Taylor Wimpey - Technical Director

Taylor Wimpey - Technical Director

Technical Director Thames Valley Candidate Information Pack

Contents

Introduction • Welcome • History • Culture & Values

Company Info • Business overview • Where we operate • 2018 overview • Strategy

Role Profile • Job Description • Why consider this role?

Process & Timelines

Technical Director

Introduction

Dear applicant, Thank you for taking the opportunity to consider applying for the role of Technical Director at Taylor Wimpey Thames Valley, based out of Abingdon Oxfordshire.

Taylor Wimpey is a FTSE 100 business and one of the largest residential developers in the UK, building new homes and communities across England, Scotland and Wales. Our people are passionate about the house building industry and about our customers. Culturally we pride ourselves in having a diverse work force with an opportunity to grow a career in a variety of environments. We look to develop our people in the skills and areas they are most interested in so if you are looking to join a thriving company going through an exciting period then please get in touch. Our vision is to become the UK’s leading residential developer for creating value and delivering quality. We build over 10,000 homes each year, from one-bedroom apartments to six-bedroom houses all across the country. We are looking for an experienced Technical Director to successfully manage the Technical Team, bringing their experience to the regional Board. This is a pivotal appointment and will play a significant role in the future growth of the region.

Technical Director

Introduction

In 2007 George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow merged to form Taylor Wimpey. We are proud of the home building and construction heritage of both companies, which dates back more than 100 years.

We are one of the largest homebuilders in the UK, operating from 24 regional offices across England, Scotland and Wales, and we aim to be the developer of choice for customers, employees, communities and shareholders. We build a wide range of properties, from one- and two-bedroom apartments to six bedroom detached houses, with a broad price range including both private and affordable homes. We are truly national and we cover most regions across the UK. Our regional businesses are run as local homebuilders and have in depth knowledge and experience of the local market. We understand that development is about more than creating homes and we provide millions of pounds

worth of infrastructure, for example roads, sewers, landscaping and community facilities, every year across the UK. We aim to develop vibrant communities with a true sense of place that fit into their surrounding area and meet the needs of local people. We are a responsible community developer, committed to working with local people, community groups and local authorities and keeping them informed about our work, both before we build and throughout the life of the development. We focus on getting the basics of homebuilding right first time, such as quality, customer service and health and safety, and we aim to continually improve all parts of our business.

Technical Director

Introduction

Core values and cultural principles These are the Taylor Wimpey values that will help us achieve our vision and mission, and the cultural principals that underpin them: Be respectful, fair and deliver together - Communicate well and collaborate - Encourage and embrace diversity - Set clear professional standards - Develop good relations and behave with integrity Continuosly improve and innovate - Be future-focused and drive change - Find solutions and dont accept second best - Make informed decisions - Be well planned and organised Build a proud legacy - Never compromise on safety - Be passionate about customers - Delievr right first time and keep promises - Commit to a sustainable future

Technical Director

Introduction

Our Cultural Principles outlined below are the values that underpin everything that we do: • If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly; • If we make a mistake, we put it right; • We are competitive and don’t accept second best;

• We will not compromise in ensuring that everyone leaves our sites safe and well; • We behave with integrity, are honest and forthright and support each other; • We strive to enhance the environment and local community and to run our business in a way that is sustainable. • Knowledge and information are key, we take our decisions on fact not emotion. • We value individuals from diverse backgrounds and aim to develop potential to the mutual benefit of the individual and the business. We strive to treat our employees fairly and with respect, and to provide a safe place for them to work. Our UK Employee Handbook sets out our approach to our employees as well as the standard of behaviour that we expect of them. We believe that by embracing diversity we will be able to succeed through a workforce that is inclusive, creative and innovative. We support the United Nations’ Universal Declaration on Human Rights and have policies and processes in place to ensure that we act in accordance with our values in relation to areas such as equal opportunities, anti-corruption and whistleblowing. We encourage employees and sub-contractors to speak up about concerns over wrongdoing at work and we provide access to an independent reporting hotline service. Taylor Wimpey operates in diverse communities. During 2012, we undertook a review of the diversity of our employees and will map this against catchment areas to determine any discrepancies. Our new recruitment practices are designed to help us develop an increasingly diverse workforce.

Technical Director

Company Information

Taylor Wimpey plc is a UK-focused residential developer which also has operations in Spain. We aim to be the developer of choice for our customers, employees, communities and shareholders. We are experts in land acquisition, home and community design, urban regeneration and the development of supporting infrastructure which improves our customers’ quality of life and adds value to the homes that we build. We build a wide range of homes in the UK, from apartments to six-bedroom houses with prices ranging from under £100k to over £3m. We completed 14,387 new homes in 2017, excluding joint ventures. In addition, we build affordable housing across the UK, which represented c.19% of our 2017 completions. We aim to deliver aspirational homes for our customers that are ef cient to build.

