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 you to join us as our Levelling Up Place Adviser.

You will be one of a team of Levelling Up Places Advisers in the Levelling Up Places Service, a DLUHC funded programme hosted by Historic England and Arts Council England.  You will provide coordinated advice to support a portfolio of Levelling Up Fund grant recipients/clients to achieve their funding objectives, both by advising directly and by drawing on expertise from the seven Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) and other partners.

You will work in partnership with your Levelling Up clients, the Levelling Up Place Coordinators and the Area Towns Groups (comprising the seven DCMS ALBs, representatives of the Cities and Local Growth Unit and, when required, other bodies such as Homes England and Active Travel England).  You will coordinate and deliver your advice alongside the Levelling Up Delivery Associates Network (appointed by DLUHC), who will advise on other aspects of these projects.  You will identify the support needs and advice you can provide as well as other available expertise and resources that may be offered as a package for each of your Levelling Up client authorities to aid their funded projects.  You will draw together services from relevant ALBs to deliver inter-agency support.  Your role will primarily be identifying opportunities to add value to proposals through culture, heritage, and sport, including enhancing attractiveness to visitors, and value for communities.

You may provide advice on topics such as:

• master-planning with culture, heritage and sport

• place-making and place-shaping using cultural, heritage and sporting assets

• collaborative community engagement and animating capital spaces/projects

• development economics (planning and real estate) with respect to heritage, sport or arts

• programme/project management (where cultural projects differ from standard practice)

• sustainable cultural programming and audience development

• retrofitting (zero carbon) measures

• planning consents.

You will support the ATG and partner organisations in providing advice on strategic cultural investment priorities for places, supporting strategic planning in partnership with the ATGs, bringing together DCMS ALBs to maximise the effectiveness of their support in building a consensus for investment priorities for future funding opportunities.

What you will be doing

To support the successful delivery of Levelling Up projects.

Develop relationships with a portfolio of Levelling Up clients to provide advice within your area of expertise.

Develop understanding of the projects you are advising on and identify areas where value can be added through integration of heritage, culture or sport.

Take the lead on discussions with local authorities and other key partners on the development and delivery of projects which use culture/heritage/sport to meet the Government’s levelling up ambitions, adding value to projects so that they can deliver well against criteria for available funding streams and wider policy objectives.

Provide helpful advice based on your own expertise and the coordination and communication of other expert advice from the DCMS ALBs.

Support the development of holistic plans for the management and sustainable development of places which make full use of cultural and heritage assets.

Using analytical, urban design and master planning skills to secure plans which will deliver thriving places where culture and heritage are preserved and enhanced, and people feel pride in their place.

Keep accurate records of support provided and customer satisfaction to support the Levelling Up Coordinators.

Review and comment on project specifications and briefs to tender.

Advocate for the impact of culture, heritage and sport in regeneration and levelling-up as an ambassador for the ALBs.

Support the core work of the ATG by working with partner organisations and the Arm’s Length Bodies to develop strategic approaches to cultural investment in places.

To undertake any other reasonable duties commensurate with the grade and competencies required of the post requested by line management.

Key relationships:

Working closely with the wider team of Levelling Up Place Advisers and Levelling Up Place Coordinators regarding enquiries and requests for support and to whom you will provide details of your advice for service delivery assessment.

Working with the Area Towns Group chairs and other members develop strong working relationships with a range of specialists within the DCMS Arm’s Length Bodies to secure support for your clients, whilst understanding their resource limitations and the need to prioritise.

Building close working relationships with the Levelling Up Place Advisers and colleagues in DCMS and DLUHC, including the Delivery Associates and area leads in Cities and Local Growth Unit, sharing good practice and demonstrating the impact of our support and coordinating advice across schemes.

Who we are looking for

• Skills and experience in developing and maintaining strong, credible partnerships with key internal and external stakeholders.

• General awareness of the policy areas covered by the DCMS ALBs

• The ability to absorb, analyse and present complex information

• Negotiation, influencing and problem-solving skills.

• Excellent communication and team working skills.

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% 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: 22nd May 2024

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

https://historicengland.org.uk/media/5qglxhn1/levelling-up-places-advisor.odt