Accreditation and Pathfinders Lead
| Posting date: | 17 April 2024 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £56,000 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 17 May 2024 |
| Location: | Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 2 days per week |
| Company: | The Office for Place |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 348643 |
Summary
Job summary
Are you interested in how we create and curate the places that surround us? The Office for Place is a newly established non-departmental public body that will develop and share evidence, advice, tools and learning to support the creation and stewardship of places that are beautiful, sustainable, popular, and healthy. It has its origins in the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission Report ‘Living with Beauty’ which has influenced national planning policy and, through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, the requirement for all local authorities to produce a design code for their area, developed through local community involvement and engagement.
This is an exciting opportunity to be part of an organisation whose objectives are to:
• Catalyse a fundamental change within and across all levels of government, communities, and the development, planning, and design industries, to support the creation and stewardship of popular, healthy, beautiful, and sustainable places.
• Help neighbourhoods, communities and public servants working on their behalf, to ask for and deliver new places, and manage existing places, to be popular, healthy, beautiful, and sustainable.
• Support public sector planners and the British design and development industries to be the best place makers in the world aided by improving UK and international data on happiness, health, popularity, and sustainability.
Are you willing to help us meet this challenge?
You will be joining a new organisation chaired by Nicholas Boys Smith MBE and a board of non-executive directors. You will be able to help shape its programme of work from an early stage. The Office for Place will be subject to the standard review of public bodies which will take place after 3-5 years to ensure continuing delivery for government and the taxpayer.
We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work.
You can find out more about our work here: Office for Place - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We are currently working in a start-up phase which will require flexibility as we begin to become fully operational and to grow to 24 FTE (Full Time Equivalents) by the end of 2024-25.
Job description
The successful applicate will initially be recruited into the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and will be subject to a TUPE transfer in the second half of 2024. Terms and conditions for the new organisation are to be confirmed but will be no less favourable than DLUHC.
This is a new role within the Office for Place which will lead on two important aspects of our support to local authorities to develop local design codes, including at an authority-wide scale, which is a requirement under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act.
You will lead on the development of an accreditation scheme for design codes that seeks to improve the quality of codes being created and implemented. You will also be responsible for leading the delivery of the Office for Place’s design code pathfinder programme, which provides grant funding and support to local authorities developing exemplar design codes, processes, and associated delivery mechanisms, such as local development orders.
You will be instrumental in supporting public sector planners, and the wider planning, design, and development sector to set clear quality asks for new development, based upon what local communities like and value. Your responsibilities will include:
• Lead responsibility for the design, testing, launch and operation of the design code accreditation process, supporting local authority planners to create local design codes.
• Overseeing the work of external reviewers as well as supporting those local authorities being accredited.
• Responsibility for the line management of two Accreditation Officers (Senior Executive Officers) and one administrative, Higher Executive Officer, delivering the accreditation process.
• Responsibility for successfully progressing the current Design Code Pathfinder programme, and establishing and overseeing future pathfinders, building upon existing experience and feedback to positive insights and learning are derived for other local authorities.
• Responsibility for identifying and sharing best practice in placemaking and the setting of design standards from the pathfinders and accreditation process, with local authority planning officers, the wider sector and policy makers in government.
• Working collaboratively with other members of the Office for Place team, in particular the Design Code Lead, Research Lead and Advising Lead.
• Reporting to the board on progress in the areas of work you are leading and obtaining input from the board to set the strategic direction and lead this area of work.
Person specification
• A qualified planner with around 5 years post-qualification experience, with an understanding of how town planners develop design policy, what support is needed and an ability to effectively judge the effectiveness of design and planning policies produced by local authorities and to promote innovation and best practice.
• You will have demonstrable experience as a local authority planner, or working closely with local authorities, and of the creation of design codes, incorporating issues ranging from street design to public realm and building facades.
• Connection to strong networks and credibility within your profession and an ability to speak publicly with authority as a technical expert.
