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Technical Director to support Hard FM operations (6 to 12 month contract)
Location: Central London campus. Expect 3 to 4 days on site each week, with the balance worked remotely. Reports to: To a senior member of the client’s estates leadership team, with LCMB oversight. Package: Day rate contract, or a fixed-term appointment on LCMB’s payroll. Terms will be agreed with the successful candidate.
About:
LCMB Building Performance Ltd is a specialist building performance consultancy. We advise organisations in higher education, healthcare, commercial property and the public sector on estates strategy, facilities management, compliance, energy and net zero delivery, and major capital programmes. Our work is data-led and focused on measurable outcomes: safer, more reliable, more efficient buildings.
We are a small, experienced team based in Oxfordshire, working with high-profile clients across the UK. This role is delivered through LCMB on behalf of our client.
Role:
LCMB is seeking an experienced Technical Director to support Hard FM operations for one of our Higher Education clients in central London, on an interim basis for six to twelve months.
This is a senior, hands-on leadership role covering a large, complex, multi-site urban campus. You will hold act as the senior technical authority for the executive and academic community, supporting on a number of strategic operational and infrastructure investment projects.
Your work will include:
You will report to a senior member of the client’s estates leadership team, be supported by the LCMB FM operational team and be a visible member of the estates senior management group. The role covers the full strategic operational and infrastructure project across the campus, including:
- Engineering and building services: mechanical, electrical, public health, vertical transportation, BMS and controls, lifts and specialist plant, including laboratory and research environments.
- Utilities and energy: electricity, gas, water, heat networks and standby power, together with resilience planning and energy performance.
- Planned and reactive maintenance, asset management, lifecycle and backlog maintenance planning.
- Statutory and regulatory compliance across the estate, including fire, water hygiene, gas, electrical, asbestos, lifts and pressure systems.
- Minor works and small capital projects delivered through the operations team, technical input to major capital schemes, and the operational interfaces with security, cleaning, grounds and logistics services.
- Provide senior technical and operational leadership, setting priorities and standards for a multi-disciplinary in-house team and outsourced service partners.
- Support statutory compliance and health and safety performance for the operational estate, including governance, reporting, audit response and remediation of findings.
- Manage operational budgets running to several million pounds, including maintenance, utilities and minor works, and drive value for money from contracts and suppliers.
- Guide the management of hard FM and specialist contracts, including performance management, variations and re-procurement where required, and maintain resilience and business continuity for critical infrastructure, including incident response and out-of-hours escalation.
- Provide technical assurance to capital projects and estates strategy, including design reviews, commissioning and handover, and support the client’s carbon reduction and energy performance objectives.
- Build effective working relationships with academic departments, professional services, students’ representatives and external stakeholders, and represent the estates function at senior governance forums.
- Ensure a smooth handover on completion of the assignment, leaving clear documentation, plans and priorities for the permanent post-holder.
About you:
You will be able to demonstrate:
Essential
- Substantial senior leadership experience in estates or campus operations for a large, complex organisation, ideally in higher education, healthcare, research or another 24/7 public-facing environment.
- A strong engineering or building services background, with a degree or equivalent and chartered status or equivalent professional standing (for example CIBSE, IET, IMechE, RICS or IWFM).
- Demonstrable ownership of statutory compliance and health and safety across a large estate, with a working knowledge of the relevant UK regulations and guidance.
- Experience managing multi-million-pound operational budgets and large hard FM or engineering contracts.
- Track record of leading in-house teams and outsourced service partners through periods of change.
- Credibility with senior executives and academic stakeholders, with clear, concise written and verbal communication.
- Availability to start within a short notice period and to commit to a six to twelve month assignment.
Desirable
- Experience within a university or research-intensive environment, including laboratory and specialist facilities.
- Experience of interim or transition roles, including stabilising teams and handing over to a permanent appointee.
- Knowledge of heat networks, decarbonisation programmes and energy performance in operational estates.
- NEBOSH or equivalent health and safety qualification.
Why this role is different:
Interim technical appointments are often about holding the line until a permanent post-holder arrives. This one is not. You will be the senior technical authority for a central London campus that runs around the clock, spanning research laboratories and specialist plant, heat networks and standby power, and a backlog and lifecycle position with investment decisions attached. You will be expected to make those calls, not set out the options and wait.
The role is also visible. You will sit in the estates senior management group and report to the client’s estates leadership, so you will be in the room when priorities are set and accountable for the technical advice that shapes them. You will work directly with academic departments, professional services and students’ representatives, where problems with the estate are felt daily and reported bluntly.
Unlike most interim appointments, you will not be doing it alone. LCMB’s FM operational team supports the role and provides oversight, giving you specialist input, peer challenge and a second opinion on the difficult judgements. You bring the seniority and take the decisions; we make sure you are not the only person carrying them.
The assignment is also meant to leave something behind. Success is not a stable estate for six to twelve months. It is a clear compliance position, a maintenance and lifecycle plan that stands up to scrutiny, and a successor who inherits an estate in better order than you found it.
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