Development Manager (Front End Focused)

Development Manager (Front End Focused)

A well-known and highly successful Investment Developer urgently needs a Development Manager for their busy team based in London.

The Developer concerned has a turnover in excess of £800m and mainly builds residential schemes that will be made up of Private Sale, PRS, and Student Accommodation. They are self-funded and have access to a large amount of funding, ensuring that if the deals are viable, they will be acted on quickly and will be purchased.

The role requires the right candidate to be planning or design-focused and yet able to network with others, keep schemes running by liaising with all parties that will include public sector departments, stakeholders, and internal design, planning, commercial, and construction teams.

The candidate should have experience of either real estate residential, private sale, PRS, affordable housing, or student accommodation. If there is also experience of commercial buildings, this will also be relevant.

Responsibilities include:

• Identifying land opportunities from reviewing local planning applications and researching emerging planning policies.
• Conducting planning appraisals of potential development sites and advising on the prospects of achieving planning permission.
• Negotiating S106 process, including appraisal viability for planning.
• Appointing, managing, and organizing consultants involved in preparing planning applications and design information.
• Feasibility design studies for new and potential developments.
• Promoting all sites through the planning process and assisting in securing planning consent and discharging conditions.
• Undertaking design reviews.
• Liaising with planning and other regulatory bodies.
• Undertaking cost analysis.
• Managing all processes and drawings received from consultants and internal design team members.
• Organizing and chairing external and internal design/planning team meetings.
• Assisting all members of the internal design team, including Civil Engineering, Structural, and Building Services, as required.
• Monitoring performance of all external consultants.
• Monitoring costs against budget.
• Promoting sites to local planning authorities.
• Providing expert knowledge on government legislation and planning policies.

In addition, the successful candidate will need a design or planning qualification, experience in achieving planning on projects, and a strong knowledge of the RIBA design process and experience of dealing with contractors, managing architects, and planning consultants.

It is essential to have strong business development skills and a willingness to network and develop contacts in the industry, being a regular at industry events and networking.

This role will suit a proactive person who is accustomed to open working relationships with all members of the team, both internally and externally, and be able to liaise at all levels with various types of people. You will have the desire to seek continuous improvement and development, be independent and self-motivated, and have a positive, flexible approach with the ability to deal with an ever-changing economic and political environment. You must possess excellent presentation and interpersonal skills, be good under pressure, and be able to strike the right balance between personal and individual initiative and doing what is best for the team.

This is a fantastic role with a class Developer, in return, you can expect to be working with true professionals on high-profile schemes with unlimited progressive opportunities and a well-paid remuneration package, benefits, and bonus scheme.