External Contracts Manager

We're looking for an External Contracts Manager to join our Major Works Team, where you'll be responsible for overseeing fire safety and building safety major works across high-rise, mid-rise, and low-rise buildings. Your role will ensure full compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Building Safety Act 2022 while managing contracts, delivering projects, forecasting finances, and procuring consultants. Acting as the client-side competent person, you will lead critical projects to ensure quality, compliance, and cost-effective solutions.

This is a fantastic opportunity to be at the forefront of fire and building safety, ensuring safe homes and driving best practices. You'll take ownership of externally sourced contracts, ensuring they adhere to legal and regulatory frameworks while working within established processes and procedures. Risk assessments, KPI implementation, and site inspections will form a key part of your role as you assess work quality, identify defects, and ensure necessary rectifications. Strong stakeholder engagement and customer communication are essential throughout the project lifecycle, alongside financial forecasting and budget management.

We're looking for someone with experience in the construction industry in a similar position, with a proven track record in managing contractors and consultants within major works projects. A strong understanding of fire and building safety regulations, proficiency in Microsoft Excel and project management software, and experience in risk assessments, KPIs, and compliance monitoring are essential. Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills will also be key to your success.

We welcome candidates working towards chartered membership, such as MCIOB, and those with a project management qualification like PMP or PRINCE2. Experience in social housing or public sector major works would be advantageous.

We offer flexible working, so you can work from home and collaborate with colleagues in person at least three times a week at one of our offices in Eastleigh (SO50 6AD), Bracknell (RG12 1RF), Yeovil (BA22 8WN) or London (W10 5BN). 

If you are a motivated professional eager to make a difference in fire and building safety major works, we encourage you to apply. Please submit your application as soon as possible, as we may close the advert early if we receive sufficient suitable candidates.

We'll review and interview suitable candidates as they apply. If we receive enough applications, we'll close the advert early so be sure to apply today so you don't miss out

Who we are

Abri is a large housing provider who own and manage more than 58,000 homes and various community assets, serving around 113,000 customers across the South of England.

We believe everyone has the right to a good quality safe, warm and sustainable home in a community where they can belong, grow and thrive. What does that look like in real terms? 

 We're investing £689m over the next ten years in our existing homes to improve building safety and make them more energy efficient.

• We're delivering 10,000 homes by 2030, ensuring affordable housing is built where it's needed most
• We're investing in our communities, to address local issues and create opportunities for everyone 

As we grow, we're re-establishing our strong local presence to provide a really good service. Abri has adopted a regional approach to service delivery, with our operating areas split into three, each with their local governance and leadership. This will ensure our colleagues are more visible, accountable and better connected to our customers and local communities to meet their diverse needs.  

More information about Abri and our strategic objectives can be found at 

What you can expect

Benefit 4

Benefit 5

Benefit 6

What you can expect

28 days holiday + the opportunity to buy and sell holiday

Generous pension scheme with contributions up to 10%

Money off tons of high street and online retailers

Life assurance of 5x your annual salary

Generous parental and family leave

Health and wellbeing packages

Electric car scheme

Personal development opportunities

Colleague recognition scheme

Flexible working

Free eye tests

Cycle to Work scheme

About you

We've all got different backgrounds, strengths and experiences. But we share the same values. It's these shared values that bring us together as one team.

Our colleagues embrace these every day. Be the difference to our customers and colleagues, always curious and look for better solutions, achieve together by working in partnership with others, own it openly through working with others in an open and honest way, and finally embrace possibility and see changes and challenges as welcomed opportunities.

We also expect our colleagues to share Abri's commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults.

If you share our values and want to make a real difference in the world, you're on to a winner and we'd love to hear from you 

Be yourself

We're committed to promoting an inclusive culture. We welcome and respect the individual differences, life experiences and knowledge that all our colleagues bring into the workplace, and we value their contribution to our amazing company. Everyone is different, everyone is unique.

Flexible working

We recognise the benefits flexible working can bring and we aim to support colleagues who need to work flexibly wherever we can, provided the needs of both Abri and the colleague can be met. Please feel free to let us know about any flexibility you might need when applying for this role. We can't promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise to consider it fully.

To our agency friends

We already have a number of carefully selected agency partners who know our business well and who support our in-house recruitment team during exceptionally busy periods. We're not looking to add to our preferred supplier list right now but if you'd like to be considered at a future date please don't hesitate to register on our procurement portal.

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