Where we Operate

Technical Director

Company Information 2018

Pete Redfern, Chief Executive, commented: “We have continued to see good demand for new housing through early 2018. Looking ahead, as we embark on the next stage of our strategy, our focus is on building our capability to deliver great quality homes and places for our customers over the long term.” UK current trading The underlying housing market has remained stable in the first four months of 2018, with continued good accessibility to mortgages at competitive rates. During the first few weeks of March, the poor weather conditions had a noticeable impact on sales and build rates but activity has since recovered. Solid consumer demand continues to drive a healthy sales rate against a very strong comparator. Average private sales for the year to date were 0.85 per outlet per week (2017 equivalent period: 0.93) in line with our expectations. Cancellation rates remained low at 13% (2017 equivalent period: 10%). As at 22 April 2018, our total order book value stood at approximately £2,155 million (2017 week 16: £2,210 million). This represents 9,050 homes (2017 week 16: 9,219 homes), excluding legal completions to date. Land portfolio, planning and outlets The short term land market remains stable with opportunities to acquire land at investment operating profit margins similar to those achieved in recent years. At the end of March 2018, our short term landbank stood at c. 77k plots. We continue to widely engage and work together with local authorities and communities to secure planning permission for our strategic pipeline sites. Our strategic land pipeline stood at c.118k potential plots, as at the end of March 2018, following conversion of over 2k plots into the short term landbank. We remain focused on progressing our sites through the planning system to enable us to open all sites with implementable planning as efficiently as possible. We are currently operating from 278 outlets, excluding joint ventures (2017 week 16: 289). Outlook Trading through the spring selling season has been good and customer demand for housing continues to be strong, with good access to mortgages, low interest rates and healthy employment prospects. We remain on track to meet our expectations for the year, but expect completions for 2018 to be more second half weighted than 2017. Build cost inflation is anticipated to be at similar levels to 2017, at around 3-4%, as previously indicated. We expect to end the year with a net cash position broadly similar to year end 2017, and after the payment of £500 million dividends, subject to approval, to shareholders. Our priority is to build further improvements in product quality, customer service, and delivery capability to enable us to deliver great quality homes to more customers over the years ahead. We will be hosting a Capital Markets Day on 15 May 2018, where we will update the market on our views of the housing market and our plans for continuous business improvement and shareholder returns.

Technical Director

Company Information

DEFINING OUR STRATEGY Our strategy set out in 2011 has been focused on driving sustainable value through the housing cycle and delivering enhanced margins and returns, whilst continuing to invest in the future profitability and quality of the business for all stakeholders. We believe that financial results must be achieved in the right way and as a responsible business we acknowledge both our obligations to the communities we operate in and the opportunity to work with our stakeholders to create value together.

Technical Director

The next five years to 2023

Pete Redfern, Chief Executive, commented: “The changes we are announcing today to our operations will develop and be implemented over time, but are very significant - we aim to deliver increased growth, higher dividends and an increase in our return on capital by working our existing land assets harder and smarter. We have always said that running the business in the right way for the long term was more important than short term financial performance. We continue to believe this and the changes to the way we see our customers and the way we see the business long term are much more fundamental: putting our customers’ needs and desires at the heart of our business, which will ultimately make us a more valuable, sustainable business for all of our stakeholders.”

Highlights - A refocused business purpose based on identifying and responding to our customers’ needs, focused on improved products, places, simplification of the buying process and affordable access to the homes that we build - Increased opportunity for long term sustainable growth, through increased landbank efficiency, as we work our existing and future assets harder - Further strengthening and investing in our people and skills, including investment in direct labour, supply chain development and research and development to underpin growth and delivery - A continued high-quality, strong balance sheet, main- taining our cyclically cautious approach - An enhanced ordinary dividend, based on current outperformance, improved asset efficiency and confidence in long term growth

Technical Director

New goals for the next five years to 2023

New goals for the next five years to 2023: - Increase of return on net operating assets to 35% - Maintaining operating profit margins at c.21-22%

- Operating cash conversion of between 70 and 100% of operating profit into operating cash flow - Increased landbank efficiency - reducing length of short term owned and controlled landbank

years by c.1 year to 4-4.5 years Enhanced dividend announced

- Enhanced ordinary dividend driven by current performance and increased confidence in our ability to deliver future growth: increasing to approximately 7.5% of Group net assets up from 5%, and equating to at least £250 million per annum (subject to shareholder approval each year), up from at least £150 million per annum - 2019 special dividend announced of £350 million (subject to shareholder approval), taking 2019 total dividends to c.£600 million (an increase of 20%). Based on our current five-year expectations, and in current market conditions, we expect special dividend payments to remain comparable to the 2018 and 2019 payments

Technical Director

Job Description

Technical Director Technical Technical team

30/7/18

Position Title: Function: Direct Reports:

Date Finalised/Last Reviewed:

Managing Director

Reports to:

