Communications volunteer jobs in Bourne end, hertfordshire

A senior role that sits at the heart of our mission, turning empty and underused buildings into safe, dignified places to live through our Empty Spaces to Homes programme.

 Habitat for Humanity Great Britain (Habitat GB) is part of the global Habitat for Humanity Federation fighting global poverty and homelessness. We believe that a decent home helps to permanently break the cycle of poverty and allows families to achieve strength, stability, and self-reliance.

Job Purpose

The Head of Construction (Feasibility & Delivery) is a leadership and technical role responsible for the end-to-end development, delivery and stewardship of Habitat GB’s construction and property portfolio.

Key responsibilities include strategic planning and technical leadership for core aspects of Habitat GB’s domestic programme, such as the construction project pipeline associated with our Empty Spaces to Homes (ES2H) programme. The postholder will lead the feasibility, design, costing, procurement and delivery of demonstration construction projects, primarily the conversion of empty commercial and retail buildings into high-quality, affordable homes, while also ensuring the safe, compliant operation and maintenance of HFHGB-owned, leased and operated properties, including ReStore sites.

The Head of Construction (Feasibility & Delivery) is also responsible for the people management of staff, contractors and consultants and (where relevant) volunteers. Key areas of risk management that sit within the portfolio of this role include project and site health & safety, compliance and asset maintenance.

This role is central to translating Habitat GB’s mission and strategy into high-quality, buildable, scalable projects that maximise social impact.

This is a home based role with regular travel.

Key Accountabilities/Responsibilities

Construction & Programme Delivery

• Lead the planning, design and delivery of Habitat GB’s demonstration construction projects within the ES2H programme.

• Contribute technical leadership to programme strategy, performance monitoring, evaluation and learning.

• Work collaboratively with other ES2H workstreams (Advocacy, Research, Scalability) to ensure projects inform and support wider systems change.

• Provide expert construction input into organisational decision-making, risk management, and strategy implementation.

Building Pipeline Development & Feasibility

• Lead the identification, assessment and prioritisation of potential conversion opportunities across Great Britain.
• Conduct frequent site visits to assess empty or underutilised commercial buildings.
• Undertake and/or oversee:
  • Building diagnostics and technical surveys
  • Early identification of structural, asbestos, planning, fire and compliance risks
  • Location-based risk profiling (logistics, supply chains, neighbourhood constraints)
• Act as the organisation’s technical authority on building viability and conversion risk.

Design, Specification & Cost Leadership

• Develop initial design concepts, spatial layouts and performance specifications that balance cost‑efficiency, compliance, buildability and the dignity of residents.
• Ensure all designs meet relevant statutory and organisational requirements, including:
  • UK Building Regulations
  • Fire safety and CDM 2015
  • Sustainability and environmental standards
• Provide client side cost leadership and quantity surveying oversight across projects, including:
  • Preparing feasibility cost models, early stage estimates and robust construction budgets
  • Assessing and benchmarking contractor quotations and negotiating best value outcomes aligned with charitable objectives
  • Maintaining effective cost control and financial visibility throughout delivery
• Lead the appointment and management of architects, planning consultants and specialist technical advisors as required.

Construction Delivery, Contractor & Site Management

• Identify, appoint and manage contractors, subcontractors and consultants on a project-by-project basis.
• Ensure projects are delivered: safely; to specification; on time and within approved budgets
• Combine on-site leadership with remote project management, using digital tools, dashboards and reporting systems.
• Maintain a national overview of live and pipeline projects, providing the Executive Team with clear, real-time updates on milestones, risks, spend and cashflow, and delivery confidence.

Health, Safety & Risk Management

• Be responsible for Health & Safety across Habitat GB’s construction and property portfolio.
• Ensure full compliance with relevant legislation, including CDM 2015.
• Oversee:
  • Risk assessments and method statements (RAMS)
  • Training and inductions
  • Incident reporting and corrective actions
• Ensure a strong safety culture across construction sites and property sites, working closely with the Site & Property Maintenance Officer to delivery their responsibilities successfully and safely.
• Work with colleagues to ensure appropriate insurances are in place.

