Development Director in Edinburgh

Location: Edinburgh

Salary: Hidden

Recruiter: Balfour Beatty

Job Hours: Full-time

Remote: Work from home

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About the role

Balfour Beatty Investments (BBI) has a rare and exciting opportunity for a Development Director to join their New Business team.

This is a new role to be based in Edinburgh or Glasgow with the primary purpose to lead and develop direct let student accommodation projects from site acquisition through planning to construction.

The role will have significant involvement in all aspects of property development including design, planning, construction and commercial. The successful candidate will beconfident selecting and negotiating with building contractors, interrogating cost plans with the assistance of quantity surveying consultants and optimising design for planning or viability purposes.

What you'll be doing

Ability to lead, co-ordinate, motivate and manage a team of individuals (both internal and external) to successfully take a project from site acquisition through planning and to start on site.

Appoint, manage and coordination of consultants involved in the preparation of planning applications, design, cost plan and any development advisers.

The candidate should have some experience in pre-construction cost management from feasibility stage, land acquisition, planning, design typically up to RIBA Stage 3/4 and concluding at Financial Close / Contractor Appointment.

Preparing or interrogating construction budgets / cost plans and ensuring all build costs are current and accurately appraised.

Agreement of the Construction Cost either internally with Balfour Beatty Construction or with external 3rd Party Contractor and negotiate where appropriate to provide BBI best value.

Manage and review design options and issues; undertake cost benefit analysis.

An understanding of third-party legal agreements (including land agreement, development agreements, S75 or equivalent etc.

Drive, attention to detail and the commercial acumen that is required to take PBSA schemes through planning and pre-construction.

Excellent client facing skills and internal upward reporting/management skills.

Strong understanding of the legal and commercial issues relating to student accommodation, PRS and regeneration projects.

Willingness and enthusiasm to work on bids to the public or private sector and working on their deliverables as part of these bids.

Leadership and proactiveness.

Strong networking skills and a willingness to attend conferences, industry events and become known as an expert in one or more of the above sectors as part of their career development plan at BBI.

Monitor costs against budget and assist with invoice approvals.

Liaison with planning and other regulatory bodies.

Contribute to any bid submissions and draft any commercial reports required for Investment approval.

Undertake and/or contribute to development appraisals and feasibility studies of potential development sites.

Research cities and micro-locations within target cities for BBI to understand the demand/supply and future development pipeline in any particular area of a city.

Who we're looking for

This role is suitable for those with a sound knowledge of the overall property development process with an emphasis on a strong planning and pre-construction experience in the student accommodation and residential property project development skills. Previous experience of managing the bidding and legal process of land acquisition (supported by colleagues) will also be of benefit, including supporting in house legal to finalise contracts through external solicitors.

Graduate with significant experience working in a professional environment.

Post-graduate qualification e.g. professional qualification relevant to property, e.g. RICS.

Strong business development skills and willingness to network to source new projects and develop new client relationships.

Outstanding communication and written skills and grammar.

Strong interest in learning and developing their financial and commercial project structuring skills.

Willingness to learn, understand and run financial appraisals related to property and student accommodation projects.

Experience in student accommodation/property development, PRS, land contracts, construction contracts and/or development agreements, procurement processes, real estate finance and/or project finance is advantageous.

Why work for us

Day in, day out, our teams deliver some of the UKs most ambitious, exciting and meaningful projects; developing, building and maintaining the vital infrastructure that supports national economies and strengthens communities.

Why join us?

As if contributing to and supporting work that makes life better for millions wasnt rewarding enough, we offer a full range of benefits too. You'll have the freedom to shape the package thats right for you and your life. Here are some of our key benefits:

- Smart working, giving you more flexibility such as staggered start and finish times, with up to 40% remote working, where roles allow.
- 25 days paid annual leave (pro rata)
- Family friendly policies which include 28 weeks full pay for maternity/adoption leave and four weeks full pay for paternity/partners leave
- Pension, share incentive plan, volunteering leave, recognition schemes and much more