Job description

Summary

Historic England are excited to be seeking a Listing and Casework Assistant Apprentice. This is exciting opportunity for the successful candidate to achieve a Level 4 Historic Environment Advice Assistant Apprenticeship, working within our East of England Regions team, with an office base in Cambridge.

With a Historic Environment Advice Assistant apprenticeship, you will learn “on the job” in the role of a Listing and Casework Assistant and undertake a formal training programme to enhance your knowledge and understanding of how we assign significance in a national context and manage change to the historic environment and how it connects communities.

This role includes co-ordinating and administering listing and development advice casework; researching and assessing historic places focussing on Parks, Gardens and other designed Landscapes but including buildings and archaeological remains; logging and processing casework and assessing sites for statutory designation. You will also at times act as a first point of contact for enquiries from the public, owners and other stakeholders.

As a Listing and Casework Assistant you will be based in the Listing Team and primarily be developing your role in this team; however, over the course of your apprenticeship you will spend dedicated times with all the teams in Region: learning about Development Advice, Partnerships, Heritage at Risk and Business Management. You would also have the opportunity to be involved in major initiatives in places identified as regional priorities and where great heritage work is most needed This will include projects in the Listing Work Plan some of which will be concluding in REPLACEMENT_STRING4

The Level 4 Historic Environment Advice Assistant Apprenticeship is offered as a 27 month Fixed Term Contract, and will be based in the Cambridge office.

What you will be doing

You will be working towards completion of the Level 4 Historic Environment Advice Assistant Apprenticeship over the course of 27 months. 80% of your time will be spent in the workplace, and 20% of your time will be spent “off the job”, completing a training programme specially designed for your apprenticeship, delivered with our training partners Strode College. Some of this training will be delivered by residential block release, meaning you will spend up to one week at a time on campus at the college, as well as online learning.

At work (80% of your time) the main duties for your role are listed below. This is an outline description; it is not a complete list and may change from time to time according to the needs of the organisation. As this is a training position, so you will not be expected to be able to do all of these things straight away. You will learn from experienced colleagues who provide advice to all kinds of people on the Historic Environment.

1. Acting as the initial point of contact for customer enquiries concerning listing; ensuring high standards of customer service at all times.

2. Reviewing information provided in an application and carrying out an initial assessment to determine whether the building or site merits further investigation; and if so, carrying out research to contribute to a full assessment

3. Contributing, under the guidance Listing Advisers, to a final written advice report outlining whether to recommend a designed landscape, building or site to be added to the National Heritage List for England (NHLE)

4. Managing Listing casework using our in-house computer system, including

a. Briefing Listing Advisers on “hot” or significant cases, identifying risks and ensuring outside interests and perceptions are taken into account

b. Co-ordinating initial and full assessments of applications by Listing Advisers to deadlines, in line with nationally agreed principles of selection and procedures

c. Providing notification of decisions and new listings to applicants and other stakeholders and updating the NHLE.

5. Working with Information Specialists on data collection, mapping and data standards issues.

6. Adding photographs from the Archive or other reasonable sources to add to the Missing Pieces Project for designated assets on the National Heritage List for England assets.

7. Contributing to estimating costs for Enhanced Advisory Service (EAS) cases and monitoring contract progress.

8. Undertaking project work and day-to-day administrative project tasks for the strategic listing programme, as determined with the Listing Team Leader.

9. Working with the Development Advice teams to log and process planning casework, including assisting the Landscape Architect and Inspectors of Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments in providing advice to local authorities.

10. Working with the Partnerships and Business Teams to process grants casework.

11. Writing case studies and celebratory work to promote our work in the Suffolk Unforgettable Gardens Story project.

What will you learn

Over 2 years you will undertake a taught programme of training (20% of your time) delivered by Strode College tutors, in partnership with experts from across Historic England. This will give you helpful background heritage knowledge and valuable skills that you will be able to use and apply at work and will help you understand the bigger picture of Historic England’s work. The programme is taught through a mixture of lectures, workshops, site visits, e-learning, assignments and projects and covers things such as:

• How the heritage sector works: The people, organisations, policy and legislation that make up this fascinating area of work.

• The fundamentals of archaeological, landscape and architectural history.

• The skills required to identify different types of heritage sites and objects and to assess their condition.

• The knowledge and skills required to analyse, date, monitor and conserve a range of historic places.

• The value of heritage to the local economy, to the communities living nearby and to people who visit the heritage sites we help to protect, enhance and reveal.

• The professional language and terminology that will support your communication in the workplace, in particular when making recommendations concerning the historic environment.

You will be supervised by a line manager and supported by a variety of staff including your wider team, a personal mentor and our dedicated Early Careers team. You will also have regular contact with other apprentices to share your experiences with each other through your apprenticeship at Historic England.

What we are looking for

• You are well-organised with excellent attention to detail.

• A great team worker with the ability to get along easily with others.

• Experience of using Microsoft Office in particular Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

• You can demonstrate good communication skills, both written and verbal.

• You are curious and have a desire to continuously learn.

Please ensure you highlight your experience, skills and capabilities based on the above criteria in your online application.

Please note: This role will require regular travel and planned overnight stays across England (up to 6 nights at a time) to complete your training programme. Travel will also be required to visit historic sites, and occasionally to visit other Historic England offices. All travel and subsistence costs for work and training purposes will be paid for by Historic England.

Why work for Historic England

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 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.

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.

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

Closing date for applications: 25th June 2023 at 11.59pm

Interviews will take place on: 3rd July – 28th July

There may be a second stage interview for successful candidates.

If you have any queries regarding this apprenticeship please contact [email protected].

Job Types: Fixed term contract, Apprenticeship
Contract length: 27 months

Salary: £18,350.00 per year

Benefits:

• Company events
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee discount
• Enhanced maternity leave
• Enhanced paternity leave
• Flexitime
• Health & wellbeing programme
• Sabbatical
• Work from home

Schedule:

• Flexitime

Work Location: In person