Estates Director (Board Role)

The Company:

Our Client is a well established and leading operator in its field and its portfolio comprises of a mix of freehold and long leasehold properties.

They boast a variety of large and small industrial, office and retail properties in prime locations, all available on flexible lease terms and at competitive rents. They provide full facilities to c500 tenants. The business also has two primary residential estates managed by Managing Agents under contract. There are also several infrastructure and property development projects underway.

They are an open, friendly, professional organisation that places the customer at the centre of everything that they do. Our client offers an enjoyable but hard working environment where skills and experience are valued and where honesty and integrity is of the utmost importance.

The Position:

In this Board role reporting to the Managing Director and the Board of Directors the Estates Director will primarily be responsible for the profitable, efficient and safe operation of the commercial and residential estate.

The Estates Director will manage the day to day activities of the estate and provide good, effective leadership to their team whilst building a can do and customer focused culture. The Estates Director will provide regular reports to the Board on key performance matters, debt management, lease renewal and rent review performance, net effective rent, service charge recovery and existing building development and replacement plans. They will provide support for wider operational and infrastructure projects working as part of the senior team and be educated in the company’s lease and property matters so to identify, recount and articulate clearly, lease obligations and terms on request.

Other key responsibilities and duties will include

• To maximise returns through driving up net effective rents, accurately analysing and recovering service charges and managing costs.
• To ensure that the Estate Managers deliver a high quality and customer orientated service to their principal activities, commercial and residential tenants.
• To keep tenant voids as low as possible and manage and minimise tenant debt.
• To be the technical authority providing advice on all lease and property matters to the team, Board and Shareholders.
• To be accountable for the creation of the property estate budget, the delivery of all profit targets, service charge budgets and buildings planned preventative maintenance.
• To ensure that all lease renewals and rent reviews are undertaken on time and in the best interests of the company.
• To ensure that the profit potential of the future Estates portfolio is maximised by reference to both capital value and rental yield and also assessing the business opportunities.
• To bring forward estate building development and replacement plans that return best value to the Shareholders.
• To maintain estate occupancy over 90%.
• To manage all outsourced service relationships including but not limited to Residential Managing Agent (s) and ensuring that Board Meetings of the Management Companies are held to approve budgets, reconciliations and decisions.
• To manage business rates, electricity recharges, EPC/MEES and insurance recharges across the estate portfolio.
• Advise the Board on market conditions and appraisal parameters.
• To ensure internal processes are followed and adhered to in line with Company and Group policy and procedures. To provide good governance at all times, acting in the best interests of the company.
• To provide out of normal business hours emergency support as required.
• To be the senior lead on resolving tenant queries, questions and complaints and to drive a culture of “The customer is at the centre of what we do” amongst the estates team.
• To be accountable for the accounting functions relating to the team’s portfolio and ensure that effective monitoring is in place.
• To be accountable for compliance with Landlord Tenant Act and all legal and statutory compliance obligations at all times.
• Be responsible for appraising sites from a financial, design, construction and legal perspective using professional advisers as required.
• To maintain overall responsibility for the Health & Safety of the property portfolio, this includes the management of statutory compliance obligations and to be responsible for ensuring compliance with all HSE, legal and environmental regulations that apply to the operating business supported by the Head of Health, Safety and Environment.
• To carry out any other duties as directed by the Managing Director.

Performance Criteria

• Health & Safety, Legal and Environmental Compliance – To ensure all duties including those carried out by team members are carried out in accordance with the Company Health & Safety, Environmental and Fire Policies and to ensure that all training and statutory records are kept up to date. All risk assessments, method statements and operating procedures are understood and adhered to. To ensure compliance with all regulations and legal matters.
• Management System and ISO – Work to operational processes and systems in accordance with the quality management systems.
• Customer Service – Ensure all dealings with colleagues, customers, contractors and all other parties are carried out professionally and diligently.
• Brand – To operate in accordance with our clients Brand values.

The Estates Director will manage, motivate and inspire a team of four Estates professionals, Credit Controller and Facilities Manager.

The Candidate Profile

We are seeking to appoint an RICS qualified property professional with demonstrable experience in a Director (Board or non-Board) property or estate management role within a multi-site business.

The other key attributes sought are:

• Proven experience of lease negotiation and service charge management
• Well versed within the UK Planning System
• Commercially astute
• Able to provide demonstrable evidence of having led a team with positive culture and profit outcomes
• Experienced in Facilities Management and adherence to Statutory Compliance and legislation etc.
• Good presentation skills with confidence and gravitas
• Can demonstrate calm, factual and direct verbal communication working in a senior team or Board environment
• Have good IT skills
• Attention to detail, ability to multi-task, work to deadlines and well under pressure
• Ideally hold a Health & Safety qualification or can provide knowledge of estate management compliance matters.
• Flexible and acknowledgement that our client is a 24 hour per day/365 day per year business.

The Location:

Hampshire. The Estates Director must be located within commuting distance and able to travel as required.

The Salary & Supporting Benefits:

Attractive base salary based on experience, Bonus Scheme of up to 30% of salary, Car Allowance of £9,148.01, Family Private Health Cover, Pension – up to 6% Employers pension contribution providing Employee pays in 6% or more, Health Insurance Scheme for dental, optical etc, Discounts and 23 days holiday and Bank Holidays etc.

The above are principal elements in an attractive and comprehensive package reflecting our client’s determination to appoint a first class candidate.

It is our policy to practice equal opportunities in recruitment and selection for all candidates.

We have a responsibility to avoid unlawful discrimination.