About The Role
Many of our parishes have extensive community and social outreach programmes to support their Missions. About one-third of the church buildings are now in poor or very bad condition and need urgent repairs and improvement.
The Church Buildings Support Officer will work closely with colleagues across the Parish Property & Fundraising directorate, including the Development & Fundraising Team, Church Buildings Advisers and Asset Managers, and teams with Archdeacons and Compassionate Communities, to deliver a well-rounded package of support for parishes to repair and improve their buildings.
The Officer will work within the Parish Property & Fundraising team to manage a small grants programme for eligible priority parishes, focusing on unlisted buildings in poor condition and areas of high deprivation.
The objective is to support the improvement of building maintenance by distributing around 22 small grants to parishes over two years.
– Support the sustainable future of unlisted and listed buildings in the LDF portfolio.
– Work to further the aims of Capital Vision 2030 and the Open Churches initiative.
– Administer a small grants programme, assessing applications against agreed criteria; evaluate the outcomes and adjust the programme accordingly.
– Advise PCCs on the development and delivery of repair and maintenance projects.
– With the fundraising team, identify match funding; record the awarding of grants.
– Advise PCCs on the key stages of project development, the ideal level of work for each stage, and the relationship to external funding streams and permissions.
– Write technical briefs for commissioning work, evaluate technical information, and support commissioning of specialist advice such as conservation statements and plans, building condition surveys and cost reports.
– Review and advise on construction documents for projects up to the value of £100k; support PCCs with procurement and tendering for professional services and works.
– The Officer may be required to undertake other duties appropriate to the role, as instructed by the Director.
– A willingness to travel to properties within the Diocese of London is expected.
Engagement
– Arrange and attend site visits to leasehold properties with the Asset Managers and consultants to develop building repair strategies.
– Liaise with external stakeholders, including Historic England, local authority conservation officers and the national amenity societies.
Expected Outcomes
– Distribution of c.22 small repair and maintenance grants.
– Established and overseen monitoring and evaluation of c. 22 projects.
– Assisted with the assessment of the Diocese of London’s places of worship property portfolio and helped develop a prioritised strategy for the church estate.
– Assisted with assessing QI reports and updated the Church Buildings Review.
Advice & Guidance
– Offer advice to all parishes on green energy, suppliers, and tariffs.
– Identify “quick wins” for carbon reduction and communicate them positively.
– Respond to parish queries and questions on decarbonisation & heating solutions, recording all interactions and making them accessible to colleagues.
– Collaborative working: With archdeacons and members of the DAC, visit the church and give casework advice, producing a clear note of the advice for the PCC and DAC; share and exchange knowledge with other officers locally and nationally.
– As departmental NZC (Net Zero Carbon) lead, report progress to the Programme Lead, identifying any barriers to progress and potential solutions.
– Offer input and liaise with the Head of Development and fundraising team to identify funding streams and feed into bids around building decarbonisation.
– Liaise with the National Church NZC team on areas of church building support and ensure working knowledge is up to date by attending trainings and briefings on decarbonisation and relaying critical information to the team.
Essential
– Experience working within one or all of the following: Faculty Jurisdiction Rules, Town & Planning Act, or Listed Building Consent processes
– Experience in project report writing
– Understanding of building construction and repair; Understanding principles & challenges of decarbonisation of both unlisted as well as heritage buildings
– Good data and statistical analysis skills; ability to maintain systems to record and collate data in a manner transparent and clear to all team members
– Personable and able to work with people of all abilities and a variety of perspectives
– Organised and able to juggle multiple tasks; prioritise.
Desirable
– Building Surveyor in training, or Part 2 / 3 Architect, Prince2 certification
– Practical experience in working with historic buildings and methods of investigation, and specialist conservation work and maintenance
– Procurement processes for goods and services
– Good knowledge of secular and ecclesiastical architectural history and associated technical language.
Equal Opportunities
The Diocese of London is committed to creating and sustaining a diverse and inclusive workforce which represents our context and wider community. We are aware that those of Global Majority Heritage/United Kingdom Minority Ethnic (GMH/UKME) and disabled people are currently under-represented among our clergy and workforce, and we particularly encourage applications from those with the relevant skills and experience that will increase this representation.