About the job

Job summary

Are you a built environment professional and enthusiastic about sustainability, equality, and the use of new digital technologies in construction? Are you interested in helping public sector bodies to understand their role in achieving value for money from their major construction projects?

If so, you might be interested in our Senior Construction Procurement Adviser post. This post sits within the Construction Procurement Policy Unit in the Property and Construction Division of the Scottish Procurement & Property Directorate. The purpose of the Unit is to build capable procurement and sustainable construction in Scotland: facilitating, supporting, and promoting good practice by collaborating with stakeholders.

 
The Property and Construction Division 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. The Division’s work is varied, fast-paced and high profile, involving regular contact with Ministers and senior stakeholders.

 

The Unit is responsible for the Scottish Government’s Construction Procurement Policy and its supporting guidance, the Client Guide to Construction Projects. The Unit’s remit includes sustainability, Fair Work, Quality, assurance, climate change, digital technologies, the Civils Framework, construction procurement and payment practices.

 

Unit members have an extensive network spanning Scotland, UK and overseas. They collaborate with other built environment specialists, clients, and industry in various Working Groups to embed Scottish Government’s Construction Procurement Policy.

 

We are a small team of built environment and policy professionals, comprising a Head of Construction Procurement Policy (a civil engineer), three Principal Construction Advisors (a quantity surveyor, a civil engineer and an architect to whom you will report), a Principal Construction Policy Adviser and a Senior Policy Officer (0.5 FTE) who the successful candidate will manage.

Pay Supplement
This post may attract a £3,250 pay supplement p.a. payable from the date of appointment for eligible candidates. Pay supplements are temporary payments designed to address recruitment and retention issues caused by market pressures and are subject to regular review.

Job description

• Leading and supporting the implementation and delivery of several construction procurement policy initiatives and projects across the whole life cycle, ensuring these align with Scottish Government’s Construction Procurement Policy and industry’s best practice. This will include reviewing and updating, as required, sustainable construction procurement, Fair Work, and the use of digital technologies guidance in our Client Guide to Construction Projects.

• Overseeing the development and application of a range of existing and emerging infrastructure digital technologies, including Building Information Modelling to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the delivery of construction and infrastructure projects and programmes.

• Developing positive and effective relationships with key (internal and external) cross – sector partners and stakeholders to build credibility, ensuring Construction Procurement Policy is focused and sustainable. This will include industry, policy, and professional bodies particularly in relation to sustainable construction procurement and Fair Work in construction.

• Providing professional advice and support to Ministers, Senior Civil Servants, and colleagues at meetings on a range of construction procurement policy initiatives that support improvement in the performance, competency, capability, and culture of the built environment community.

• Representing the Construction Procurement Policy Unit at cross-portfolio Directors’ meetings, Ministerial portfolio meetings, cross-partner and other senior level meetings and working groups, providing advice and direction on a regular basis. For example, participating in the Construction Leadership Forum’s Net Zero working group and the Fair Work Working Group and in the Scottish Construction Accord’s Transformation Action Plan’s Working Group for Sustainability.

• Maximising the effective use of data, ensuring that the impact of learning is measured to identify most appropriate methods of delivery to improve operational efficiency.

• Managing the Senior Policy Officer, including overseeing the drafting and handling of briefing, FOI responses and correspondence work.

Person specification

Qualifications
You must hold a degree level qualification in built environment and current membership of a relevant professional body together with up-to-date relevant CPD. Other qualifications equivalent to these may also be acceptable, if you are in any doubt please discuss with Fiona Munn or Graham Porteous; contact details are provided below.

Essential Criteria
1. Full corporate membership of the RIAS, RIBA, RICS and/or ICE and compliant CPD, or equivalent and extensive knowledge of current construction/infrastructure processes, such as contract management, tendering processes.
2. Ability to work under own initiative, responding to competing demands to prioritise and manage a varied workload to meet deadlines with a history of basing decisions and actions on analysis of evidence drawn from a range of sources, while recognising wider policy and political implications.
3. Excellent people skills and the ability to develop effective working relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders and communicate simply and succinctly, describing complex issues, both orally and in writing, at all levels.
4. Ability to lead the design, development, delivery, and evaluation of flexible and innovative projects that engage partners and stakeholders and positively impact on the Scottish Government’s Construction Procurement Policy.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,449, Scottish Government contributes £12,271 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. Please apply using the link provided

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.