Heritage Project Manager

Borde Hill Garden is seeking to appoint a Heritage Project Manager to support the Delivery Phase of its National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) funded ‘Reinventing Borde Hill’ project. The successful candidate will lead this exciting project, reporting to the Project Board and working with the Project Director to ensure that this phase of the project is fully delivered to time and on budget. The successful candidate will have proven experience of working on heritage projects, and will act as the key point of contact for the NLHF ensuring adherence to all NLHF frameworks and requirements, and ensuring that all documentation is managed accordingly. The role will involve working closely with the internal project team, wider garden staff and volunteers (including leading on the recruitment of volunteers), as well as the externally appointed Design Team, Cost Consultant, Evaluation Consultants, and other consultants. The Heritage Project Manager will coordinate the internal project team.

The successful candidate will maintain a close overview of the activity plan, the risk register, and the budget, as well acting as a point of contact, organising, attending and participating in project and stakeholder meetings; and compiling the information required for the project until the planned ‘soft opening’ in Spring 2028.

Knowledge, skills and experience needed:

(Please provide evidence in your Covering Letter and CV)

Tasks and responsibilities

·         Become fully acquainted with all previous project documentation relating to the NLHF bid and acquire a good knowledge of the detailed objectives of the project

·         Act as a key point of contact for NLHF ensuring that all necessary NLHF financial requirements and conditions are processed and/or met, including compiling grant drawdowns, reporting and assisting with the development of the project within the agreed programme

·         Support the procurement of the construction contractors, and lead on procurement of other contractors, including preparation of briefs, enquiries, advertisements, evaluation and associated paperwork ensuring that their work is procured on time and within budget

·         Oversee the work of the Design Team and other consultants ensuring that their deliverables are on time and coordinated with the other aspects of the project

·         Liaise with an external construction project manager to ensure that a strong alignment is maintained between the capital build and the other elements of the project (e.g. activity plan, fundraising, evaluation etc.)

·         Coordinate monthly progress reports from key workstream leads (internal and external), and compile these into a monthly Project Status Report

·         Oversee the project budget, maintain the tracker and cashflow spreadsheet, and work with the Finance team to process invoices for payment

·         Arrange project meetings, including co-ordinating diaries, sending meeting invites, monitor responses, and produce and circulate agendas and papers.

·         Attend and where appropriate chair meetings, take and distribute minutes, and monitor actions as appropriate

·         Work with the Marketing team to contribute to social media and website copy about the project

·         Work with the Community Engagement Officer, supporting them to build and maintain relationships with current and prospective community partners, deliver the Activity Plan at the Community Growing Garden, and co-ordinate project-focused events such as Community Open Days

·         Work with the Fundraising Manager, supporting them to create applications and approaches to potential funders (including trusts and foundations, individual donors, corporate donors, legacies etc.), and support with donor stewardship and relationship management post-gift, including reporting to other funders and supporting with donor events

·         Support the work of the Evaluation Consultants, including internal and external evaluation of engagement initiatives

Skills and experience

To be considered for this position, you should be able to demonstrate some or all of the following:

·         Good project management experience, with experience of medium-sized NLHF projects

·         Experience of working on capital projects and working with contractors to deliver project builds

·         Experience of working in the heritage environment, especially with listed and/or designated landscapes

·         A good knowledge of budget management, monitoring and reporting

·         Experience and understanding of community engagement, evaluation and partnership working

·         Experience of working with architects, landscape architects, construction contractors, and consultants

·         Experience of managing and working with multidisciplinary stakeholders and teams

·         Experience and understanding of community engagement, evaluation and partnership working

·         Experience of contributing to and supporting fundraising applications and approaches, especially for capital campaigns

·         Excellent planning skills and a flexible approach to work, with the ability to prioritise and manage multiple tasks, including tasks undertaken by others, whilst ensuring deadlines are met

·         A great team-worker, with a confident, diplomatic approach, able to build effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders and team members at all levels and find appropriate solutions to conflicting priorities

·         Excellent attention to detail, with good logical, analytical and problem-solving skills

·         A concise, effective communicator, with excellent written and verbal communication skills

·         Ability to work independently and to manage multi-disciplinary teams to achieve common goals

Qualifications

·         Degree in relevant discipline or with demonstrably equivalent work experience

·         Project management qualification or equivalent practical experience

·         Excellent skills in MS Office, including Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint

Please note, applications without a CV and Cover Letter will not be considered.