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Rural Surveyor

Employer
The National Trust
Location
Exeter
Salary
£40,000 per annum
Closing date
23 Apr 2023

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Job Details

Rural Surveyor

Salary: £40,000 per annum

Contract type: Fixed Term f/t (37.5 hrs pw for 24 mo)

Closing date: 23 April 2023

Address: Killerton, Exeter, EX5 3LE

Summary

We're looking for a Rural Surveyor to join us in Devon on a two-year fixed term contract. You will be supporting the Estate Manager in delivering our strategy for making more space for nature and people. As part of this the role will focus on the land management transformation and commercial development, including adaptive reuse of redundant buildings.  As such you will need to be knowledgeable in conservation with an entrepreneurial approach to rural surveying. Managing change in the rural landscape, your colleagues will look to you for up-to-the-minute advice and guidance. This is a hybrid opportunity; we are happy to explore and agree working arrangements which strike the right balance for you and the Trust. During the initial training period there is a requirement to frequently be based onsite, however longer term, we anticipate you being onsite as and when needed. Due to the travel required for this role, you must hold a full driving license with access to your own vehicle, business mileage claimable through expenses.We are offering a salary circa £40,000 per annum. 

What it's like to work here

Working across North Devon, split between the North Devon coast and countryside sites and the Arlington Court Estate. Your working week will be dynamic, some days being in the office with ranger teams, to being out on site with farm tenants as part of a number of exciting nature-based projects. As well as supporting day-to-day operations, you’ll have the chance to support and deliver a variety of projects and offer your advice beyond your team. Creating a healthy, resilient, natural environment for enjoyment by the nation is one of the Trust’s biggest priorities. The portfolio has ambitious plans, and you will be a key part of helping to make these happen. 

What you'll be doing

Building upon the relationships we have with our tenants as land management delivery partners, you will provide insightful advice, considerate relationship management and initiating forward thinking approaches to managing and conserving our land and buildings. Agreeing and progressing access rights and boundary disputes, conception and progression of diversification opportunities, working with restrictive covenants and occasional valuations, acquisitions and disposals.

Who we're looking for

  • A member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors           
  • Good knowledge of land use, agriculture, asset management and land management
  • Good working knowledge and experience in environmental issues, conservation, sustainable development and approaches to regenerative farming
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills including influencing and negotiating
  • Proven ability to analyse, interpret and resolve rural surveying problems using technical knowledge, implementing workable solutions
  • Strong demonstrable consulting skills: listening, building trust and acting to deliver a high-quality service

The package

The National Trust has the motto ‘For everyone, for ever’ at its heart. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. It’s important that our people reflect and represent the diversity of the communities and audiences we serve. We welcome and value difference, so when we say we’re for everyone, we want everyone to be welcome in our teams too.

  • Substantial pension scheme of up to 10% basic salary
  • Free entry to National Trust properties for you, a guest and your children (under 18)
  • Tax free childcare scheme
  • Rental deposit loan scheme
  • Season ticket loan
  • Perks at work discounts i.e. gym memberships, shopping discount codes, cinema discounts
  • Holiday allowance up to 32 days relating to length of service, plus holiday purchase scheme, subject to meeting minimum criteria.
  • Flexible working whenever possible
  • Employee assistance programme
  • Free parking at most locations
  • Independent financial advice

Click here to find out more about the benefits we offer to support you.

Company

The National Trust has over 255,000 hectares of land, of which about 80% is farmed by tenants. We also have 4,133 rented cottages, 1,978 commercial tenancies, 1,806 agricultural tenancies, 1,014 way leaves and easements and an investment and operational property portfolio valued at £82.87m, of which £66.35m is specified as investment property.

The management of these tenancies and assets, together with the relationship with our tenants, underpins our £40m+ annual rental income and is absolutely essential to the delivery of our conservation work.

Build our future

Think you know what it means to work in building surveying at the National Trust? Think again. As the largest building conservation organisation in Europe, the Trust sets out to protect the nation’s heritage – and building surveying plays a vital role in that. Nick Dutton, brand new Lead Building Surveyor for the London South East region, shares his immense enthusiasm for the profession and reveals why the National Trust offers a unique opportunity to thrive, and further a career in building surveying.

One of the major strategic aims of the National Trust is to look after the places we love – and as building surveyors, individuals like Nick Dutton, are doing just that – demonstrating how vital the profession is to the cause of the entire organisation. The building surveying team deal with all issues concerning buildings, from compliance, day to day and cyclical repairs, all the way up to large building projects. This means that a career in building surveying at the National Trust offers incredible breadth and variety.

London South East is one of six regions in the National Trust, but contains around 25 percent of properties with 192 Grade 1 and Grade 2 star listed buildings, circa 890 let estate cottages, 32 registered parks and gardens, 178 ancient monuments and almost 3,000 hectares of land. It’s an incredibly important region and the largest community of building surveyors within the National Trust.

“The collection of buildings is both unique and diverse requiring special skills, care and attention – and most of all a love for buildings,” says Nick. “There are not many organisations or roles able to offer this level of variety – from the very small, to the very grand and everything in between. There’s no doubt that working in building surveying at the National Trust represents a truly unique opportunity.”

Making a difference

Since he was very young, Nick has been aware of the National Trust and he’s always had a desire to work for the organisation given the range of properties and their conservation ethos. “It’s a unique charity, preserving a great deal of the country’s heritage for the future.. Having worked in a number of building surveying roles both within consultancy and client side, it was the right time for a change. I’d reached the point in my career where I was ready to pursue my dreams, a career that really fulfilled me.”

Collaboration in conservation

Nick’s just two months into his role at the National Trust, but it lives up to everything he hoped it would be. In fact, it’s the ability to work with a group of people who share the same ethos and values as him, with a similar outlook on historic buildings that has really brought the role to life for him.

Nick’s role as Lead Building Surveyor is a new one for the National Trust that came about following an investment into the building surveying function within the organisation. As such, Nick and the other regional leads are working closely together to ensure the building surveying community is acting as one. They work at raising standards across the board, promoting collaborative working within the building surveying community, championing the conservation work undertaken by the Trust and role of building surveying, and acting as mentors and technical leads for their regions.

“I work in close collaboration with the other regional Lead Building Surveyors to ensure we’re working in a consistent fashion. We share ideas, knowledge and techniques across the regions, so that best practice is shared and achieved across the country. It’s a very collegiate vibe, which I’ve not experienced in this way before.”

For Nick, the best part of his role is promoting the skills of the building surveyors and championing the work of the National Trust to an internal and external audience. He’s reaching out to organisations and individuals who share the organisation’s aspirations, as well as those that don’t. Which can be challenging and exhilarating all at once. Whether it’s creating new collaborations, or joining forces with amenity societies and conservation charities there’s always a new challenge ahead. Being able to promote not just the vital work the National Trust does for the nation, but the building surveying profession as a whole, makes his job incredibly inspiring.

If you’d like to make a difference, and give back to conservation, join us and help us deliver our vision.

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