Programme Consultant - Corporate Estate Transformation

Newham Council £750 per day Hybrid WorkingContract / Fixed Term Immediate Start RICS Preferred

Reporting to: Director of Property & EstatesProgramme Value: £8m savings targetContract Length: Initial 12 months (extendable)Location: Newham (hybrid working)

The Council's corporate estate comprises approximately 70 buildings, but the overwhelming majority of cost - and therefore opportunity - sits within three priority assets:

• c. £7m annual running cost
• Approximately 60% vacant
• Current value estimated at £20-30m versus a £90m acquisition cost (2007)

These assets are the clear programme priority. While the wider estate will remain under review, this role is about securing the right decisions - and implementing them - for the assets that matter most.

To take the external options appraisal, rigorously challenge and refine it, and then own delivery.

You will:

• Stress-test assumptions and financial modelling
• Identify viable options and strip out unnecessary complexity
• Bring clarity to politically sensitive and high-value decisions
• Drive implementation across property, FM, legal, planning and governance workstreams

This role requires someone who makes things happen, not someone who simply manages a plan.

• Critically interrogate the external appraisal and form a clear, independent view on the preferred path for each priority asset
• Commission and direct additional specialist advice where required - acting as a commercially sharp and demanding client
• Translate complex options into clear, decision-ready recommendations for senior leadership and elected members
• Identify near-term savings (FM contract reviews, leasing strategies, licensing of vacant space) and progress them in parallel with longer-term decisions

This is the single most important task in the programme.

You will:

• Develop and drive a clear strategy covering consolidation, vacant space options and a credible route to materially reducing annual running costs
• Lead engagement with departments and service leads - challenging assumptions on space need and driving consolidation decisions
• Co-ordinate legal, planning, commercial and FM workstreams to progress the preferred option
• Take decisions through Cabinet and other governance processes, supported by high-quality papers and briefings

• Define the future role of each town hall within the corporate estate
• Identify opportunities for cost reduction, income generation or more effective use
• Oversee any capital or change projects required to support agreed future uses

• Maintain visibility of the wider portfolio without allowing it to distract from priority assets
• Progress straightforward, low-complexity savings such as lease exits, contract renegotiations and energy efficiencies

• Lead structured engagement with service heads, HR, IT and operational teams
• Build a robust, evidence-based understanding of actual space requirements
• Ensure rationalisation decisions support service delivery, not undermine it

• Run programme governance, including risks, decisions, milestones and savings tracking
• Present regularly to Directors, senior leadership and elected members
• Manage organisational sensitivities with pragmatism, authority and political awareness

• Proven delivery of complex corporate estate or major property transformation programmes
• Strong track record of challenging and directing external property advisors
• Senior-level experience within or alongside local government or the wider public sector
• Ability to engage across large organisations and bring stakeholders with you through change
• Strong commercial understanding of running costs, FM contracts, occupation strategy and asset options
• Excellent written and verbal communication, particularly for member-level decision-making
• Self-starter able to operate with autonomy, pace and resilience

• RICS qualified (General Practice, Project Management or Building Surveying)
• Programme management qualifications (MSP, Prince2 or similar)
• Experience of corporate estate rationalisation within local government or central government

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