Application Deadline: 3 December 2024
Department: Pride in Place
Location: Torbay Council
Compensation: £53,249 - £56,290 / year
Description
The salary includes an amount for a market supplement of £3485 per year. This market supplement is reviewed annually.
Job Description & Person Specification >
Torbay is an incredible place to live and work. With stunning coastline, rolling hills, great transport links, and access to a huge range of facilities both within our boundary and beyond – the English Riviera is a fantastic place to put down roots.
The sad fact, however, is that we are in a housing crisis. Too many households find themselves unable to find or afford a home for private rent; even fewer households find homeownership within their reach. As a result, demand for social housing is high, but with relatively little new supply coming through the planning system in recent years, local households are finding it increasingly difficult to secure a good quality home that they can afford. And without access to sustainable housing, key local employers struggle to secure the staff they need to thrive and grow.
We are a key part of the emerging Devon and Torbay Combined Councils' Authority, which will be coming into existence in the coming months. This will enable us to work with our partners throughout Devon to address some of the strategic issues that have prevented the growth we collectively need. Our aspiration is to use our devolution powers and funding to do even more to unlock housing delivery in partnership with key stakeholders.
Torbay Council is leading the way on a range of really exciting and innovative programmes to help solve the situation. We have secured large amounts of government investment to kick-start delivery on a range of complex regeneration sites in our town centres; we will be working to unlock some of our stalled sites that need a strategic intervention; we're building our first new 'council homes' in a generation; and, we're delivering our first truly innovative 'Hotels to Homes' project, with a second scheme to follow shortly. As a result of all this, we're beginning to see a change in the volume of future supply that's now coming forward.
But we need to do more. We need to encourage developers to bring forward good quality, sustainable housing schemes that meet local need and prioritise brownfield sites. We need to maximise the supply of affordable homes generated through the planning system. We need to do all we can to support the Registered Provider sector in Torbay so that they can deliver great sites with grant funding. And we need to deliver more homes ourselves again, for a range of local priority need groups.
To do all of this, we need to people to join us to help create and deliver innovative capital solutions that address our complex geographical and strategic constraints that make the most the opportunities we do have available. We also need people who can help us become part of the solution, by helping us deliver our emerging programme of 'council housing'.
This is an exciting time to join the new Strategic Housing & Delivery Service at Torbay Council. We will be recruiting a range of new posts in the coming months, including this Housing Delivery Manager position. In this role, we are looking for a passionate, driven, delivery specialist; someone that has a commercial or development background that can help us unlock stalled sites, acquire land and buildings, and deliver new build council homes - all of which will help us sustainably and consistently grow our affordable housing delivery rates over coming years.
Above all though, we are looking for a dedicated individual that can help us to help the residents of Torbay to secure somewhere to live that is affordable. We are looking for a creative thinker; a problem solver; and someone that can help us use every tool at our disposal to deliver the homes our residents need.
If this sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.
If you are viewing this advert on a job board, you can access the
full job description by placing the below URL into your browser:
https://www.torbay.gov.uk/council/jobs/job-descriptions/housing-delivery-manager/
For an informal chat please contact Sam Irving on 07972624806 or sam.irving@torbay.gov.uk.
Interviews are expected to be conducted during the week commencing 09th December 2024.
Our adverts do sometimes close early - even where there's a published deadline - so if you're keen, please apply as soon as possible.
Skills
Essential:
- Experience of working in a Local Authority, Registered Provider or commercial setting, delivering homes or strategic land opportunities.
- Ability to negotiate with a range of stakeholders, including senior members of an organisation, to secure growth.
- Confidence navigating complex political, legal (or company board) environments, to drive delivery and performance.
- Technical skill for unlocking growth, including setting up policies and procedures to 'industrialise' capital delivery.
- Strong track record of managing development viabiltiy, and securing necessary approvals for capital delivery.
As this post meets the requirements of the Immigration Act 2016 (part 7), the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post.
Knowledge
Essential:
- A housing delivery expert with a technical understanding of the delivery mechanisms for affordable housing.
- Technical understanding of the planning system, legislative framework for housing delivery, and RIBA Plan of Work stages.
Experience & Qualifications
Essential:
- A minimum of 3 years experience working in a relevant direct delivery/strategic land field.
- Membership of (or eligibility to join) the CIH, RTPI or RICS, or commitment to achieving membership as part of taking the role of taking the role.
- Highly literate and numerate with education to A-level (or equivalent) as a minimum; education to degree level or higher (or equivalent) would be advantageous.
