Director of Housing Property and Asset Management

Contract: Permanent

Salary: Up to £137k per annum

Category: Senior management

Grade: Director

Location:
Town Hall
160 Whitechapel Road
London
E1 1BJ

Working hours: 35 hours p/w

Closing date: 30 January 2025

Tower Hamlets Housing Services is going through one of the most exciting transformations in its history.

We insourced our ALMO Tower Hamlets Homes in November 2023, and we are investing in both the service and our passionate housing teams with a focus on delivering new homes and providing excellent customer service.

We are building the next generation of council homes as part of our ambitious to tackle overcrowding and provide good quality homes. We now have 22,000 homes across the borough including The Boundary Estate in Shoreditch which is the first council housing estate in London.

As Director of Housing Property and Asset Management, you will lead on delivering an unprecedented level of investment into our housing stock. The Council has made provision in its Housing Revenue Account to invest an initial £140m investment of capital funding to address fire and building safety remedial works, ensure more of our homes meet the Decent Homes Standard and that the energy efficiency of our housing stock improves. You will develop our long term Housing Asset Management Plan to ensure that our planned maintenance programme is focussed on the right outcomes.

You will be a leader who has the experience, drive and passion for helping us to realise our vision of placing our council tenants and leaseholders at the very centre of what we do. You will have the experience to lead an improvement in performance of planned and emergency repairs and compliance across all of the ‘big six’ areas. You will recognise the importance to build upon the capacity, skills and experience of our team at a time when there are increased regulatory and other demands.

You will have experience in meeting the specific expectations laid out in the Regulator of Social Housing’s standards including the Safety and Quality Standard. That includes using technology to enhance our performance in terms of repairs and maintenance and by implementing our new compliance system. You will have experience of procuring supply chain companies to meet the needs of our planned maintenance of compliance programmes, and of developing building safety cases and undertaking remedial works to complex high rise buildings.

You will take pride in the stewardship of one of the most exciting housing property and asset jobs in London and you will enjoy the challenge of managing our varied stock (age and typology) including the highest number of high-rise buildings of any council in the country. You will be comfortable both in being strategic and having a command of the detail - holding your team and contractors to account as we ensure we continue our journey of improvement in a regulatory environment.

Our council is delivering one of the most ambitious agendas in local government. We are a cutting-edge council and a thought leader, and we want an innovator to continue to drive change alongside our permanently appointed Corporate Director for Housing and Regeneration, David Joyce.

Tower Hamlets is a city within a city – it offers the best of London in one borough. As one of the most visited and high-profile places in the country, the experience of our residents, businesses and visitors is everything. From the Lower Lea Valley which is London’s most significant opportunity area to Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs or areas like Spitalfields, Wapping and the City Fringe and places like Whitechapel, Stepney and Poplar - it is all happening in Tower Hamlets. We are brimming with ambition and our desire is to deliver great placemaking and new homes.

Use your leadership skills to inspire and motivate your team

You will need to have the ability to balance strategic leadership and direction with effective operational management. This includes fostering an open and trusting culture with the ability to lead change through others and inspire high levels of performance.

We are looking for an individual with the ability to apply discretion and initiative in dealing with complex issues. You will be authoritative and influential, with highly developed relationship management and networking skills, and the ability to foster joint working across services

You should be naturally engaging with an ability to inspire and command the respect, trust and confidence of colleagues, council members and other stakeholders. You will be experienced in managing frontline services and you will be committed to being visible, engaging and authentic in managing teams which are often based on estates.

Financial and commercial awareness, highly effective budgeting and financial management skills is essential. You will have detailed knowledge of the Regulator of Social Housing standards and a track record of delivering against these. You will understand the implication of legislation such as Awaab’s law and the implications for our services. You will have experience of using technology and software to improve services for residents.

You will have experience of procuring and managing significant construction and capital project contractors and be adept in developing programmes and packages which are attractive to the market and in subsequently managing and holding contractors to account. You will be effective at leading teams to plan ahead and be several steps ahead through the development of a coherent Housing Asset Management Strategy.

You will be politically sensitive and have a strong belief in the value of local democracy and accountability. You will also have a strong commitment to our values, behaviours and equal opportunity policy, and be ready to demonstrate personal leadership on the importance of diversity.

Our council is a beacon for diversity and inclusion. We want a borough where everyone feels valued and included, and we want a council that collaborates to deliver excellence.

That’s why we look for people with our TOWER values of Together, Open, Willing, Excellent and being Respectful.