Page 3 Welcome • Communicate well with staff, Department Heads, external consultants and other bodies. Provide technical support to the Production Department during development of the sites. Provide technical support to the Land Department for scheme appraisals. Provide technical support to Sales in production of Brochures. Provide technical support to Commercial during procurement. • Advise the Board of Directors on changes in technical matters and / or competitor’s product. 3. Financial Accountability • Must be able to manage budgets, professional fees and staff costs. • Must provide a cost effective service, carefully controlling expenditure and Regional overheads. • Should be aware of corporate objectives and financial requirements concentrating on providing forecast profits in line with Regional expectations. • Must manage all designs to ensure forecast Regional financial completion numbers are achieved. • Must ensure that a value management strategy is in place for each project and that it maximises value and manages cost at every design stage. 4. People Management & Leadership • Must be able to communicate well at all levels internally within the Group and externally with public bodies. • Will be a member of the Regional Management team. To directly manage the Technical staff promoting a strong team spirit and ensuring the Department is a key player in the performance of the Region. Technical Director Page 4 The Estate Page 5 Buildings Job summary/purpose: The Technical Director is responsible for the co-ordination of architectural and engineering design within the Regional office. Their duties shall include the co-ordination and discharge of all necessary conditions attached to both the planning permissions and building regulation/warranty approvals for each scheme. Primary responsibilities: 1. Team Management • Responsible for the performance of the team in delivering technical design and approvals required for all projects within the Region. Must be commercially aware working with established budgets to provide a cost effective team performance. • Ensure that all project meetings with other departments are arranged and managed in a timely and efficient manner, ensuring all relevant action points are noted and recorded (e.g. pre-distribution of information etc.). • Ensure that all technical staff are aware of the health and safety implications of every design decision. • In conjunction with other Board members undertake monthly site visits. • Ensure training and development of technical staff to continually improve performance. • Fulfil role of Principal Designer under CDM 2. Communication

Job Description

5. Business Development Strategy • Should effectively use resources, programme and prioritise work to ensure that delays do not occur through the life of the project from feasibility to site completion. • Should have understanding of the corporate vision and strategic policies. • Must programme all work to ensure the Region’s approved forecasts are achieved. 6. Management of Change • The Technical Director must provide value engineered solutions to problems encountered and encourage innovation and constant development within his team. Key business relationships: Internal: Regional Department Heads / Directors External: External Consultants, Technical Services, Government Departments, Regulatory Bodies, Planning Authority, Highways Authority, NHBC Regional variances to the role: None What are the measures of success for this position? Timely delivery of technically efficient and financially viable designs. Development of a high performing and highly skilled technical team. Experience, Qualifications, Technical Requirements, Education Extensive experience required in the design, construction and delivery of Civil Engineering Infrastructure, traffic and transportation Ability to critique development layouts from an urban design and engineering perspective Ability to critique architectural and engineering drawings Ability to conduct feasibility studies, preparation of fee budget estimates and support land purchases Required/Preferred

Required Required Required Required Preferred Preferred Preferred

Membership of relevant professional body Post Graduate Degree Management Appropriate degree level qualification - BSc/BEng, Construction Management etc

Key Competencies: Communicate well and collaborate Be well planned and organised Make informed decisions Be future focused and drive change Develop good relations and act with integrity

Leading Teams Leading the Business Leading the Business Leading the Business

Leading the Business Internal Applicants – Please inform your Line Manager if you wish to apply for this role.

Page 4 The Estate

Page 5 Buildings

Page 3 Welcome Technical Director

Job Description

Why consider this role? This is an outstanding opportunity for an experienced Technical Director to take over an efficient and effective Technical team. The Oxfordshire region of Taylor Wimpey will produce c700 units this year, with a short-term remit to expand. The department consists of two Technical Managers, an Adoptions Manager, two Project Managers, five Co-ordinators & Assistants, as well as an Administrator and a Secretary. The incumbent Technical Director is making an internal move, and we are looking for an experienced residential Technical Director to take over the running of this relatively young team. Your management focus will be on coaching and mentoring to develop individuals, taking a good team and making them better. Ideally, we would like a Technical Director with some design experience. Over the next five years the Thames Valley region is looking to develop and grow their in-house design skills, and this is a great opportunity to help shape what that looks like. The region will also be involved in some large infrastructure projects, entailing a lot of design work. We would ideally like someone with an engineering bias in their background who is excited at the prospect of these infrastructure and civils projects, who can add value and really make a difference to the region. We are looking for an experienced Technical Director who knows what to do to get on, and to keep the team moving forward and ensure the continued smooth running of this department. With a drive and determination to succeed, the ideal candidate will have a proven track record at Director level, adding their experience to a relatively new regional board team. The post offers a package level which will ensure Taylor Wimpey are able to attract industry leading professionals. In addition to basic salary Taylor Wimpey offer a generous benefits package which includes: • Up to 75% Bonus • Generous Pension Scheme • Long Term Incentive Plan reward scheme • Share Save Scheme • Health Cover

Technical Director

Process & Timelines

APPLICATION PROCESS For a confidential conversation please contact Taylor Wimpey’s appointed recruitment partner Nick Frost at the Management Recruitment Group. Applications should consist of a CV and short covering letter outlining key matching experience and rational for applying for the post. Nick Frost

T: 0161 638 0936 M: 07792 676270 E: [email protected]

Technical Director

www.mrgpeople.co.uk