Head of Repairs and Maintenance

Croydon is a place on the up, experiencing the largest growth of any London borough. It is a borough steeped in tradition, offering residents a rich and diverse history but has a forward-thinking mentality that is keen to embrace change and innovation to provide the best possible place for residents to live and work.

Central to this is our Croydon Renewal Plan where we seek to bring good governance and financial management to the fore, making the best use for the budget we have and ensuring that we seek the opportunity out of every pound.

Local authorities face their toughest challenge yet, as we exit the Covid-19 pandemic and adjust to new levels of normal. The tragedy of Grenfell, compliance and fire safety are still very much on our minds as are the looming challenges associated with sustainability coupled with forecasted increases in housing demand.

Your role as Head of Service for Responsive Repairs is pivotal in the strive to achieve excellence for our residents. You will be responsible for leading a multi-discipline service that manages not only day to day repairs and ad-hoc works but also the cyclical servicing and compliance related services that keep our residents safe.

One eye must always be on the future though, therefore the right candidate will also be forward thinking and strategically minded, working well within our senior housing team to deliver new strategies and ways of working including work  as a key stakeholder for the implementation of our new housing IT system.

Your role:

• Financial and strategic responsibility for the responsive repair, cyclical and compliance budgets.
• Operational repair responsibility for approximately 16,000 homes and 1100 blocks managed through a variety of letting schemes and management services.
• Developing and delivering our responsive repair service, voids service and compliance responsibility with a customer focus.
• Ensuring a holistic approach to maintaining the assets is taken; providing strategic direction, developing specifications and ensuring costs and quality are monitored and excellent standards of customer service are delivered.

Your experience: 

• Sound knowledge of construction and landlord responsibilities in maintaining its properties.
• Substantial knowledge of working within the construction / building / maintenance sector, with an understanding of asset management
• A track record of successfully managing a large team or teams.
• Knowledge of compliance, health and safety legislation and best practice requirements for the housing industry.
• Experience of producing, managing and reporting of large scale budgets and programmes of work.
• Experience managing high value contracts, maintaining high levels of performance including reporting through key performance indicators.
• Experience of Procurement processes including tender design, evaluation and third-party contractor monitoring and management. 
• Proof of operating at a senior manager level with ability to influence and negotiate with customers, stakeholders and other partners
• To provide strong and effective leadership to the team, ensure staff are effective in their roles, supported and motivated. 
• To develop the service and individuals to achieve a highly organised operational delivery.
• Responsible for service data including performance reporting; adherence to compliance; health & safety.
• Development and utilisation of new technology, improving efficiency and quality of service