Director of Assets

Our Organisation

Since 1971, Bield Housing & Care have been developing housing and services to enable Scotland’s older people to live the life they want. We are one of the largest social landlords in Scotland and a leading provider of retirement housing and care services. We work with 24 health & social care partnerships across Scotland, own or part-own 4,614 homes, manage assets worth ¬£116m, turnover ¬£43m per annum and employ 684 people.

Our brand promise is ‘Free to Be’: this sums up our firm belief that older people should have the freedom to make their own choices and live as independently as possible. This is a promise which, thanks to the dedication, experience and passion of our staff and volunteers, we are uniquely placed to bring to life.

We provide a number of critical services to tenants including; Retirement Housing (which includes additional care services), Amenity & General Needs Housing, Owner & Property Management Services, Alarm Response & Telecare, Repairs & Beyond Housing Care Services. We have also invested in new services which include the adoption of new technology for proactive telecare, and digital services for tenants.

The Opportunity

Bield has set challenging targets. As well as investing over quarter of a billion in our existing homes over the next 10 years, we are aiming to develop around 400 new homes for independent living, develop a retrofit solution to improve the energy efficiency (and cost of heating) our existing homes, improve our customer satisfaction levels to over 90% and to address our closed and/or poorly performing properties which are no longer in demand or meeting modern standards for independent living.

We will also relocate our head office in Edinburgh over the next 2 years to a modern collaborative workspace and intend to further extend our reach through partnership, collaboration and thought leadership across the housing, social and care sectors in Scotland.

The Director of Assets will be responsible for driving strategic investment, planning, management and monitoring of our asset portfolio whilst ensuring appropriate strategic direction and consistency of standards across all [155] of our developments. The successful candidate will work collaboratively across Bield and with external partners to ensured high quality and modern property services which deliver exceptional value for money for our business plan whilst being affordable to our customers and providing a positive customer journey and broad stakeholder support. They will be accountable for a workforce of circa 25 people, including 3 direct reports and manage a significant development portion of our £87m budget over the next 5 years.

Candidate Requirements

This is a critical appointment for Bield, and the successful candidate will bring previous experience of operating successfully in a senior leadership role, with exposure to leading complex large-scale projects with public/private partnerships or joint venture partnerships, relevant in scale to Bield's.

They will have a strong understanding of asset value and strategic management as well as the procurement of complex housing/urban programmes.

They will also possess most of the following;

• A degree or equivalent professional management qualification
• Substantial experience at Senior Management/Director level within an organization of relevant size and complexity
• Experience of formulating and implementing strategy and delivering results
• Experience of corporate financial management with substantial budgetary responsibility
• Experience of business planning, risk management and performance management
• Experience of relationship management and negotiation with senior stakeholders in regulatory, government and local public service environments
• Strong understanding of modern approaches to customer engagement and support, including the opportunities provided by technologies
• Experience operating corporate governance
• Experience of working effectively with Board or committee structures
• Proven experience of managing, leading and motivating staff through change

They will also possess a variety of personal attributes, characteristics and behaviours which align with Bield's values and social purpose. These can be read in the candidate brochure in more detail.

Additional Information & How to Apply

Bield is proud to be an inclusive employer. We recognise and celebrate the benefits that a diverse and inclusive workforce bring to their business, staff and customers. We welcome and will consider all applications regardless of age, disability, gender, race or nationality, religion, or belief.

To view our new business plan and strategy please click below;

https://www.bield.co.uk/business-plans-and-strategies/

To view the candidate brochure for this role, please click here.

To apply or arrange a confidential discussion please email Jamie Brown at FWB Park Brown;

applications@fwbparkbrown.com / 0131-539-7087