Land & Development Manager Ref: 28-25
Job Advert
Salary: Grade 6 £43,882 to £50,761 per annum
Hours: Full-time, 37 hours per week
Location: Dereham / Remote-enabled working
Contract Type: Permanent
Shape the future of Breckland. Build places that matter.
Join a forward-thinking, award-winning team at Breckland Council where your work directly shapes the places people live, work and thrive. As our new Land & Development Manager, you'll play a key role in unlocking the full potential of our land portfolio - driving sustainable development, strategic acquisitions, and meaningful regeneration projects that deliver on our Corporate Plan.
This is more than a property role - it's your chance to influence real change across the district.
Why you?
You're an experienced property professional - confident, qualified, and passionate about delivering development projects that have a lasting, positive impact.
You'll thrive if you:
- Enjoy managing development projects from start to finish.
- Have strong negotiation skills and know how to get best value.
- Are motivated by variety, challenge, and making a tangible difference.
- Know your way around land transactions, joint ventures, and risk management.
- Bring a collaborative mindset and know how to lead people and ideas.
Your impact:
Working closely with the Commercial Property & Estates Manager, you'll:
- Lead the management and development of our land portfolio, delivering projects that meet local needs and generate income.
- Act as client lead for our Breckland Bridge joint venture - ensuring its success through strong project oversight and collaboration.
- Negotiate complex land and development deals that deliver best value to the Council.
- Oversee the delivery of revenue and capital projects - from concept to completion.
- Identify and act on investment and development opportunities, including acquisitions and disposals.
- Procure and manage external consultants and project teams.
- Ensure all assets meet health & safety requirements and compliance standards.
- Monitor and report on performance - constantly seeking ways to improve.
What we're looking for:
We want someone who shares our values:
Collaborative: You listen, share and build strong partnerships
Ambitious: You challenge the status quo and drive positive change
Results-driven: You stay focused, resilient, and solution-oriented
Empowering: You show initiative, take ownership, and learn from experience
Supportive: You bring empathy, energy and respect to every interaction
The benefits:
- Work in a supportive, purpose-driven team
- Enjoy flexible, hybrid working with a home tech package
- Access to a Local Government Pension Scheme
- Ongoing training and professional development
- Real opportunity to make your mark across the district
Ready to bring your expertise to a council that values innovation and action?
For an informal chat, get in touch with Zoe Footer, Commercial Property & Estates Manager: zoe.footer@breckland.gov.uk
Closing date: 9am, Thursday 24th July 2025
Working Here
What's it like to work for us?
We are passionate about our people and pride ourselves on being a great place to work, we genuinely care and know that a happy workforce is a productive and motivated one! If you're still not sure, here are some stats from our 2024 staff survey to convince you..
- 94% said they feel trusted and empowered
- 90% of staff recommend Breckland as a great place to work
- 89% said they have had opportunities to learn and grow in the last 12 months
- 94% think Breckland provide positive action on health and wellbeing
- 91% said they felt supported by their manager
If you STILL need convincing, here's what some of our staff say...
- "Breckland is a fantastic employer, lots of opportunities and support"
- "Having only just started, it is a great place to work, everyone says hello, is smiley and chatty. I like the groups that are on, like carers shed and neurodiversity"
- "We are encouraged to take regular breaks and there are mental health first aiders and a wide range of good promotional aspects of healthy living and wellbeing."
- "In times of need the council offers excellent support."
- "BDC really does seem to care about the wellbeing and happiness of their staff."
At Breckland Council we have embraced the Government's agenda to modernise local government. Our approach is to lead change rather than follow it, and to add the best value we can to our communities. We achieve this by developing our employees to their full potential, providing them with the relevant knowledge, equipment, and authority to carry out their duties.
We are a dynamic and innovative organisation that is always testing and learning as we seek to continually improve. We have never stood still in response to the emergence of new opportunities, changing customer demands, and ongoing funding challenges. We have exciting plans for how to deliver the best possible services to our residents and businesses.
Breckland as a district is a special place nestled in the heart of rural Norfolk, spanning over 500 square miles of beautiful countryside and forest, with five Market Towns and over 140,000 residents. We care, we listen, and we support people and businesses within our district. We have big ideas and we are innovative in our approach, coming up with ways to meet the needs of the local communities that we serve. Through our actions, we want to make things better.
But we know that we can't do it alone. We are a collaborative organisation and we work together with others to make a greater impact. We are also an organisation where our employees can grow and develop and are empowered to achieve and succeed. We are proud of our area, and by driving investment and enabling opportunities, we can maximise its full potential. We want to inspire aspiration to live, work, visit, or do business here: we want our district to be one of choice.
We will support and enable growth and change in our thriving, welcoming places where people and businesses choose to be, knowing their ambitions can be not just fulfilled but exceeded. By listening to people, by understanding what they need and by working together, we can shape what we have to offer. By doing so, we can benefit those who are already here and those who choose to come to live, work, visit, or do business.
