About the job

Job summary

An opportunity has arisen for the post of Professional Project Lead to support the Glasgow Office Project (GOP) Director in the delivery of a new purpose-built net zero carbon office Hub in Glasgow city centre for Scottish Government together with a number of its Public Bodies.

The GOP aims to consolidate the Scottish Ministers’ Glasgow estate from 5 buildings into 1 smaller, exemplar, energy efficient building designed to support new inclusive hybrid working policies, foster greater collaboration between departments, and to deliver financial efficiencies and value to the public purse in providing an accessible and modern working environment.

A dedicated project team is being created to deliver the Project reflecting the scale, complexity and range of activity that will be required to deliver the various stages of the project. The team will sit within the Property & Construction Division (PCD) of Scottish Government reporting to the Chief Surveyor/Deputy Director of PCD (Senior Responsible Officer for the Project) and be aligned with the governance of the Single Scottish Estate (SSE) Programme.

The SSE will support a more efficient approach to public sector property management, optimising costs and estate footprint, enabling the delivery of excellent public services The programme supports publicly-funded bodies to work across organisational boundaries to co-locate, share on-site services wherever possible, make best use of technology and changes in working practices to optimise the estate footprint, release surplus space and enable bodies to step towards a net zero estate. This work is aligned to Public Service Reform and to deliver a commitment in Programme for Government.

PCD leads, enables and delivers the best public sector property and construction procurement policy for Scotland, improving the work of property and procurement professionals and the stewardship of Scottish Ministers built assets to deliver social and economic outcomes aligned to Scotland’s National Performance Framework. PCD’s work is varied, fast-paced and high profile, and involves regular contact with Ministers and senior stakeholders and the postholder will have access to expertise across the division and beyond.

The division currently includes three other teams: Construction Procurement Policy Unit (CPPU), Property Finance and Support and Property Services.

Job description

The Professional Project Lead will be managed by the GOP Director and also work closely with the SSE Programme Director and Programme Manager, to align the project with the overall SSE programme objectives and outcomes.

This role will include, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities: 

• Supporting the SRO and Project Director where required, ensuring that effective and accurate information is provided and questions from Ministers, SG Executive Team, GOP Board and stakeholders can be answered fully and timeously.

• Having overall responsibility for the commercial activities related to the project, ensuring value for money is achieved.

• Providing authoritative and robust commercial property advice and assurance during the commercial heads of terms negotiations, including clear instructions to the Scottish Ministers’ appointed legal team.

• Owning and influencing stakeholder relationships to ensure end user needs are understood and accurately specified, communicating between the bodies and the Project Team.

• Oversee the development and implementation of the interim Glasgow estate strategy, supporting and aligning stakeholders with security of tenure over existing premises through to delivery of the new GOP facility; appointing and managing external suppliers as appropriate, developing appropriate business cases, instructing solicitors where appropriate and reporting on progress to the Project Director making sure that costs, budgets, plans are controlled and implemented.

• Lead support, monitor and report on progress of the Project delivery workstreams to ensure collective requirements are accurately captured and delivered during the design and implementation of the construction and fit-out phases.

• Support the development of reporting and briefing materials, ensuring they are accurate and timely and deputising for the Project Director where required.

• Having responsibility for stakeholder management and benefits realisation, ensuring that benefits are identified, understood, measured, tracked and owned, and there is an appropriate Benefits Realisation Strategy in place to monitor the longer-term delivery of benefits against the business case.

Person specification

The successful candidate will be educated to degree level in a property related discipline, holding a current professional membership (e.g., RICS, RTPI etc with evidence of up to date relevant CPD) and must have extensive experience in office development and commercial property acquisition on behalf of occupiers.

Essential Criteria

It is essential that the Professional Project Lead:

1. Is a capable Senior Leader with experience of complex project delivery demonstrating the ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams, working collaboratively at a strategic level, to drive successful project delivery.

2. Brings experience of negotiating, influencing and persuading at a senior level to achieve required results. 

3. Demonstrates success in improving project delivery, with an ability to work and make decisions independently, but within clear guidelines, understanding when it is appropriate to escalate issues. 

4. Ensures evidence-based decision-making to deliver the best commercial results and end user facility, providing scrutiny and challenge to all relevant data when required.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £73,757, Scottish Government contributes £19,914 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

Sift and Interview dates TBC.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.