About the job

Job summary

The Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017 was the greatest loss of life in a residential fire since the Second World War. It was a tragedy with a local, national and international impact as well as a very personal one for all of those directly affected. As a result of the fire 72 people lost their lives. DLUHC have led the Government’s contribution to the response and recovery.

The then Prime Minister gave her personal commitment that the bereaved, survivors and community would determine the most fitting and appropriate way to remember those who lost their lives.

In September 2019 the independent Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission (GTMC) was established to support the community in setting its vision for the site. In the interim, Government is responsible for operational decisions on the safety and security of the Grenfell tower site.

This role sits within the Grenfell Site and Programme (GS&P) whose function is to manage the site, be the key point of engagement for the community and relevant public authorities and support the independent GTMC. The priority of the programme is to work towards delivering the vision of the GTMC for a lasting memorial on the site of the tower, support the recovery of the Grenfell affected communities and to work towards a Ministerial decision on the future of the tower which is evidence-based, informed by the advice of public authorities and technical experts, and ensures the community is engaged at every stage.

The GTMC have recently published their second report setting out recommendations based on four years of work with the community on their vision for the future design of the memorial.

This role will lead on the Government’s practical delivery of the memorial, ensuring it aligns with the community’s vision. Given the unique nature of this work and the timelines expected to be involved, the successful candidate should be willing to commit in principle to undertaking the role for a minimum of three years.

We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work.

Job description

The role will have lead responsibility for coordinating the delivery of the Memorial. In the design phase you will work (as the departmental lead) alongside the independent GTMC’s Secretariat to develop the Memorial project team, appointing and managing the work of key experts to support the design development. Once implementation is initiated you will be the key contact for the contractors on site and will be responsible for managing these commercial relationships (making sure they are meeting their KPI’s), monitoring progress and raising concerns to the Deputy Director managing the work. Areas of responsibility, are not limited to but will include:

· Contract Management: To manage the contracts needed for all aspects associated with the preparation, design competition process, final design, supervision, construction, financial control and certification of construction and civil engineering works undertaken for the memorial. Including making sure that the right expertise are in place to deliver the work.

· Business Case development: Developing any business cases required to manage the work for the memorial project

· Stakeholder Management: To support the delivery of the memorial work alongside the continuing role of the GTMC and its secretariat to assure that delivery of the memorial progresses in line with the vision set out by the community, proactively engage, and raise concerns as appropriate. Provide professional technical construction and project management advice, set direction and make recommendations to maintain DLUHC’s compliance with guidelines and statutory duties.

· Managing risks and issues: Being responsible for strategic risks working with the risk and issues manager to identify and raise concerns, implement controls, and manage actions for mitigation.

· Reporting Accountability: As a major project the programme will have several reporting requirements that will be led through this role, feeding in key milestones, summaries and information as required to update on progress.

· Leadership, Guidance and Support: lead the recruitment and development of the memorial project team, provide support, guidance and coaching for the project team. Show commitment to personal development. Promote effective individual and team performance.

· Planning permission: Work alongside the Department’s planning team and the local council RBKC (Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) to obtain necessary planning permission ahead of construction.

Person specification

The successful candidate will be:

· A project delivery professional with relevant construction experience and knowledge of risk and delivery in complex environments. 

· A strong leader with the gravitas to confidently undertake the responsibilities of the role

· A skilled collaborator, building productive relationships across the programme and beyond with key external stakeholders and crucially community representatives, maintaining access and credibility to meet common objectives.

· Commercially astute particularly in the construction industry

· Adaptable and able to tailor approaches and communication styles to different audiences

· A visible leader who is proactive and acts as a driving force behind the project

· A strong project manager, possessing effective decision-making skills.

· Effective communicator, both verbal and written with strong engagement skills

· Able to combine realism with openness and the clarity of expression to support cohesive working environments, communicate the project objectives and ultimately the programme’s vision and aims effectively.

· Focused on delivery of the objectives and achievement of the end goal.

Essential criteria:

· Project and construction management

· Delivery in complex and challenging environments

· Delivering a construction project

Desirable Criteria: 

A Bachelors or Masters degree in Project or Construction Management, Quantity Surveying or Civil Engineering is highly desirable

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £67,889, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £16,631 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

We are for everyone 

 

At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation. 

  

We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role.  

 

We are for everyone 

 

DLUHC want to bring in a diverse workforce at all levels.  

 

Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).  

 

At application stage you will be asked to upload a CV document. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage. 

 

Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions for example all candidates’ responses to ‘Seeing the Big Picture’ rather than seeing a candidate’s full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.  

 

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors. 

 

When writing your application, remember: 

• The assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially.  
• Do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers.  
• If talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!) 

 

 

At sift, we will be assessing 

Experience question (Lead criteria): In no more than 250 words, tell us about your preferred approach to managing complex project risks and how you have applied them in a construction environment

Technical question: In no more than 250 words, please outline your relevant experience in delivering complex construction projects 

Behaviour 1 - Seeing the big picture 

Behaviour 3 - Making Effective Decisions 

There is a 250 word limit per question. 

 

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progress straight to assessment/interview  

 

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:    

Behaviours–  Seeing the big picture, Making Effective Decisions and Communicating and influencing

Experience 

Strength 

The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.  

As part of the interview candidates may be expected to prepare a short presentation to assess you against behaviour - Communicating and Influencing. Further details of the presentation will be shared in advance of the interview.

 

In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements: 

 

Behaviours: (Seeing the big picture, Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing)  

Technical: (Yes) 

Experience: (Yes)

Strengths: (Yes) 

We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs 

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign. 

Grade 6 salary 

• The salary for this role is £67,889 (London) or £61,599 (National). 

• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges. 

 
Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.   

 

BENEFITS: 

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018: 
Any move to DLUHC from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk 

For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. 

  

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: 

• London 

 

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role. 

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

Sifting is envisaged to take place from 18/01/24 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall. 

Reserve List 
 
In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list. 

CTC (Counter-terrorism Clearance): 

Important note 

 
Successful candidates for roles based in our 2 Marsham Street building must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete. 
 
Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the CTC security checks – this requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 3 years. Please refer to the DLUHC Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Counter Terrorism Clearance (CTC). Thank you. 
 
Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office. In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by DLUHC. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database. 

 

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules 

 

Internal Fraud Database 

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.  

For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register 

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.