Senior Warden

Background to the Position

Atholl Estates covers an area of approximately 120,000 acres in Highland Perthshire, managed centrally from the Estate Office in Blair Atholl, a picturesque village close to the resort town of Pitlochry and less than 2 hours drive from Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The estates are probably best known for Blair Castle, an iconic Scottish castle whose history dates back to the 13th century. The castle is open to visitors throughout the year and we also have a significant number of group visits. We also host corporate and public events, functions and weddings throughout the year. Our caravan park is located adjacent to the castle grounds and the two venues operate together closely, the park being a very important part of our diversified estate business.

Atholl Estates is run on a commercial basis, but with a strong element of corporate, social and environmental responsibility. The core businesses are tourism, farming, forestry, house lettings, hydro energy, conservation, field sports and property development.

The role of senior warden offers an interesting and rewarding opportunity to work within a forward looking organization in a beautiful part of Scotland, within the Cairngorms National Park but conveniently connected to national transport systems by rail and road, only being a 90 minute drive from Edinburgh and Inverness.

Role Objective

A hands-on approach is essential for this role and you will be expected to have a high profile and be accessible to staff and customers alike.

You will need to be a natural team player. A close and effective working relationship with the park’s team leaders is vital for both succeeding in this role and ensuring the park operates effectively.

The park is an important member of the wider estate’s team of teams and increasingly, the warden team, while retaining a core focus on the park, has a role to support our wider holiday accommodation and let properties.

It is your responsibility to provide an excellent experience for our guests and a happy and fulfilling working environment for your team.

Maintenance
- To review and implement the park’s internal maintenance system, to ensure we act promptly to resolve customer complaints or concerns and that we log recurring problems, which may require long term attention
- To conduct and record regular checks on the park’s property and vehicle assets to ensure safety compliance across the relevant range of regulations and good practice
- Supervising reactive maintenance through your team or via contract as required (planned maintenance is run through our Property Services team) including ground works and pitch upgrades
- Litter collection
- Keeping Health & Safety files and documents updated and relevant to daily operations. To organize training in this area where necessary and to ensure safe working practices are adhered to across the park
- Maintaining fire and security systems in good working order and in compliance with audit recommendations, saving all related documentation for internal and external inspection
- Stock control of park consumables (bottled gas, diesel and kerosene)
- Maintaining the warden team rota throughout the year
- Governance, training and auditing of RAMS and COSHH across the park’s operations
- Supporting out of hours service to estate holiday accommodation
- Diverting your team to wider estate property services during the park’s winter season, as resources allow

Customer Service
- Provision of 24/7 on-call rotas through the year to react rapidly to reports of customer concerns, nuisance, threat or security breach, specifically to the park but periodically also to the wider estate
- Training and supervision of the warden team to maintain vigilance at all times for signs of concern, need or bad intent across the park
- Instilling a culture of reacting promptly and positively to customer requests for assistance

Staff Management
- Direct leadership and management of the warden team
- Carrying out regular check-ins with team members to monitor their well-being and provide six monthly structured appraisals with SMART objectives which navigate ongoing personal development and performance
- Building safety into all systems and procedures, recognizing that team members are frequently asked to deal with challenging situations where patience and skills at diffusing confrontation are essential

Winter Work
- Delivering winter pitch upgrades on the park
- With your team, carry out static caravan moves and siting/de-siting in a safe and controlled environment, with a consistent ‘Safety First’ approach at all times
- Liaising with private caravan holiday home owners and contractors to carry out drain downs, equipment servicing for our own hire fleet and private caravan holiday home owners, throughout the year
- In liaison with the Head of Property, developing annual maintenance plans for the park
- Post delivery inspections on new static caravan deliveries, within the specifi