Summary

We are the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them.

Historic England have a fantastic opportunity for two people to join us as our Senior Structural Engineers as part of the Technical Conservation Team in the National Specialist Services department.

National salary £43,000 - £45,150 pro-rata

The Technical Conservation Team in the National Specialist Services department specialises in the care, repair and conservation of buildings, structures and landscapes. We set standards and provide specialist technical services and strategic leadership on all aspects of the care, repair, maintenance and adaptation of the historic built environment.  We do this by developing and promoting evidence-based technical policy, standards and best practice and by providing specialist guidance within Historic England, to the English Heritage Trust through a shared service agreement and to the wider historic environment.

In this role you will take an active role in promoting the specific sympathetic approaches required when applying structural engineering solutions to all aspects of the historic environment.

The location of this role is either Swindon, York, Newcastle, Manchester or Birmingham with hybrid working where you will be based in one of the offices and from home.

What you will be doing

Technical expertise and advice. Deliver high quality expert advice and guidance on structural engineering within the historic built environment.  This will include providing timely advice and assistance to the Regional Delivery teams, in relation to statutory consent applications and grants for listed buildings and scheduled monuments, and buildings and structures in conservation areas.  Contribute as intelligent client to quality control of all relevant grant-aided projects, casework advice, external commissions and tenders let through the Business Improvement Team or via other routes.

Income generation. Support the delivery of structural engineering advice and services to staff within English Heritage Trust through a shared service agreement, including where appropriate, acting as the project engineer on schemes, identifying and assessing problems, determining the need for repairs, recommending action, providing or procuring fully worked up engineering schemes and supervising the implementation of the work on site.   Where identified and agreed with the Structural Engineering Team Leader contribute to cost-recovery training courses, paid-for advice or additional income generating work streams.

Evidence Gathering. Take an active part in the Technical Conservation Team’s research programme as required, identifying where strategic investigations and data analysis is required to provide persuasive evidence for the ongoing development of innovative structural engineering solutions applicable to historic built environment, ensuring that any research required of this evidence gathering reflects the highest academic and professional standards. 

Capability. Support the team’s role as a centre of specialist knowledge in structural engineering in respect of the historic environment. This will include identifying and testing new and existing approaches in respect to structural engineering and taking an active role in promoting awareness of the specific sympathetic approach required when working in the historic environment.

Capacity Building. Support the Structural Engineering Team Leader in identifying and sharing best practice in respect of structural engineering within the historic environment, including the development and delivery of training where appropriate. This will include liaison with professional bodies impacting on Historic England’s work regarding standards of practice, research, publication and CPD training needs.

Financial and Compliance Management. Ensure our legal obligations and the expectations set out in our policies are met, including health & safety, equality & diversity, finance, procurement, information security and managing people. 

Profile. Represent Historic England, where appropriate, on external committees, steering groups and working parties concerned with conservation engineering in relation to the historic built environment.  Contribute to maintaining and promoting Historic England’s profile by participating in debate and discussions and through agreed lecturing, and public speaking.

Team activities. Take part in, and contribute to, general team activities including:

• Supervise subordinate staff and evaluate their training needs

• Attend regular team meetings, contributing to the development of the team and providing updates on progress on allocated responsibilities

• Assist the Structural Engineering Team Leader in agreeing and setting targets and monitoring outputs as part of the Corporate Planning process

• Deputise for the Structural Engineering Team Leader as required.

Other Tasks. To carry out other tasks that may be assigned by the Structural Engineering Team Leader.

Please note that:

• this role includes the requirement to travel to sites, many of which are in remote locations and may not be served by public transport.

• the work will be predominantly based in the north of England/Midlands, but due to the nature of the role and required attendance at sites and offices, there may be occasions which would necessitate further travel or overnight stays.

• the role will also involve work that is at times in exposed and/or difficult terrain such as construction sites.  The ability to climb scaffolding is essential.

Who we are looking for

• Relevant work experience, knowledge and education

• Experience working with historic buildings

• Ability to identify key issues and risks involved in working on historic building projects

• Ability to adopt a complex engineering solution to a stakeholder

• Ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines for competing priorities

• Ability to build consensus

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive pension scheme starting at 28% employer contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England want all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process. Please tell us what we can do to make sure you can show us your very best self. You can contact us by email at recruitmentTeam@Historicengland.org.uk if you have any recruitment queries. 

To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.

Interview dates: Week commencing 15th July 2024

Please follow the link for a full copy of the Job Description –

https://historicengland.org.uk/media/k5bbldtf/senior-structural-engineer.odt