GDST - Facilities Manager (Trust Office)

GDST - Facilities Manager (Trust Office)

Facilities Manager (Trust Office) Candidate Information Pack

CONTENTS About the GDST

4

The GDST Estate

6

The Estates Vision and The Estates Programme

8

Facilities Manager (Trust Office)

10

The Role

12

Person Specification

17

Application process

20

About the GDST

The GDST is a charitable trust which owns and operates 25 schools across England and Wales. Our schools are mainly girls only, with the GDST ethos to ‘reach as many girls as possible’ permeating everything we do. Most schools are Junior, Senior and sixth form, with some having nurseries as well; one of the school’s remains a boarding school. The Council of Trustees oversee the strategic direction of the Trust, with an Executive Board who run the day to day operations, based at the Trust Office in Victoria, London. The Heads of the schools report into the Chief Executive, and all have Directors of Finance and Operations (DFO’s) who help to run the 23 schools and 2 academies. The GDST owns most of its property freehold, although there are certain leasehold landholdings, plus other property retained for investment purposes. There is also an outward bound centre in north Wales. Each of the schools and academies are run separately, with central services including Estates, Finance, HR and IT located in Trust Office. This is also where the strategic Education and Innovation strategy is set, along with most of the teacher and staff training, reinforcing the GDST ethos.

The GDST Estate

Our Estate is diverse, both geographically and chronologically, with buildings dating back to the 1800’s up to the present day. A significant number of the older properties are listed or locally listed and sit in Conservation Areas. Many of our properties are converted residential buildings, others are purpose built as schools; some since the 1960’s. All of our current schools are in England and Wales and amount to over 200 buildings, predominantly owned by the GDST, plus also Trust Office in central London. Most of our properties are occupied for educational purposes, although some sites also have residential accommodation for staff, in addition to the one boarding school in Bath. Further investment properties are let out to external occupiers.

A list of the main schools and sites are given below: 1. Blackheath High School, London 2. Brighton and Hove High School 3. Bromley High School, London 4. Croydon High School 5. Howells School, Llandaff, Cardiff 6. Kensington Prep School 7. Newcastle High School for Girls 8. Northampton High School 9. Northwood College, Middlesex

10. Norwich High School for Girls 11. Nottingham Girls High School 12. Notting Hill & Ealing High School 13. Oxford High School 14. Portsmouth High School 15. Putney High School

16. Royal High School, Bath 17. Sheffield High School 18. Shrewsbury High School

19. South Hampstead High School, London 20. Streatham & Clapham High School, London 21. Sutton High School 22. Sydenham High School 23. Wimbledon High School 24. Belvedere Academy, Liverpool 25. Birkenhead High School Academy, Birkenhead

The Estates Vision

Our Estate is the physical representation of the schools and the GDST; with the Estates Strategy a reflection of the Trust’s strategic vision. It is the responsibility of the Estates department to deliver against this context. Although primarily for educational purposes, our schools host numerous events for the school community plus for the wider public benefit within their local communities. We aim to provide an appropriate quality of environments, infrastructure and buildings to support the educational and recreational needs of our schools; working to deliver sustainable and innovative spaces for our students to enjoy, whilst enhancing the GDST’s reputation as a leader in girls education.

The Estates Programme

Our mission is to provide an integrated customer service, providing strategic leadership and well as technical support and advice across the Estate, ensuring consistency of approach and critically ensuring compliance with all statutory requirements across the Estate at all times. The Estates department under the Director of Estates, hold the delegated responsibility from the Trustees to assure, maintain, enhance and develop the estate to ensure it is fit for purpose to provide innovative education and learning facilities as well as the breadth of functions that allow the schools to operate, including external spaces and sports fields. Our primary aim is to keep our Estate safe for our students, staff, visitors as well as members of the public. The Estates department run a continuous programme of maintenance programmes, minor works, refurbishment and new build projects, varying in scale from £100,000 to over £20 million. Each school also has a delegated maintenance budget, directly managed by the school, used to address minor repair and maintenance works. The Estates team act as the central Technical and Trusted Advisors for the schools, supporting them in all Estates related decision making, scoping and delivery.

The role of Facilities Manager (Trust Office)

The GDST is seeking to make the key appointment to the role of Facilities Manager for the Trust Office in Victoria. The GDST’s Trust Office houses the GDST Board as well as central teams that provide network-wide support across the areas of finance, estates, IT, HR and communications. It is also the national hub for Trust-wide meetings, events and training. Having recently relocated to a high-quality new space https://www.maris-interiors. co.uk/work/gdst/ it is an exciting time to take up this role. Key aspects of the role will be to lead a customer-focused operational facilities management provision whilst leading an in-house team that support the delivery of events at the Trust Office. We are seeking an individual with proven industry experience in an FM role at management level in a corporate HQ environment. You will have experience of managing the provision of operational facilities services (such as catering, cleaning, front of house, post etc) together with experience of providing facilities services to support training and events in a corporate setting.

Facilities Manager (Trust Office) – The Girls’ Day School Trust

Location: Accountable to:

10 Bressenden Place, Westminster, London, SW1E 5AE

Head of Estate Management

Grade: G2 Job Purpose / background

The Estates Department acts on behalf of the Trust and deals with all property related matters to ensure that the Trust’s interests and its Estate is developed and maintained to agreed standards. The Estate consists of 23 schools, two academies and the Trust Office based in Victoria. The Facilities Manager will ensure high-quality facilities management and events provision for the Trust Office in Victoria. The GDST’s Trust Office houses the GDST Board as well as central teams that provide network-wide support across the areas of Finance, Estates, IT, HR and Communications. It is also the national hub for Trust-wide meetings, events and training. The post-holder will lead the provision of customer-focused operational facilities management services whilst leading an in-house team that support the delivery of events at the Trust Office. Reporting to the Head of Estate Management the post-holder will be an important member of the Estates team and will demonstrate the behaviours and culture expected of this team which include:

• Leadership – both directive and supportive • Excellent written and oral communications • Team player with positive customer services approach • Strong team leader and people manager • A strong collaborative approach to work and colleagues • Flexible approach to duties undertaken and hours worked.

