Lead Cost Planner

Lead Cost Planner

Rare opportunity to join one of the most highly thought of and financially secure construction companies in the UK.

This company are renowned in almost all areas of construction and property, and hold strong market positions in the commercial, retail, residential, pharmaceutical, health, education and industrial sectors.

They offer multiple services across the breadth of the design and construction project delivery process and boast a sophisticated cost planning capability.

Due to success on a number of major bids, they have a requirement to hire a Senior Cost Planner to work out of their Birmingham region on major schemes nationwide.

The Role

The Senior Cost Planner will be responsible for front-end Cost Planning, working closely and directly with both internal and external clients. You will also interact and work with other disciplines and teams from project inception at feasibility stage, present to the Main Board, and be accountable and responsible for all financial and cost planning aspects of the projects you are involved with.

The Senior Cost Planner will be expected to provide leadership in front-end Cost Planning with the production of cost estimates / cost plans and provision of early cost advice.

Management will also be a key aspect of this role, and the Senior Cost Planner will be expected to mentor and coach other Cost Planners to deliver to the business expectations and create an environment where learning and improvement are part of the Cost Planning Function. The Senior Cost Planner is to refresh and develop business systems, protocols and process, to maintain the company’s position at the forefront of Cost Planning methodology.

Accountabilities

• Responsible for the continuous improvement in the Cost Planning function and development of the functional skills within the team
• Accountable for all financial inputs into the project cost plan
• Able to accurately quantify, price and produce cost plans from concept design onwards
• Able to estimate rates from first principle on one and two stage tenders
• Secure market prices for trade packages and analyse same
• Able to price on a Labour, Plant and Materials basis
• Manage input from other disciplines (legal, insurance, planning, design and construction etc)
• Incorporate implications of :- programming requirements, methodology, phasing etc
• Take into account the contract conditions together with their impact , i.e. warranties, insurance, bonding, design and construction implications etc
• Manage Procurement, Design Management ,Planning, Construction and Commercial Management disciplines input into the cost planning process
• Manage the developing design in accordance with the cost plan
• Overseeing the commercial aspect of the acquisition of new work
• Accurate forecasting of current trade rates
• Estimation of Preliminaries Costs including producing company standard Preliminaries in accordance with the proposed bid strategy
• Capturing and analysis of cost data from projects for benchmarking
• Support project teams with change control and major variations
• Support project teams in the evaluation of commercial risks
• Participate and evaluate Value Engineering Solutions

Required Competencies/Behaviours:

This is a senior role within the business and there is a serious spotlight on the continued growth of the Cost Planning function. As such the successful candidate will need not just technical ability but also to demonstrate other capabilities and behaviours that will lend themselves toward developing successful and strong internal and external relationships, and will also enable a continual evolution of the Cost Planning function, through keeping at the cutting edge of Cost Planning methodology.

The Senior Cost Planner will be expected to “makes sense” of information, analyse problems logically and recommend effective solutions rapidly.

We are keen to speak with people who think creatively, conceptually and systematically to consider the wider consequences of each decision and deliver creative solutions to complex issues.

It is also essential that you are able to reach smart conclusions and make firm and sometimes difficult decisions.

Additionally the Senior Cost Planner needs to be able to build a climate of high performance, take ownership for standards and delivery, while acting on initiative for the good of the team and organisation. Communication skills and the ability to influence is also of paramount importance, as the Senior Cost Planner will need to effectively communicate ideas and directions. You will need to be experienced in using a variety of approaches to persuade, convince or influence individuals or groups to gain commitment to company strategies, plans and support for your own ideas and initiatives.

Benefits and How to Apply

This is a unique opportunity to join an excellent firm who can provide an unrivalled career path in Cost Planning and Management. Remuneration is uncapped and is commensurate with what you would expect in a high profile company working on landmark projects.

Applicants should have extensive experience working in either professional QS, major contractor or developer organisations and ideally will have worked within the education sector. Those with recent PFI and/ or BSF project experience will be of particular interest.

For further details please contact Liz Drake in the strictest of confidence, on e.drake@stratusrecruitment.com or by telephone to the number listed.