Financial Management & Reporting

· Own construction and maintenance budgets, ensuring strong financial control and value for money.

· Lead procurement processes for works, materials, and equipment.

· Work closely with Finance to ensure accurate forecasting, cost tracking, and timely payment of invoices.

· Maintain robust project management tools, trackers, schedules, and cost sheets.

· Provide regular input into organisational performance reporting, risk registers, and assurance processes.

People Leadership & Culture

· Line-manage and support direct reports, setting clear objectives, and providing regular supervision and development.

· Lead, motivate, and develop a high-performing, values-driven team and contractor network.

· Ensure good practice management of consultants, contractors and volunteers.

· Role model Habitat GB’s values, including commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion and safeguarding.

Person profile:

· Extensive experience in UK construction project management, particularly refurbishment and conversion projects, with responsibility spanning early feasibility through to delivery.

· Strong technical understanding of:

• UK Building Regulations and fire safety requirements

• Permitted Development rights and planning constraints

• Health & Safety management, including CDM 2015

· Strong client‑side commercial judgement, with proven ability to develop feasibility cost models, set and manage construction budgets, and maintain effective cost control across projects.

· Demonstrated experience appointing and managing contractors, consultants and procurement processes to deliver best‑value outcomes.

· Strong leadership and people management experience, including the ability to lead teams, contractors and consultants with credibility and clarity.

· Relevant construction or built‑environment qualification, or equivalent senior professional experience (e.g. MCIOB, MRICS or similar).

· Valid CSCS card.

· Recognised Health & Safety qualification (e.g. IOSH or SMSTS).

· Full UK driving licence.

Skills and competencies:

· Technically confident and commercially astute, with the ability to exercise sound professional judgement and make high-quality decisions in complex or ambiguous situations.

· Comfortable operating across strategic leadership and hands-on problem solving, particularly within refurbishment and conversion projects.

· Highly organised, with the ability to prioritise effectively across multiple concurrent workstreams, sites and geographies.

· Confident and collaborative communicator, able to work productively with internal teams, partners, volunteers, contractors and external stakeholders.

· Willing and able to travel extensively across Great Britain in support of project development and delivery.

To apply for the role, please send us your CV and a supporting statement (max two sides of A4) telling us about the skills and experience you would bring to the role and your motivation for applying, using the link on our website. Closing date is Monday 25th May 2026.

What if your planning expertise could help one of the UK's largest charities turn ambitious strategy into measurable progress for people affected by dementia?

About the opportunity

As Head of Corporate Planning, you'll lead the process by which Alzheimer's Society translates its strategy into a clear, deliverable plan and tracks the difference we are making. In a role where every decision shapes how we use our resources to end the devastation of dementia, you'll provide the leadership team with the insight they need to focus on what matters most and to keep adjusting course as the world around us changes.

You'll bring people together from across the organisation, building trusted relationships that make corporate planning a genuinely shared endeavour rather than a Finance exercise. Through workshops, partnership and powerful reporting, you'll help leaders at every level understand how their work connects to the corporate plan, where progress is being made, and where we need to challenge ourselves to do more.

You'll be part of our Finance and Assurance directorate, where our vision is to be the Society's single point of truth. Working closely with other Finance department heads, you'll help to deliver an accountable, efficient and improvement-driven approach to the Society's financial and corporate strategy, providing the leadership team with the information they need to run the organisation well.

Leading our Corporate Planning team, you'll set the standard for accessible, timely and accurate corporate planning, while continuously improving the way we plan across the Society and the way we measure success. You'll act as a vital source of insight on what is working across the Society, what might need to change, and where the next opportunity to increase our impact for people affected by dementia might lie.

Please note that this role is a 12 month fixed term contract. 

About you
You're an experienced corporate planning or strategy professional who understands that good planning is about people as much as process. You're as comfortable in an Executive workshop as you are in the detail, and you know how to combine analytical rigour with clear communication, constructive challenge and a genuine interest in helping others see the bigger picture.

