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 Head of Historic Building Climate Change Adaptation.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges we face globally. We must change how we live, work and behave if we are to limit further warming and avoid the worst impacts. This includes making changes to our historic buildings to ensure they remain safe and viable to be enjoyed by future generations. 

As Head of Historic Building Climate Change Adaptation, you will be a powerful and persuasive advocate on the appropriate methods of maintenance, repair and adaptation of the historic building stock for Net Zero and climate resilience. Working with key internal and external stakeholders and learning from others, you will be a visible leader, providing an authoritative voice on attaining the combined objectives of achieving a Net Zero emissions and climate resilient society while sustaining the values of the historic built environment.  This will include ensuring that appropriate decisions are made about adaptation and reuse versus new build, as well as retrofitting in ways that avoid harming heritage assets and people’s health through maladaptation or unintended consequences. 

We are looking for an architect or chartered building surveyor with extensive, appropriate and wide-ranging post-qualification experience in specifying works to upgrade traditional buildings to meet current regulations and standards.  A firm grasp of current climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental sustainability legislation and best practice and a willingness to keep abreast of changes is essential.

This is an exciting chance to join Historic England’s Technical Conservation Team and progress your career within the heritage sector.  While developing and sharing our approach to conservation, you will influence the national agenda for the benefit of the historic built environment.  

This post requires an inspirational leader who will

• Deliver authoritative evidence-based advice and guidance; & 

• Research work on best practice methods of maintenance, repair and adaptation to meet the challenges of climate change.

The location of this role is National where we offer hybrid working, you will be based in one of our following offices and from home - Newcastle, York, Manchester, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, Portsmouth and Cambridge. 

We offer a wide benefits package, including flexible working, a competitive pension scheme staring at 28% employer contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, options to buy additional leave, enhanced Maternity/Paternity/Shared Parental leave, subscriptions to professional bodies, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country together with training and Continued Professional Development (CPD) to support your professional career goals and aspirations. 

Salary

£50,736 - £55,000 per annum, dependant on location and experience

What you will be doing

We need you to join us and provide visible leadership by developing and promoting Historic England’s evidence-based specialist technical guidance for building adaptation for Net Zero and climate resilience while protecting significance and avoiding maladaptation.  You will develop and share our technical approach and position across Historic England and the wider sectors so we can influence the national agenda for the benefit of the historic built environment.

You will lead the delivery of authoritative evidence‑based advice and guidance on best practice methods of maintenance, repair and adaptation of the historic building stock for Net Zero and climate resilience. This will include ensuring our published technical guidance reflects current understanding and best practice, whilst being readily accessible to a broad spectrum of audiences.  You will provide timely technical advice and assistance to colleagues in the Policy Development Team to ensure our strategic advice to government in relation to adapting buildings for Net Zero and climate resilience is underpinned by evidence-based technical advice and guidance; to Regions teams to support our advisory and grant-giving role, and other key stakeholders and partners.

You will play a key role in leading a prioritised and targeted programme of research to develop the evidence base required to underpin the advice we give.  This will require liaison with colleagues and external stakeholders to identify the evidence gaps, ensuring all research reflects highest academic and professional standards. 

Working with the Policy Development Team to identify and contribute to relevant consultations and calls for evidence, taking the lead and coordinating the development of the technical components of our advice to government.  This may involve working through Policy Development colleagues when they are working with government on strategic issues, or it may involve working directly with government, including representing Historic England at meetings or on working groups, or leading and coordinating Historic England’s response to consultations, when they are specific to technical matters.

You will support Technical Conservation’s income generation targets by supporting the delivery of existing and any new income generation opportunities, which may include the delivery of cost-recovery training courses, paid‑for advice and service level agreements. 

As a leader you will identify the priorities for the team, and lead, manage, coordinate and direct their work to ensure they contribute effectively in support of the wider Departmental, Group and Corporate aims and objectives, taking responsibility for dealing effectively with all staff related matters.  Manage departmental, group, inter-group and corporate demands on the team in such a way as to balance resource and demand; participate in and contribute to the overall management and direction of the Technical Conservation Team through membership of the management team.

The role will involve travel to local offices and locations throughout England and due to the national remit of the role, attendance at meetings and site visits may involve overnight stays, sometimes of more than one consecutive night.

Who we are looking for

• Professional qualification in architecture or building surveying, with current ARB registration or chartered RICS membership

• Extensive, appropriate and wide-ranging post-qualification experience in specifying works to upgrade traditional buildings to meet current regulations and standards

• Appropriate & wide-ranging post-qualification experience in the conservation of historic buildings and structures, including diagnosing defects, together with a good understanding of the options for adaptation and the implications of intervention

• Experience of managing and delivering research projects, including management of consultants

• Strong written and oral communication skills

• Excellent proven negotiating and influencing skills to communicate with different audiences to drive positive outcomes and sustaining constructive relationships with external stakeholders.

• Experience of drafting technical reports, guidance, articles and reviewing and editing the work of others to provide clear advice

• Excellent team working and collaboration skills

If you would like an informal chat about the role, please email Sally Embree on sally.embree@historicengland.org.uk.

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 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.

Virtual Interview dates: 17th May 2024

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

https://historicengland.org.uk/media/ha5j5y5f/head-of-historic-building-climate-change-adaptation.odt