Senior Building Surveyor

It’s finding new ways to maintain world famous, historic buildings. It’s leading and collaborating to deliver every time. This is what makes working for the Royal Household exceptional.

Every year Buckingham Palace hosts a wide range of Royal events, from investitures and receptions to the historic Trooping the Colour, and it welcomes thousands of visitors through its doors. It’s home to many of our specialist teams, as well as housing residents and tenants across the wider Estate. Most of the buildings are listed with some scheduled ancient monuments. You’ll therefore play an important role facilitating the modern-day workings of this historic estate, while also preserving these iconic buildings for generations to come.

In this role you’ll take a role in driving the Technical Team of Building Surveyors, who act as custodians of the London estate. The role will encompass surveys and inspections, landlord duties, building monitoring and performance, producing technical standards and specifications, a focus on heritage and conservation as well as delivery of project works. Additionally you will take a leading role in driving the emissions reduction strategy for all buildings across the London Estate, in line with the Royal Household’s Net Zero objectives. This will involve conducting thorough reviews of the energy performance of the buildings, developing best practice policies on sustainable materials and energy interventions, and providing recommendations to the Decarbonisation Steering Group on energy-saving initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the Technical Team of Building Surveyors, the highly skilled decorating team and a wide variety of contractors, directing work and driving performance.
• Drive the Building Surveying strategy towards the Royal Household’s Net Zero goals, proactively reviewing, exploring, and implementing various approaches that support the initiative.
• Develop and implement best practice approaches for the conservation, repair and maintenance of the building fabric of the estate.
• Manage a portfolio of works of varying scale, from planning to completion, ensuring projects are delivered on time and within budget.
• Proactively manage stakeholder relationships, communicating progress and minimizing disruption.
• Ensure compliance with statutory duties and legislative requirements, promoting a culture of risk awareness and management.
• Manage budgets, tender processes, contracts and contractors, ensuring value for money and high-quality service delivery.
• Provide technical support on conservation, repair, and maintenance to Facilities Managers, Building Supervisors, Engineers, and Project Managers for planned and reactive maintenance.
• Provide technical support including specification writing for Specialist Term Contracts to ensure compliance across the Property Section team with statutory duties and legislative requirements.
• Work closely with the Head of Operations, Head of Projects, Senior Facilities Manager and Senior Engineer on 10-year planning.
• Support the preparations for large scale events and functions, where required.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to lead building surveying strategies that drive sustainability and support Net Zero goals.
• Chartered Building Surveying qualification or equivalent.
• Experience working within historic listed buildings and on occupied multi-site estates.
• A proactive approach to improving the environment and sustainability, considering ways to improve the energy efficiency of the buildings, source sustainable materials and in ways that are sympathetic to the heritage assets.
• Demonstrable experience of statutory compliance and risk management.
• Previous experience with Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) and CAD Systems.
• Strong project management skills, capable of managing a varied portfolio of work.
• Proven budget management, cost control, and contract management experience.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and interpersonal skills, with the ability to remain calm under pressure, make informed decisions, and maintain a collaborative, customer-focused approach to service delivery.

Benefits

We know that to deliver our best work; we need to feel at our best. That’s why at the Royal Household we offer a generous benefits package designed to support your wellbeing and life priorities. Enjoy 25 days annual leave, rising to 30 days (plus bank holidays) dependent on the length of time you have worked for us. Our excellent non-contributory pension plan (we’ll contribute 15% and you can contribute more if you wish) is highly valued by our employees, as is complimentary lunch on-site to keep you fuelled throughout the day. We also offer a range of leave options to support your life priorities, such as parental pay and leave and volunteering days, as well as benefits to support your physical and mental wellbeing. Other perks include 20% off at our Royal Collection Trust Shops and complimentary admission tickets across all our locations, along with many more exclusive employee discounts.