Are you an experienced Estates engineering and infrastructure professional who enjoys tackling complex operational challenges, building strong partnerships and delivering measurable improvements?
East London NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an Interim Senior Estates Manager to lead a focused 12-month improvement programme at the City & Hackney Centre for Mental Health, located within the Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust estate.
This is not a business-as-usual Estates management role.
It is a unique opportunity to take ownership of a high-profile improvement programme, bringing together ELFT, Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT), suppliers and local clinical teams to improve maintenance performance, strengthen compliance oversight, resolve longstanding operational issues and enhance the experience of staff and service users.
You'll join a progressive Estates team responsible for more than 130 sites across London, Luton and Bedfordshire, helping us deliver safe, sustainable and patient-focused environments that support outstanding healthcare.
Main duties of the job
Key responsibilities include:
* Leading the management and improvement of Estates and Facilities services with a focus on engineering and infrastructure.
* Taking ownership of longstanding issues and driving actions
* Improving responsiveness, service visibility and stakeholder confidence .
* Leading work to address recurring infrastructure issues, identifying root causes and implementing sustainable solutions.
* Strengthening oversight of PPM, statutory compliance and lifecycle replacement programmes.
* Supporting asset validation, condition assessments and the development of accurate asset and maintenance records.
* Monitoring maintenance performance, analysing trends and implementing improvement actions.
* Managing partner, contractor and service provider performance to ensure agreed standards and value for money.
* Supporting the development of revised service level agreements, performance measures and governance arrangements.
* Providing leadership and support to local Estates teams, including clarification of roles and responsibilities.
* Working closely with clinical, operational and facilities colleagues to improve the patient, service user and staff environment.
* Acting as the Estates lead for the mobilisation and operational embedding of the HHFT Soft FM contract.
* Identifying and embedding sustainable operational improvements that remain in place beyond the life of the fixed-term appointment.
(Please see the job description for the full range of responsibilities.)
About us
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job responsibilities
ELFT Estates is seeking to appoint a Senior Estates Manager on a fixed term basis for 12 months to support and drive targeted improvements across the City & Hackney Centre for Mental Health located at HHFT.
This is a time-limited improvement and delivery role, established to provide dedicated operational focus, coordination and performance oversight between ELFT, Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) and CBRE.
The post is intended to address known operational challenges, improve accountability and communication, strengthen estate management processes, and support delivery of measurable improvements across the ELFT retained estate and service interface. The role will drive the development of stronger working relationship between the two Trusts to support cost and workforce efficiencies
The role is not intended to become a permanent business-as-usual management function. Its purpose is to deliver focused improvement activity, embed revised processes and governance arrangements, and leave behind a more stable, clearly defined and better performing maintenance and compliance environment.
Funding for the role has been confirmed and approved by the Chief Financial Officer.
The role will support a culture of care, respect, collaboration and continuous improvement, recognising the direct impact that safe, responsive and well-maintained environments have on patient care, staff wellbeing and service user experience
2. Key Objectives and Areas of Focus
The Interim Senior Estates Manager will act as the dedicated operational lead between Borough leadership, ELFT & HHFT Estates and external contractors / CBRE for maintenance, estates operational matters and service coordination relating to the ELFT demise at Homerton.
Act as the Estates key contact for the mobilisation and operational embedding of the HHFT Soft FM contract, ensuring effective coordination, communication and issue resolution during the mobilisation and transition period.
Take ownership of longstanding operational issues and workstreams, ensuring actions are progressed through to completion with clear accountability, communication and escalation where required.
Support improvements to the service user and staff environment by driving resolution of recurring estate issues, improving communication and increasing visibility of estates services across the site.
Lead and coordinate targeted work relating to recurring drainage and blockage issues, including identification of trends, root causes, escalation routes and long-term improvement actions in partnership with HHFT and CBRE.
Identify areas of poor responsiveness, delayed resolution or ineffective communication across estates and facilities services, implementing practical improvements to processes, escalation arrangements and service visibility.
Undertake asset validation and asset data improvement activity to support establishment of accurate and reliable asset registers for the ELFT retained estate.
Support the development of improved estate condition intelligence, including condition establishment, backlog identification, trend analysis and prioritisation of recurring maintenance issues.
Review and report on maintenance performance data, reactive trends, repeat failures and service response times to identify improvement opportunities and support performance management.
Oversee and support Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) delivery, statutory compliance activity and lifecycle replacement planning in conjunction with HHFT and CBRE.
Support improvement and clarification of roles, responsibilities and operational boundaries across estates teams, including embedded handyperson arrangements.
Provide direct supervision and short-term oversight of embedded handyperson functions to ensure role clarity, consistency of approach and clear communication regarding scope, limitations and escalation routes, avoiding inappropriate reliance or task allocation outside agreed remit.
Support the review, implementation and embedding of any revised Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and associated reporting arrangements.
Drive improvements in communication, operational responsiveness and service visibility across both hard and soft FM services.
Support establishment of clearer governance, reporting and escalation arrangements between ELFT, HHFT and contracted service providers.
Work closely with local operational teams, clinical services and facilities colleagues to improve confidence, responsiveness and visibility of estates and facilities services.
Support a collaborative and respectful working culture between organisations and teams, reflecting ELFTs values and commitment to partnership working.
Identify process inefficiencies and implement practical operational improvements that can be sustained following completion of the fixed-term appointment.
The postholder will be expected to deliver measurable improvements during the fixed-term period, including:
Improved visibility and accuracy of ELFT asset information and maintenance records.
Clearer operational interfaces and responsibilities between Borough leadership, ELFT & HHFT Estates and CBRE / external contractors.
Reduction in recurring and unresolved maintenance issues.
Improved response times, communication and service coordination.
Improved management and oversight of recurring drainage and blockage issues.
Improved experience for service users and staff through more responsive and visible estates support.
Strengthened oversight of compliance, PPM and lifecycle activity.
Defined handyperson operating model, boundaries and communication arrangements.
Improved reporting and performance monitoring processes.
Support for successful mobilisation and embedding of the HHFT Soft FM contract arrangements.
Recommendations for longer-term operational sustainability and governance following completion of the post.
The role will operate in a highly collaborative manner across organisational boundaries and will require strong operational leadership, stakeholder management, performance management and problem-solving capability within a complex healthcare environment.
Person Specification
* Educated to a Master Degree level or equivalent experience with working knowledge of managing a team and the understanding of service performance from contracted service providers.
* Used to working under pressure and change.
* Practical on-site management of maintenance and or installations
Previous Experience
* Substantial Health Service experience within Estates & Facilities functions, or similar environments
* Quality Performance Monitoring understanding using various methods - e.g., Electronic Data systems.
* To have substantial Operational experience of delivery and managing a Hard FM / Maintenance service and dispute resolution through contract performance.
Skills & Abilities
* Highly developed negotiating skills and able to manage disputes to resolution.
* Excellent Communicator - oral and in writing
* Highly effective organisational skills
* Ability to understand a complex multi - million pound contract to support the Contract Manager with local issues.
* Ability to communicate at all levels - this would include Patient Groups as well as patients & all staff.
* Experience of Managing a Team of people.
Knowledge
* Understanding of maintaining/writing Estates & Facilities Policies and procedures to ensure compliance.
* Knowledge of Minor Projects in a supporting role.
* Trained in a capacity to manage and maintain Health & Safety guidelines within the Directorate in a supporting role and to ensure team compliance.
* Full knowledge and understanding of the Operational requirements of delivering a Hard FM service
As Per JD
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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