applied across the Capital Projects Government Hubs and Whitehall Campus programme. This requires an understanding and articulation of GPA’s risk appetite, proposing mitigation options where available and appropriate.

Note the role will require an ability to travel nationally to all UK sites/facilities.

Key Responsibilities:

Reporting to Deputy Director, Innovation and Assurance, the Head of Technical Assurance will be responsible for:

• Providing leadership for the Technical Assurance team, empowering them to take ownership and accountability, working across Capital Projects, the wider GPA and across Government and industry.
• Ensuring that guidance and standards are developed and maintained to reflect on lessons learnt, industry insight and best practice to support continuous improvement.
• Ensuring compliance with guidance, standards and regulations for building systems: e.g. water and energy efficiency and performance requirements, fire safety information, mechanical ventilation, pressure testing, etc.
• Ensuring technical assurance / due diligence is completed at key project gateways aligned with RIBA stages, for example short-listing, lease approval, practical completion and handover. This would include implementation of the GPAs End to End processes and Government Soft Landings (GSL) across the project lifecycle.
• Ensuring building systems Requests for Proposals (RfP) and Employers Requirements (ER) meet client and programme business needs and performance specifications set out in the Design Guide. Assisting Commercial with down-selection of potential Hubs
• Advising on Construction Design and Management (CDM) for Capital Projects, ensuring appropriate capability across GPA, strategic partners and the wider supply chain. In addition, supporting the GPAs H&S Committee to aid continuous improvement.
• Ensuring BIM is correctly scoped and delivered against for all projects from inception through to handover to FM operations irrespective of procurement route, together with assuring that the GPAs Better Building Information Management (B2IM) programme is effectively applied across Capital Projects.
• Briefing and seeking proposals for ad-hoc technical assurance work from GPA’s consulting partners.

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the communities and wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a sense of belonging in a workplace where everyone feels valued.

We are looking for an experienced technical professional who can demonstrate knowledge, skill and experience in:

Essential Skills in:

• Ability to manage effective relationships with senior management/ stakeholders.
• Effective team engagement and strong leadership.
• Commercial acumen delivering value and continuous improvement.
• Advising on construction projects / programmes.

Essential Experience of:

• A key role working on large property construction and fitout projects, preferably in the public office estate
• Experience within an engineering consultancy or client organisation at a senior level.
• Construction designs, materials, building systems and processes
• Leading multi-disciplinary project teams and building strong relationships across team/business area/ departmental/ boundaries
• Effective governance controls and project management methodologies in a complex business environment.
• Supplier/customer relationship management.
• Developing project-specific employer requirements for building systems.

Desirable Experience

• Background of working in or with the public sector property.
• Experience in an architectural, engineering or construction based role.
• Experience in the development and / or refurbishment of large scale office buildings.

Desirable Criteria:

• Relevant project management qualification (for example APM, MSP).

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

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

• Customer Perspective
• Commercial Acumen
• Property Market Knowledge
• Innovation

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Generous annual leave

Job contact :

• Name : June Wang
• Email : June.Wang@miles-advisory.com

Recruitment team

• Email : gparecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk