Maintenance Operative

**Maintenance Operatives**

**South of Norwich**

40 hours per week

(Monday to Friday 07.30am - 4.00pm)

Redwings Horse Sanctuary requires two Maintenance Operatives to join the existing Maintenance Team, based at our Hapton HQ, South of Norwich, with travel to other sites as required. This role is offered on a permanent full-time basis.

Benefits include a workplace pension scheme, employee assistance programme, Cycle2Work Scheme, death in service benefit, Sanctuary sick pay and a minimum of 30 days holiday per year including bank holidays.

Salary £21,673.60 per annum for over 18s’

**_A full clean manual driving licence is essential_**.**

**Closing date: Tuesday 11**th** April 2023**

**Job Purpose**

To undertake a variety of grounds care and maintenance tasks within the sanctuary, to enable the smooth running of all departments and ensure that they are carried out in a cost effective, safe and professional manner that reflects the charitable nature of our organisation.

The maintenance team is responsible for keeping all departments on all farms safe for equines, staff and the public, with day to day tasks and emergency requests.

**Principal Duties and Responsibilities**

To respond to requests from all Equine Centres and other Managers for maintenance tasks to be carried out utilising the maintenance database. Prioritise workloads ensuring that all requests are responded to within acceptable time scales.

Tasks to include:

- Maintaining public footpaths, grass verges and entranceways.
- Operating and maintaining ride on lawn mowers, hedge cutters, brush cutters and grass strimmer.
- Erecting various types of fencing and hanging gates.
- Ground works such as digging holes for fence or gate posts, trenches for water or drainage pipes.
- Cement mixing, laying concrete and block laying.
- Plumbing and installing water tanks.
- Decorating including painting, varnishing, wood staining to internal and external walls and doors of buildings.
- Carpentry including sawing, sanding, drilling, chiselling and fixing with screws or nails various timber products.
- Track repairs to include digging and sweeping spoil from pot holes, laying in new material and manually compacting.
- To ensure that all owned vehicles and plant are kept in a safe and roadworthy condition and that the appropriate administrative requirements are adhered to. Where needed to provide assistance to support the mechanic’s operational work.
- To keep up date records of the rolling programme of preventative maintenance.
- To regularly communicate with the maintenance foreman over project status and schedules and any budgetary implications.
- To support the farm teams, with scheduled duties which will involve using agricultural machinery (not working with the Equines).
- To undertake any other duties which may be reasonably required.

**Person Specification**

Essential Criteria:
Education/Qualifications
- Knowledge of general grounds care and building maintenance. Farm and land facilities experience. (Fences, hedges, shelters, roadways etc).Experience.

Experience
- Experience in working alone and as part of a team, Reliable and flexible, Experience of prioritising workload.

Skills/Ability/Knowledge
- Knowledge of Safe working practices, Consider best practice and methods of working.

Qualities/Attributes
- Good communication skills Conscientious.

Desirable Criteria

Education/Qualifications
- Chain saw licence, Telehandler licence, Cherry picker licence, First Aid certificate.

Experience
- Previous teamwork. Grounds care experience. Experience in operating and maintaining a lawn mower, grass strimmer and hedge cutter.

Skills/Ability/Knowledge
- An understanding of the Welfare of Equines