Lead Officer - Estate Services Kingston upon Thames, England
Job description
08/05/2023, 23:55
This special place in South West London between the capital and the country has been a Royal borough longer than anywhere else - it is where the first kings of England were crowned.
Today it is a vibrant and diverse borough, with a long history and strong cultural and community heritage. Kingston's riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of our district town centres (Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington) have something unique to offer.
Situated in Zone 6, Kingston is among the best-connected town centres in London – with direct train links from Kingston and Surbiton stations to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and Tramlink.
Kingston’s people are innovative and entrepreneurial, and have a strong sense of community pride. The borough has been home to great industry and creativity for many years, reflected in assets such as the Rose Theatre, the International Youth Arts Festival and Kingston University, which boasts more new graduate business start-ups than any other.
We have seen tremendous generosity and compassion within our communities, particularly in response to COVID-19, which is a demonstration of Kingston’s key strength. The council offers a strong level of support to vulnerable groups and those who need additional support, which has also increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. Like most places, the average age of our population is rising as more people are living longer, so we are working closely with residents to help them maintain their independence and further improve the cost effectiveness of our service to meet the ongoing rise in demand.
Kingston is home to people from diverse and interesting cultures and backgrounds, which helps to create the rich sense of community shared across the borough. In particular, Kingston has a large Sri Lankan Tamil community and is home to more people from Korea than any other part of the UK.
As a Lead Officer in the Estate Services team, you will be part of the senior management team for landlord services. This role will have significant people management and budget management responsibilities, circa £2.5m per year in costs and contracts. The postholder will be leading a new design for the inhouse cleaning and caretaking service and a different approach to service charges, this is the primary source of income for estate services.
This is a busy and varied role, with an emphasis on risk management, ensuring communal areas are free from hazards and regular inspections of the quality of work undertaken is maintained. You will be recruiting and working with a new management team, embedding a “can do” attitude and recognising staff for the work they do. You will also need a keen eye for detail and financially astute. In addition to this, you will have the freedom to make a positive difference to local communities in Kingston!
The estate services are a large workforce of cleaners and caretakers employed by Kingston Council directly to look after the council housing estates in the Borough (38 roles in total). This role will be important in the context of delivering improved homes and external space through the regeneration of the Cambridge Road Estate, Norbiton and have a payroll budget of circa £1.3M per year.
We are a hybrid working organisation and for this role, you will need to work at our offices or go out on site at least 2 days a week.
We are a team of multi-talented and experienced housing professionals working together to deliver great services to residents who are most in need of help and support.
This role is about cultural change moving from a command and control model to an enabling and collaborative approach to estate services. The management team is going through a restructure with a mix of existing and new managers finding their feet in new roles.
We have been recognised for our pioneering work on Fly Tipping, we are also part of a digital project in Norbiton and we have set up a Community Hub in Hook!
To be successful in this role, you will need the following:
- Educated to degree level or equivalent
- Holds a professional qualification eg Level 4 CIH or RICS or willing to undertake this professional qualification in the first 2 years of service.
- Desirable to have a management or leadership qualification
- Have a background in estate management
- Be a proven leader in the delivery of high value and high profile communal services
- Have a track record of leading change and empowering staff and residents to work and live successful lives.
- Have a track record of the successful management of contracts, management of a diverse and scattered workforce
- Be an expert in the use of technology in the workplace to offer efficient and effective customer services
- Have in depth knowledge of residential service charges, financially astute
For more in-depth detail about the role and criteria, please refer to the job description attached.
As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.
In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. The COVID-19 pandemic has required us to be even more flexible in how we work and manage staff workloads, ensuring they have the correct equipment and resources to be able to maximise their talents and looking after their wellbeing.
Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:
- Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
- Three volunteering days per year
- Flexible and agile working arrangements
- Comprehensive learning and development programme
- Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
- Interest free season ticket loans
- Local Government Pension Scheme
- Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
- Zip car scheme
- Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
- Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
- Subsidised gym membership
The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
We pride ourselves on being a diverse, tolerant and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.
We are proud to be recognised as a Disability Confident employer, and are committed to thinking differently about disability and taking action to improve how we recruit, retain and develop disabled people. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.
We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.
We are an accredited London Living Wage Employer and this means that everyone working at the Royal Borough of Kingston, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers receive the London Living Wage. The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living.
The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.
