Property and Facilities Manager

Your role as a Property and Facilities Manager:

Our client is a leading firm of Patent and Trade Mark attorneys in the UK with over 60 partners and 350 employees. The Real Estate and Facilities Manager works closely with local office management, the central finance team, and the firm’s property consultants to ensure that the firm’s property portfolio is fit for purpose, cost-effective, and provides the most suitable work environment.

Your duties and responsibilities as a Property and Facilities Manager:

• Manage a portfolio of 8 offices, ensuring all are compliant with health and safety and maintenance requirements.
• Liaising with property managing agents and subcontractors for all property matters.
• Managing office moves and any refurbishments.
• Directly manage 1 x Facilities Coordinator from the Birmingham office.
• Maintain suitable records of all documentation in relation to the firm’s property portfolio.
• Check all rent, service charge, and rates invoices to ensure correct and timely payments are made.
• Regularly communicate with service charge advisor to ensure all landlords/landlords’ agents are providing value for money and in-line with any negotiated caps.
• Deal with rent reviews to ensure best possible terms.
• Monitor business rates and challenge where appropriate.
• Regularly communicate with local office management to ensure office space is fit for purpose; discuss any issues with the property, and how improvements can be made to the working environment.
• Notify both the central finance team and local office management of all upcoming lease events.
• Act as point of contact for all wayleave, license to alter and other related matters.
• Act as a point of escalation for issues with landlords and their representatives, property agents, and suppliers of services, raising and overseeing the resolution of location-specific issues and risks.
• Oversee the firm’s archival storage.
• Work closely with local management, the appointed property consultants, and central finance to form a property strategy when a lease is due to end - typically renewal or relocation.
• Act as main point of contact for all advisors, including appointed property consultants, surveyors, fit-out contractors, and solicitors.
• Provide end-to-end project management support including dealing with any snagging issues.
• Short list and inspect potential new premises.
• Negotiate Heads of Terms with landlord and fit-out contractors.
• Input in design and layout of new office.

Specifically for the Birmingham office, you will:

• Ensure the building is compliant with health and safety standards and raise HSE awareness; maintain effective Health & Safety (H&S) and First Aid processes: including regulatory compliance, ergonomic and risk assessments, sourcing H&S support/equipment and liaising with external contractors for testing of electrical appliances and fire-fighting equipment; advise OMP of H&S issues and take appropriate agreed steps to resolve.
• Act as first point of contact for the building management team; oversee the maintenance of contract services, including cleaning, maintenance, office equipment and furniture, as well as office infrastructure; seek to obtain best deals from suppliers, ensuring that agreed SLAs and performance standards are met; take steps to resolve issues, should they arise.

To be successful in your role, you should have the following skills and experience:

• Experience and knowledge of both property management and facilities management within a commercial office property portfolio.
• Leadership skills.
• Good understanding of H&S compliance and building compliance.
• Experience managing subcontractors.
• Ability to understand leases and rent.
• Ability to manage service charge budgets.
• Happy to travel to other locations as and when required.