Head - Acquisitions

Job summary

Working in the South Acquisitions Team with Assistant Director for South, this role plays a critical part in leading the Team. You will be joining a highly experienced, skilled and successful team who are focussed on unlocking difficult and undelivered sites.

The team works closely with colleagues in all parts of Homes England to intervene in the market when required and secure land through acquisition. Many of the sites being secured are challenging sites with either delivery problems or planning constraints. This is an exciting role to lead the team in the South East of England in acquiring numerous development sites

Job description

We are currently working across a number of projects and acquisitions ranging from 80 homes to over 13,000 homes, with all sites having the potential to deliver over 30,000 homes collectively.

An example of some of our recent acquisitions.

• Carrow Works – Norwich

The home of the former Colemans Mustard Factory and Robinsons Squash Factory this brownfield site has been acquired as part of the regeneration of East Norwich.

• Former Northeye Prison – Bexhill

This former redundant prison and army base sits in the countryside close to Bexhill and although allocated has a number of challenges such as ecology, drainage and access.

• Hill Top Farm – Folkestone

Acquired and purchased with a short window to help support the delivery of a new large settlement.

Our mission is to accelerate and unlock the delivery of high-quality homes, whilst also supporting economic growth through regeneration and placemaking. This is a rare chance to work for an organisation which is uniquely positioned to shape the future of place-based housing delivery and regeneration. Working with internal and external stakeholders, you will support our experienced team in driving delivery on complex sites.

Person specification

We are looking for someone to join our team who is a confident leader and understands land buying and the South East housing market. We are seeking individuals who are passionate about unlocking and delivering complex sites and know the barriers faced in delivering them.

You will enjoy working as part of multi-disciplinary team in a fast-paced environment drawing on your skills and experience. You’ll have a strong understanding of the development delivery process, land assembly, design, planning and funding.

You’ll have the ability to review and absorb information on complex projects, undertake analysis and produce reports for internal and external stakeholders.

You’ll have worked in environments and on projects where attention to detail is of paramount importance, but also where you can take a strategic approach.

Delivering on a mission as bold as ours isn’t always easy. You will be resilient and comfortable managing stakeholders at a senior level and your discussions will always be shaped by a good understanding of the commercial and operational impact of what we do as an Acquisition Team. You will enjoy working in an innovative, fun and engaging way and be able to negotiate and persuade.

As an experienced land acquisition and delivery professional, you’ll understand how to manage colleagues and be able to demonstrate you can work with others as part of a team in a collaborative, inclusive way.

Key Skills & Experience

Land Acquisition – You will need a proven track record in identifying and acquiring sites in your previous roles.

Working in partnership – you will be used to working successfully with the full range of partners and stakeholders involved in the development process and understand their needs and priorities.

Development Experience - Experience of working on large scale or complex development projects, with an understanding of the factors that drive strategic development and planning.

Development Appraisals & Cash Flows – We spend a lot of time reviewing viabilities and appraisals as well as creating our own viabilities and business plans. A knowledge of Argus Appraisal system is helpful but not essential.

Funding Knowledge – Knowledge of the economics and funding of major infrastructure to support large scale housing developments. Experience of infrastructure / development funding would be an advantage, but it is not essential.

Report / Paper Writing – Preparing reports and papers for internal and external readership is a core part of the role. Preparation and presentation of papers to Peer Reviewers and Approval Boards to support the Acquisition is a requirement of the role. Some of the reports produced by our team may include briefing papers for our CEO, Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Secretary of State in addition to internal decision-making boards.

Leading teams - Experience of managing, guiding and inspiring direct reportees.

Essential: Degree level qualification or equivalent experience as a: Chartered Surveyor (MRICS), Town Planner (RTPI), Housebuilder, Urban Regeneration specialist or experience in Development Finance.

As a Head of Acquisitions, you will be asked to support on a number of projects that require various property development skills and knowledge. We appreciate you may not have all the skills/experience listed in the job description.

Benefits

Homes England is an executive non-departmental public body with its own terms and conditions, benefits and pension scheme. We are a government agency working in partnership with the private sector and want to employ and retain great people. In return we offer a range of excellent benefits, some of the key benefits include:

Holiday - Homes England offers all staff 33 days annual leave per year in addition to 8 statutory bank holidays.

Working Flexibly - At Homes England we have a strong culture of flexible working and encourage all employees to have a healthy work/life balance. We offer a wide range of potential working patterns, including part time, job share and compressed hours.

Health and Wellbeing - We offer health screening with Nuffield Proactive Health Clinics, a free Employee Assistance Programme which offers confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as well as access to Occupational Health.

Professional Development - At Homes England we are committed to your continued professional and personal development with learning as one of our core values. We pay for one job-related professional membership subscription per year for our employees.

We also offer an excellent range of family friendly benefits, for example, maternity, paternity, shared parental leave.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

How to apply?

To apply please follow the links to our careers page.

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

Selection process details

For more information on the role, please see the attached Job Description.

Successful applicants will be advised of the outcome of their application and interviews held as soon as practical after the closing date. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in this role and Homes England.

Please note – Homes England has a responsibility to ensure compliance with HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard to address the potential problems of identity fraud, illegal working and deception generally. To ensure compliance we will carry out a pre-employment Personal Identity and Vetting Report through Experian to meet the standard and you will therefore be asked to provide certain information in order that the verification check can be carried out if you are successful in your application.

Homes England are an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer that values and respects the people who work for us. Our aim is to be an employer of choice, enabling everyone to reach their full potential.

Homes England is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data. For further information please refer to our Privacy Notice which can be viewed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/homes-england/about/personal-information-charter

Nationality requirements

Open to UK, Commonwealth and European Economic Area (EEA) and certain non EEA nationals. Further information on whether you are able to apply is available here.

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a guaranteed disability confident interview scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Recruitment Team
• Email : Recruitmentinfo@homesengland.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitmentinfo@homesengland.gov.uk