Placemaking Project Manager

Salary:                 £40,206 on a scale point system, with opportunity to enhance while in post

Hours of work:   Full time. Some early morning and evening working required.

Location:             Better Bankside, Bankside Space, 18 Great Guildford Street, London SE1

Duration:             Permanent

Reporting to:      Director of Place

Job overview

Better Bankside is seeking a Placemaking Project Manager to deliver high quality, innovative and transformative projects that improve streets and public spaces in the Bankside neighbourhood.

BB is recognised as a leader and innovator in urban realm design, delivered through the award winning flagship projects - Bankside Urban Forest and the Low Line. Since BB’s inception in 2005, we have facilitated the development of over 50 projects to enhance the public realm, working collaboratively with local businesses, landowners, residents and public sector stakeholders.

The Placemaking Project Manager will be responsible for the evolution of the Bankside Urban Forest programme, working with the Director of Place and Sustainability Manager to plan our future programme of public realm interventions, including realising ambitious schemes along the length of the Low Line. The postholder will have the opportunity to make their mark by bringing forward new ideas as well as managing the portfolio of legacy projects.

The role will be responsible for embedding art and culture in our public realm interventions, ensuring the engagement of creative and cultural organisations, artists and designers, in the development and delivery of thoughtful and creative placemaking projects.

Adding greening and biodiversity in the neighbourhood is a priority for our member businesses and the wider community. The Placemaking Project Manager will work closely with our full time Urban Gardener on our approach to horticultural management, responsible for procuring and managing contracts to support maintenance of horticultural projects, ensuring contracts deliver excellence, and optimise social benefit. Additionally, the postholder will be expected to ensure that BB retains and builds on our Green Flag and London in Bloom awards for the Low Line and Bankside Urban Forest.

The postholder will be a champion for inclusivity in public spaces, ensuring the needs and ideas of our diverse communities are reflected in our approach to engagement, design and implementation of public realm schemes, to create projects that will develop more inclusive and healthy streets and open spaces.

Skills and experience

Essential:

·        Experience of initiating, developing, delivering and closing complex projects related to the economic wellbeing of commercial areas and/or the improvement of the public realm.

·        Demonstrable experience of developing collaborative project partnerships, with colleagues and external stakeholders from the public and private sector.

·        Experience of brief development, commissioning/delivering professional services contracts, and procuring or delivering capital works contracts related public spaces.  

·        An understanding of the planning system both in terms of strategy and policy at national, regional and borough level, and of the process for obtaining consent and secure improvements to public spaces.

·        Experience of developing innovative project ideas and delivering these through thoughtful public realm projects.

·        An understanding of potential funding sources to match fund place-based projects, excellent understanding of policy and practice, related to placemaking, urban design, sustainability in public realm projects, and green infrastructure.

Desirable

·        Experience of horticulture and an understanding of the value of green infrastructure in urban contexts in helping to mitigate climate change.

·        Experience securing match funding for projects, or of managing projects which included external funding sources.

·        Experience of engaging arts and cultural organisations in project delivery.

·        A qualification in a project management and/or build environment discipline.

·        Experience of managing employees and supporting their personal development.

Key responsibilities

• Developing a programme of public realm interventions to enhance the Bankside neighbourhood in collaboration with partners, ensuring delivery on time and on budget.

·        Commissioning design services and professional services associated with the development and implementation of public realm projects.

·        Promoting partnership working and collaboration. Foster a collaborative approach with colleagues and external partners, facilitating the engagement of member businesses, statutory and non-statutory organisations in the development and delivery of capital projects.

·        Coordinating stakeholder meetings as set out in BB’s governance arrangements, including the Placemaking theme group, Low Line officers group, and Low Line senior stakeholder group, producing associated documentation and taking minutes.

·        Engaging landowners of strategic development sites, and facilitating new development by coordinating responses from within the organisation on development proposals as a consultee to new schemes.

·        Keeping an up-to-date register of new developments, regularly updating key scheme information, including phasing information, to inform BB’s work.

·        Working with planning officers to determine local priorities for investment in public realm projects through planning gain (Section 106 and CIL) ensuring consents reflect funding allocations, making bids for funding where appropriate.

·        Developing bids for funding to external organisations, to match fund public realm project intervention, including reporting back to funders, and ensuring all funding conditions are met.

·        Developing horticultural and other related management and maintenance regimes for all public realm projects, ensuring they are safe and well maintained, working with the Urban Gardener to ensure horticultural excellence.

·        Line managing the BB Urban Gardener and the associated engagement programme in horticulture, including developing volunteering opportunities that enable local residents and employees to take part in managing the legacy of BB projects.

·        Working collaboratively with the Sustainability Manager, to development measures within the public realm that promote active travel and improve connectivity and inclusivity

·        Any other duties deemed to be within the remit of the post holder.

About Better Bankside

Vision Powered by the people of Bankside, Better Bankside will be an agent of change, leading innovative economic, environmental and social action to advance one of the world’s great neighbourhoods, bringing benefits to business and Banksiders.

Mission We will improve everyone’s experience of the neighbourhood by co-creating our programme with Banksiders, responding inventively to urban challenges, and celebrating the differences that define Bankside as London’s Other Side.

Better Bankside was one of the first Business Improvement Districts (BID) in the UK and was formally established in 2005. We are a partnership of local businesses, working closely with other community stakeholders to co-create a programme of projects and services that benefits the whole Bankside neighbourhood. Our core purpose is to support local businesses and make a positive impact in our community.

As a BID, we are funded by a mandatory levy on businesses within a defined boundary. BIDs are established through a ballot process, and every five years must return to their members to secure a majority vote in favour of their continuation. Our last ballot took place in November 2019, achieving overwhelming support from the business community, with 92% voting for another five years of Better Bankside.

Better Bankside is an organisation where you can make a real impact; and where you can expect to get involved in a wide-ranging programme of work. We are a small team of fifteen in the Bankside office, plus our wardens and street cleaning teams. The way we work with our members through our governance structure provides an extended network of regular collaborators and contributors.

Working arrangements

Better Bankside offers a flexible working policy. Mandatory core hours are 10am-4pm, Monday to Friday, with the ability to flex two hours to suit personal needs. Some evening and weekend work may be required in accordance with the needs of the post. Due to the local nature of the place-based nature of the work, it is expected the post holder will be based in the for a minimum of 3 days per week at our offices in Bankside

How to apply

At Better Bankside, we celebrate diversity and promote equality and inclusion through our work, within our staff team, and through our recruitment practices. We are working with Applied, an online platform which removes bias from the selection and recruitment process, with shortlisting undertaken without viewing candidate’s CVs, or viewing their personal information.

Closing date for applications: Monday 15th at 1 pm.

Interviews w/c August 22nd  

Start date: Immediate

Incomplete applications will not be considered. We regret that owing to the high level of response expected we will not be contacting applicants that are not shortlisted for interview. However, we are able to provide the shortlisting panels scoring against each question to candidates who request this information. Applicants must be able to evidence that they have the right to work in the UK.