• A proactive, self-starter who can think strategically and to set direction, balancing guidance from multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to lead on delivery of major national programmes to time and budget, requiring strong project management skills and leadership of areas of work.
Are you interested in how we create and curate the places that surround us? The Office for Place is a newly established non-departmental public body that will develop and share evidence, advice, tools and learning to support the creation and stewardship of places that are beautiful, sustainable, popular, and healthy. It has its origins in the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission Report ‘Living with Beauty’ which has influenced national planning policy and, through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, the requirement for all local authorities to produce a design code for their area, developed through local community involvement and engagement.
This is an exciting opportunity to be part of an organisation whose objectives are to:
• Catalyse a fundamental change within and across all levels of government, communities, and the development, planning, and design industries, to support the creation and stewardship of popular, healthy, beautiful, and sustainable places.
• Help neighbourhoods, communities and public servants working on their behalf, to ask for and deliver new places, and manage existing places, to be popular, healthy, beautiful, and sustainable.
• Support public sector planners and the British design and development industries to be the best place makers in the world aided by improving UK and international data on happiness, health, popularity, and sustainability.
Are you willing to help us meet this challenge?
You will be joining a new organisation chaired by Nicholas Boys Smith MBE and a board of non-executive directors. You will be able to help shape its programme of work from an early stage. The Office for Place will be subject to the standard review of public bodies which will take place after 3-5 years to ensure continuing delivery for government and the taxpayer.
We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work.
You can find out more about our work here: Office for Place - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We are currently working in a start-up phase which will require flexibility as we begin to become fully operational and to grow to 24 FTE (Full Time Equivalents) by the end of 2024-25.
Job description
The successful applicate will initially be recruited into the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and will be subject to a TUPE transfer in the second half of 2024. Terms and conditions for the new organisation are to be confirmed but will be no less favourable than DLUHC.
This is a new role within the Office for Place which will lead on two important aspects of our support to local authorities to develop local design codes, including at an authority-wide scale, which is a requirement under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act.
You will lead on the development of an accreditation scheme for design codes that seeks to improve the quality of codes being created and implemented. You will also be responsible for leading the delivery of the Office for Place’s design code pathfinder programme, which provides grant funding and support to local authorities developing exemplar design codes, processes, and associated delivery mechanisms, such as local development orders.
You will be instrumental in supporting public sector planners, and the wider planning, design, and development sector to set clear quality asks for new development, based upon what local communities like and value. Your responsibilities will include:
• Lead responsibility for the design, testing, launch and operation of the design code accreditation process, supporting local authority planners to create local design codes.
• Overseeing the work of external reviewers as well as supporting those local authorities being accredited.
• Responsibility for the line management of two Accreditation Officers (Senior Executive Officers) and one administrative, Higher Executive Officer, delivering the accreditation process.
• Responsibility for successfully progressing the current Design Code Pathfinder programme, and establishing and overseeing future pathfinders, building upon existing experience and feedback to positive insights and learning are derived for other local authorities.
• Responsibility for identifying and sharing best practice in placemaking and the setting of design standards from the pathfinders and accreditation process, with local authority planning officers, the wider sector and policy makers in government.
• Working collaboratively with other members of the Office for Place team, in particular the Design Code Lead, Research Lead and Advising Lead.
• Reporting to the board on progress in the areas of work you are leading and obtaining input from the board to set the strategic direction and lead this area of work.
Person specification
• A qualified planner with around 5 years post-qualification experience, with an understanding of how town planners develop design policy, what support is needed and an ability to effectively judge the effectiveness of design and planning policies produced by local authorities and to promote innovation and best practice.
• You will have demonstrable experience as a local authority planner, or working closely with local authorities, and of the creation of design codes, incorporating issues ranging from street design to public realm and building facades.
• Connection to strong networks and credibility within your profession and an ability to speak publicly with authority as a technical expert.
• A proactive, self-starter who can think strategically and to set direction, balancing guidance from multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to lead on delivery of major national programmes to time and budget, requiring strong project management skills and leadership of areas of work.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.