Environment & Sustainability Manager

Venesky-Brown Recruitment are looking for an Environmental Sustainability Manager to join the team at Sizewell C. This contract role is site-based in Leiston, Suffolk with hybrid working (3-4 days/week on-site).

Job Purpose / Overview: To provide environmental and sustainability leadership, promote best practice and ensure the Sizewell C site and associated developments maintain on site compliance with Environmental Permits and Licences.

Sizewell C Ltd is constructing a nuclear power station at Sizewell C (SZC) in Suffolk, to provide low carbon electricity for over 7 million homes. As the SZC project moves through construction into installation and commissioning phases and ultimately to operation, Sizewell C is seeking an experienced environmental professional to lead a site-based team that ensures environmental compliance and drives environmental performance improvements on this exciting, nationally significant infrastructure project.

The Site Environment & Sustainability Team, led by the Environment & Sustainability (E&S) Manager delivers regulatory compliance on site and maintains oversight of contractors’ performance and engagement with construction and delivery teams. The E&S Manager’s position is a senior role at SZC and reports to the SZC Head of Site Compliance within the Site Construction Delivery Team.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Provide clear and concise leadership at all times to direct reports and Tier 1 suppliers.
• Ensure compliance arrangements are established and maintained to deliver compliance with environmental commitments and conditions with numerous site environmental permits, consents and licences.
• Manage, co-ordinate and monitor environmental and sustainability activities on site to ensure full compliance with agreed environmental standards and expectations.
• Ensure world-class environmental behaviour and culture with the teams on site and supply chain including provision of strategic environmental leadership for the SZC site.
• Ensure that significant environmental aspects identified for the project are managed and mitigated appropriately.
• Drive environmental and sustainability performance with the SZC project and operations teams as well Tier One contractors to deliver best practice.
• Work with the Client Team on engagement with the local Environmental Regulators, in particular the Environment Agency.
• Provide a highly professional customer/client-based service in all aspects of environmental and regulatory interfaces.
• Maintain compliance with ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System Standard, ensuring that, through its implementation, the effects of the construction site’s activities conform to its environmental policy and associated objectives and targets.
• Maintain oversight and responsibility for the programme of site environmental inspections and surveillance activities.
• Develop and implement Site environmental performance measurements (KPI’s), review and reporting requirements to drive continuous environmental improvement.
• Event management: Undertake environmental investigations to establish performance improvements and learning.
• Ensure that department resources, processes and activities are reviewed and optimised to achieve SZC project objectives.
• Ensure that all section staff are assessed, appraised, trained and developed in line with project needs.
• Manage the department’s activities to meet agreed quality standards, ensuring compliance with the SZC Project Quality Manual and quality improvement programme and meet prescribed service levels, standards and targets by ensuring procedural adherence of the team and contractors.
• Develop professional working relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders including the Client Environment Team, Internal regulator, Site operations team, Tier 1 contractors and regulators.
• Ensure that construction experience feedback is promoted and used to enable continuous improvement in environmental and sustainability performance.

Dimensions: 4 Direct reports (team of 10) with responsibility for the team’s performance. Required to influence the performance of environment professionals within the project supply chain. Implementation of role accountabilities through pre-construction, construction delivery and commissioning. Supporting numerous multi-disciplinary construction and commissioning delivery teams, driving performance across several Tier 1 contract teams with a workforce of circa 8000 at peak. Managing a budget for environmental monitoring on the SZC. Accountable to the Head of Site Compliance.

Knowledge, Skills:

• Must have extensive skills leading E&S teams working on large complex highly regulated construction projects.
• Must have a broad range of construction field skills, preferably full life cycle from civils to mechanical electrical and completions.
• Credible demonstrable leadership and influencing skills and experience.
• A detailed understanding of the requirements and arrangements needed to deliver compliance with environmental permits, licences and consents.
• A good understanding of the expectations, opportunities and limitations with regards to sustainability on a large infrastructure project.
• Experience of driving the sustainability agenda in a previous project would be an advantage.
• An understanding of the challenges faced through site preparation works, construction, installation and commissioning of complex engineering project, ensuring manufactured as specified and built as designed.
• General professional qualities such as accuracy, attention to detail, tenacity, result-oriented, the ability to work well within a team. Good organisational skills and the ability to work independently and be pro-active.
• Strong assurance and challenge skills with excellent communication/interpersonal skills notably with various levels of the organisation and externally.
• Discretion - Confidentiality when dealing with sensitive information.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Qualified to degree level in an Environmental related discipline.
• Experience in a technical or engineering discipline.
• Demonstrated leadership experience is essential.
• Extensive experience both client and principal contractor managing environmental issues on a large infrastructure/engineering project (or similar) extensive on-site experience, knowledge of construction and commissioning activities, approaches, standards and expectations.
• Experience of developing and leading strong relationships with the regulators and other public bodies, essential experience of delivery of regulatory commitments would be an advantage.
• Experience in a highly regulated industry would be an advantage.
• Experience in managing the implementation of regulatory commitments.
• Experience of driving the implementation and embedding of management arrangements.

Operating Environment: Working within the constraints of the Development Consent Order and the various environmental frameworks, permits and consents, the post holder will build effective relationships with SZC Client Team representatives and service providers to ensure environmental and sustainability responsibilities and obligations are achieved.

Framework & Boundaries: The SZC project’s environmental performance and sustainability achievements are paramount to realising Sizewell C’s goal of zero harm. The performance of the Project will be under intense scrutiny from both internal and external stakeholders. The E&S Manager will be responsible for ensuring construction environmental compliance, the implementation of the project's integrated management system reflecting SZC’s ISO14001 requirements, as well as ensuring high standards of contractor environmental performance. The E&S Manager will lead a team of specialists covering a broad range of environmental disciplines including air quality, noise, and ecology through to contaminated land, waste management and sustainability. The post holder will be the primary day to day interface with the local environmental regulators for the SZC Site and local stakeholders. The role will also build and drive the company’s One Team approach with our Tier One Contractors and work in an integrated way with the Client Environment Team and Safety and Assurance colleagues to drive environmental protection, compliance and performance on site. As such, the post holder will need to be equally comfortable on the construction site talking to workers and supervisors as in the boardroom with senior managers.