You'll have:

- An in-depth understanding and significant experience of planning a large organisation's activity in a way that effectively supports delivery and the tracking of performance, driving continuous improvement.
- A track record of providing insightful, accessible reporting to drive decision-making at senior levels, including with Executive and Board audiences.
- The confidence to engage stakeholders at all levels in planning and progress tracking, leading them through it with clarity and credibility.
- Proven facilitation, workshop leading and presentation skills, including with executive and senior leadership teams.
- Effective analytical skills, with the ability to draw insight from data and influence priority setting at an organisational level.
- Confidence and experience in leading a small team, managing their performance and developing their capability.
- The ability to deliver effectively to timelines in complex and sometimes ambiguous environments, balancing strategic focus with operational responsiveness.
- Demonstratable critical thinking skills, identifying and acting on ways to work more effectively and efficiently, and celebrating progress, solutions and impact rather than activity.

It would be particularly valuable if you also bring:

- Experience of corporate planning or strategy delivery within a large charity, public sector or values-led organisation.

What you'll focus on

- Leading the corporate planning process and producing the corporate plan, with clear objectives that align to budget and risk appetite and translate strategy into delivery.
- Analysing performance against the corporate plan and providing accessible, timely insight to the leadership of the organisation on what is working and what may need to change.
- Working with Finance, Risk and other relevant teams to align reporting on progress, outcome, finance and risk, producing engaging dashboards and reports that drive decision-making at Executive and Board level.
- Facilitating discussions, running workshops and driving engagement and understanding of our plans and how we measure them across all parts of the organisation.
- Setting, tracking and reporting the impact of activity as part of integrated team, directorate and corporate reporting.
- Continuously improving the performance of the Corporate Planning function so the Society remains agile in delivering impact aligned with the strategy.
- Owning and managing the departmental budget, ensuring resources are allocated effectively to meet strategic and operational objectives.
-  Building and drawing on external networks to inform the Society's approach and decision-making, bringing best practice from across the sector and more widely.

You'll work alongside other leaders across Finance and Assurance to deliver the directorate plan and deputise for the Associate Director of Finance as required, role-modelling a high challenge, high support culture where accountability, performance and development go hand in hand.

Are you ready to bring planning rigour, partnership and insight to the people working to end the devastation of dementia?

Important dates

- The deadline for applications is 23:59 on Wednesday 20th May 2026
- Interviews will begin W/C 25th May 2026 and will include a presentation task to prepare beforehand.

About Alzheimer's Society

Dementia is the UK's biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime.

At Alzheimer's Society, we're the UK's leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding groundbreaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be.

Together with our supporters, we're working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives.

Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.

Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society.  

We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at Alzheimer's Society. 

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee forum and Employee Lived Experience network groups help us promote inclusion and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people. 

Our hiring process

During your recruitment process we want to make sure that you bring your whole self and can be at your best. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible, so please do inform us of your experience and anything you think we could do better by completing our candidate survey when you apply.  Please also contact Alzheimer's Society Talent Acquisition Team via [email protected] for application support or any adjustments you might need.

To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value it truly adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to showcase them in your own voice.

We try to avoid closing roles early where possible, however if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close earlier than the advertised closing date. Should this occur, we will aim to provide you with at least 48 hours' notice.

We are committed to safer recruitment and ensuring the welfare of those we work with, due to the nature of some of our roles, we might need to carry out a Criminal Record Check at the relevant level. You can read more information via our Website.

Giving back to you

Our employees work hard every day to make a true difference in people's lives. We are proud to support them with a range of benefits, recognition and many options for working agilely, all contributing to a strong work life balance. We also have various learning programmes to support you in your development and help you grow to realise your potential and shape a career with Alzheimer's Society. 

You can also visit our Working for Us pages, which give you more information about what it's like to be an employee at the Society.

The South East District are excited to advertise the opening for a full time District Mission Enabler to support the District, its churches, circuits and people, in mission. Home based, own transport is essential. There will be an expectation to attend the District Office in Crawley, Sussex, on occasion, as well as other locations across the South East District.