Head of Occupier Engagement

HEAD OF OCCUPIER ENGAGEMENT

We are looking for a Head of Occupier Engagement to play a pivotal role in the strategy, management and delivery of the BBP’s expanding work on owner and occupier engagement. This is an exciting opportunity to work with one of the leading organisations focused on sustainability in the commercial real estate sector and gain access to a significant network of BBP members who are leading the industry.

SUMMARY

  • Contract: Permanent
  • Start date: As soon as possible (cMarch/April 2022)
  • Place of work: The BBP is a London based organization, employees are currently working from home whilst we find a new London base. We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements.
  • Hours of work: 37.5 hours; normally 9am – 5.30pm
  • Holidays: 28 days per annum plus bank holidays (plus 1 extra day for each year of service up to a maximum of 5)
  • Salary: Competitive & negotiable depending on experience
  • Benefits: The BBP offers a range of other benefits including:
    • Pension scheme (5% matched contribution)
    • Discretionary bonus scheme
    • Health insurance with Vitality
    • Generous annual leave policy
    • Flexible working arrangements & hours
    • Range of initiatives to support employee health and well being
    • Team volunteering & other initiatives that support our commitment to sustainability

1. THE BETTER BUILDINGS PARTNERSHIP (BBP)

The BBP is a not-for-profit collaboration of 40 of the UK’s leading property owners, with over £250bn Assets Under Management, who are working together to improve the sustainability performance of commercial buildings. The BBP is a widely respected and influential organization within the commercial property sector and has led a number of groundbreaking projects providing both leadership and practical solutions to sustainability challenges for the commercial real estate sector. The BBP has a highly collaborative approach to delivering its programme of work, engaging with its members and a wide range of industry experts, industry bodies and NGOs. You can find out about the BBP here and read the BBP’s Impact Report here.

2. THE BBP OCCUPIER ENGAGEMENT WORK STREAM

The Head of Occupier Engagement will play a critical role in developing industry leading guidance and influencing market transformation. This BBP workstream currently consists of the following:

The Owner & Occupier Forum

Initiated as part of the BBP's Climate Change Commitment, this recently established Forum seeks to bring together senior real-estate decision makers to collaborate with the objective of delivering net zero carbon buildings by 2050. The Owner & Occupier Forum works with owners and occupiers to share knowledge and create strategic alliances to scale up action across
portfolios. The Owner-Occupier Forum currently has over 40 owner and occupier members and 5 strategic partners. More information about the Forum can be found here.

  • In addition to the quarterly Owner and Occupier Forum meetings, which are based on sharing knowledge across the membership, the Owner and Occupier Forum is currently overseeing two major projects:Thought Leadership Paper – exploring the strategic challenges and opportunities associated with owner- occupier engagement and the potential for future alignment of sustainability and ESG objectives.
  • Owner and Occupier Data Sharing Protocol - We are currently developing a protocol and data sharing tool to enable owners and occupiers to share energy data across their portfolios, providing greater visibility and opportunities to collaborate in the delivery of net zero buildings. 

Following the completion of these projects, the Owner and Occupier Forum members will agree the subsequent programme of work, this will continually evolve based on membership need and demand.

Green Leasing

The Green Lease working group meets on a regular basis to review industry best practice and has also been responsible for the development and drafting of the BBP Green Lease Tool Kit. The Green lease Tool Kit was initially published in 2008 and revised in 2013, it remains the BBP’s most popular and widely used Tool Kit providing a vital tool for integrating environmental considerations into the leasing process. The BBP has decided to undertake a major review of the Tool Kit to bring it up to date, increase its scope, make it more user-focused and bring it into an on-line format. The current tool kit can be found here.

The focus of property owners on Scope 3 emissions and the critical role that occupier emissions have to play means that this workstream has significant potential to develop in the future.

3. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

The Head of Occupier Engagement will be responsible for leading, developing managing and delivering the BBP’s Occupier Engagement workstream. Reporting to the Senior Programme Manager and working closely with the CEO, key responsibilities are as follows:

  • Strategy – working with the BBP CEO & co-chairs of the Owner & occupier Forum to help shape and drive the
  • programme of work.
  • Member Engagement – liaising with members to:
    • Understand and respond to their needs, helping to shape the programme of work;
    • Convene quarterly meetings of the Owner and Occupier Forum and associated project meetings.
    • Convene appropriate meetings of the Green Lease Working Group and associated project meetings.
  • Project Management & Delivery – working with the BBP CEO Executive & members to execute key projects
  • associated with this workstream. The Head of Occupier Engagement will be responsible for:
    • Scoping out new projects, including key outputs and schedules.
    • Managing the delivery of key projects on schedule and to the appropriate quality.
    • Liaison with any members, external contractors and other stakeholders responsible for contributing to the projects.
    • Drafting and editing content required for the project outputs which include industry insights, guidance notes and tool kits.
    • Developing and implementing an effective communications strategy for project outputs.
  • Stakeholder Engagement - working with the BBP’s extensive network of external stakeholders including industry bodies, NGOs and consultants to ensure that the programme of work is collaborative and informed by emerging best practice.
  • Amplifying Impact - working with the BBP Executive to ensure that the profile of the Owner and Occupier Forum and the impact of its work are amplified through knowledge sharing and industry engagement, supported by an effective communications strategy.

The Head of Occupier Engagement will also be expected to contribute to other areas of the BBP work programme, where occupier engagement forms an integral component of work on net zero, investment & lending, measurement and benchmarking, innovation and technology and property management.

The BBP is driven by its membership and as such the work programme is constantly evolving - the responsibilities of this role are therefore likely to change over time.

4. SKILLS AND CAPABILITIES

We are looking for an ambitious individual who understands the BBP’s aims and can work independently as part of small team. The BBP is a highly collaborative organisation and the role will involve working closely with our members and other stakeholders to deliver excellent quality outputs that can be utilized by the wider industry. The candidate must have:

  • Undergraduate & post-graduate degree (or comparable qualification) in sustainability and/or real estate.
  • Between 5 and 10 years’ experience of working on sustainability issues within the built environment sector.
  • An excellent understanding of the commercial property sector & the key sustainability issues for the sector.
  • A pragmatic, solutions-oriented approach to sustainability challenges and a positive attitude towards the role of business in leading change.
  • Ability and gravitas to liaise with the membership organisations’ senior teams.
  • Strong facilitation and engagement skills with experience of working with a wide range of stakeholders.
  • Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage & deliver multiple projects with clearly defined outputs.
  • The ability to use initiative and work autonomously, with minimal oversight.
  • Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills with the ability to synthesise large amounts of information into clear, well-structured and engaging content.

Specific skills we are looking for in this role are as follows:

  •  A good working knowledge of the relationship between commercial property owners and occupiers, including the procurement, fit out and leasing processes.
  • Experience of occupier engagement across large portfolios of assets and/or of working in an in-house sustainability team engaging key stakeholders.
  • The ability to contribute to content across a wide range of sustainability issues relevant to commercial property occupation, with good technical conversance.
  • Confidence with data analysis & interpretation in order to inform strategic decision-making and market interventions.
  • Experience of contributing to industry wide initiatives and developing guidance, tool kits and case studies.

There is significant potential for the right person to shape and develop their own role and we support all employees to develop their skills through training and professional development. We are often breaking new ground with our work and so we learn a lot by doing. Where formal training is not available, we can make use of our extensive network of members and supporters to enable the team to gain the understanding of the sector they need to make a real impact.

To apply for this position, please send a CV and Covering Letter demonstrating your suitability for this role to Sophia Tysoe, s.tysoe@betterbuildingspartnership.co.uk

Head of Occupier Engagement