Accountabilities • The key interface for the facilities management provision with all Trust Office teams and departments based at GDST Trust Office • Management of the Trust Office Facilities Management team • Co-ordinating training courses and internal events management at the Trust Office • Ensure a customer-focused and effective Front of House/ Reception function • Ensure a high-quality cleaning service provision • Ensure an effective post-room function at the Trust Office • Health & Safety management at the Trust Office • Provide effective client focused communication to users • Budget and contract management for the provision of facilities management services • The day-to-day interface on behalf of the GDST as leaseholder with the landlord and the building management function at Bressenden Place. Key Responsibilities • Proactive management of flexible, customer-focused facilities management services for the Trust Office • Training and management of the Front of House/ Reception staff, ensuring a high-quality provision of service • Responsible for the management of the cleaning services for the Trust Office • Management of catering provision (through contract provision) for the Trust Office, particularly in support of meetings and events • Proactive management of Health & Safety, including risk assessments when needed. • Providing facilities and technical support to facilitate meetings, training and events at Trust Office • Identifying opportunities for service development • Appropriately and proactively manage a team of 3 staff • Management of Trust office operational budget and work to provide value for money services • Manage service delivery and the performance of service providers including external consultants and contractors to procure minor works (e.g. furniture, repair works etc.), as appropriate • Responsibility for Business rates management across the GDST Estate • Carry out any other duties as are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the job.

Key Relationships • Head of Estate Management • Director of Estates and their senior team (Head of Sustainability, Head of PMO, Head of Compliance) • Trust Office Facilities Team members • Finance, Legal, HR and H & S, and other members of the Trust Office Management team • All visitors to the GDST Head Office, in particular colleagues from GDST Schools • Outsourced service providers (e.g. contractors etc.) • Building Management Team - including Liaison day-to-day on building related issues, guest passes etc.

Person Specification: Qualification and Experience

Essential: • Demonstrable relevant training and evidence of CPD in the facilities management industry. Desirable: • Relevant professional qualification in the facilities management industry • Educated to degree status or equivalent • NEBOSH or equivalent Health and Safety qualification. Relevant Experience: • Experience of managing the provision of operational facilities services such as catering, cleaning, front of house, post room • Experience of events management in a corporate HQ setting • Experience of people management • Experience of financial management, including the management of facilities services budgets • Experience of taking responsibility for Health and Safety in a corporate building environment • Experience of managing facilities in a corporate HQ environment in a tenant/ leaseholder role. • Experience of office fit-out preferable – construction, FFE.

Relevant Skills / Aptitudes: • Excellent interpersonal, and written and oral communication skills • Strong presentation skills • Ability to work effectively and flexibly on own initiative under pressure

• Strong team player and communicator • Excellent influencing and negotiating skills • Ability to motivate staff and to manage collaborative and innovative team working • Strong verbal and numerical reasoning ability • Ability to create good working relationships both internally and externally and manage stakeholders effectively • Able to work with, structure and prioritise large amounts of project information • Strong analytical and research skills, able to produce technical content and organise material • Ability to think strategically but still maintain attention to detail in preparation and delivery of management information to a wide audience • Ability to effectively manage time and meet deadlines whilst under pressure • Ability to challenge in a constructive manner and propose innovative solutions. • Ability to develop creative solutions to difficult issues General Requirements All staff are expected to: • Work towards and support the Trust vision and current objectives outlined in the GDST Strategic Development Plan • Work within the Trust’s health and safety policy to ensure a safe working environment for staff and visitors • Work within the GDST’s Diversity Policy to promote equality of opportunity for all staff, both current and prospective • Maintain high professional standards of attendance, punctuality, appearance, conduct and positive, courteous relations with the Trust Office colleagues, schools staff, external contacts and visitors • Engage actively in the performance review process, and training and development opportunities available • The ability to balance process with content • Positive, ‘can-do’ flexible attitude to work.

• Adhere to policies as set out in the GDST Council Regulations and GDST circulars • Undertake other reasonable duties related to the job purpose required from time to time. Other Requirements Essential: • Enhanced DBS check • Understanding of Health and Safety including experience of drafting Risk Assessments. Circumstances • Travel in support of the duties of the role • Work flexibly as required in support of the duties of the role. • Prepared for out of hours working at times to support events and/or office works from time to time. • Need to be first point of contact both in and out of hours for office related issues. Review and Amendment This job description should be seen as enabling rather than restrictive and will be subject to regular review.

For a confidential conversation please contact our advisors Michael Hewlett ([email protected]) and Sian Gardiner ([email protected]) of The Management Recruitment Group on 020 8892 0115. Applications should consist of a comprehensive CV (of not more than 4 pages) and a covering letter (of not more than 2 pages).

Applications should be sent to [email protected] and [email protected].

The closing date for applications is Sunday 22nd September 2019.

Regal House 70 London Road Twickenham TW1 3QS +44 20 8 892 0115

52-54 Gracechurch Street London EC3V 0EH +44 20 3962 9900

111 Piccadilly Manchester M1 2HY +44 161 638 0936

www.mrgpeople.co.uk