We offer excellent conditions of service, including:
- A local government pension scheme (14 per cent employer contribution).
- Attractive holiday package (25 days increasing after three years' continuous Local Authority service by one day per year up to the maximum of 28 days, plus bank holidays)
- Free car parking.
- Remote-enabled working arrangements.
- A newly refurbished office. See what it is like working here by watching this short film: https://youtu.be/keimYT7C9eQ
Our commitment to talent development, on the job learning and upskilling, training and professional memberships, will keep your knowledge and skills up to date.
Job Description
Job Summary
Grade: | 6 |
|---|---|
Responsible To: | Commercial Property and Estates Manager |
Responsible For: | Land & Development Officer Technical Property Officer |
Job Purpose: | To operationally manage and oversee the Council's land property assets to meet the requirements of the Asset Management Strategy and Corporate Plan. To undertake the client management role for the Breckland Bridge property joint venture and develop this partnership and deliver projects within it. To manage and deliver development projects utilising the Council's land portfolio. To oversee the management of property asset data and systems for property management. To provide support on strategic property projects and workstreams including the acquisition and disposal of property. |
Location of Job: | Elizabeth House, Dereham (remote-enabled) |
Directorate/ Service Area: | Place / Delivery |
Description of Duties
Primary Functional Objectives of the Role: |
A flexible approach to working hours will be essential to successfully manage the demands of the role and the postholder may be required to be on an out of hours call-out rota. Ensure compliance to all policies, procedures, standard operating practices, with recommendations for action and continuous improvement. |
|---|---|
Primary Line/Performance Management Objectives of the Role: | Capital and revenue receipts Breckland Bridge partnership |
Primary Leadership Objectives of the Role: | The post holder will be responsible for the effective leadership and management of the roles listed above. |
This job description is not exhaustive.
The job description outlines the current position and will be subject to review in the light of development within the service, in consultation with the post holder as detailed in your Contract of Employment.
Person Specification
Experience and Knowledge
Essential
- Senior Management experience within a LA or other large complex organisation.
- Experience of managing a land portfolio.
- Experience of the property development cycle and the delivery of property development from concept, through pre-planning to delivery.
- Experience of delivering budget management and performance targets for a property portfolio within a public sector organisation.
- Experience of successfully working with elected members and in a political environment and being politically aware.
- Experience of acting in the client role for property schemes and experience of managing a broad range of technical professional property disciplines.
- Experience and knowledge of the legal, statutory and corporate framework relating to Local Government.
- A track record of delivering service improvements and reducing service costs.
Desirable
- Knowledge of local, county and national trends in respect of public sector property strategy specifically investment property assets.
- Experience of working in a commissioning environment.
- Experience of advising on property development and construction schemes.
- Experience of asset reviews, asset acquisitions, asset disposals and property development techniques.
- Experience of delivering and working in collaboration with partner organisations and understanding of working in a partnership approach.
- Experience or knowledge of the construction market and construction methods.
- Experience of conveyancing and other property related legal matters.
- Experience of the legal framework and statutory instruments to help manage property.
- Knowledge of construction sector.
- Knowledge of the local area and Breckland Council's property portfolio.
- Experience of property joint venture and other delivery models.
Qualifications
Essential
- A relevant degree or equivalent learning.
- A relevant professional qualification (i.e. ILEX, RICS, CIOB, CIBSE) or experience of working as a land surveyor or a related function at this level for a significant number of years.
Desirable
- Membership of relevant professional body
- Formal management qualification.
Behaviours
Collaborative
- I look for ways to work in partnership with colleagues across services, Members and external partners
- I listen supportively to their ideas, building on their ideas, while sharing my views and knowledge
Ambitious
- I always ask myself, 'How could we do this better?', and take ownership of change and help others to understand, adapt to, implement and embed the change
- I have an open mindset, take risks and explore new ways of doing things
Results-driven
- I make sure I am clear on what I need to achieve, keeping a focus on results and solutions
- I am driven to achieve results and show courage and resilience even when things don't go to plan
Empowering
- I show energy and drive to explore new opportunities and challenge the status quo, and act on opportunities where we can generate an income or drive down costs
- I ask for help and support when needed, and take responsibility if things don't go well and learn from it for my own, and for the organisations development
Supportive
- I treat others as I would want to be treated myself, ensuring that I am welcoming, friendly and approachable.
- I give time to colleagues who need help or support.
Apply
If you have read the job description and person specification and believe that you could be the right person for this role, then please apply by 9am on Thursday 24th July 2025.
Shortlisting is done based on how well a candidate meets the requirements of the role, therefore please demonstrate clearly how you meet the person specification in your application.
If you would like an informal chat regarding this role please email Zoe Footer, Commercial Property & Estates Manager.
Equal Opportunities
We are committed to being an Equal Opportunities employer, recognising the benefits of sustaining a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community we serve. We welcome applications from anyone who feels they meet the requirements of our vacancies. These are listed as essential requirements on the person specification.
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