The Role
We are the largest and most successful Land business supporting infrastructure development in the UK and Ireland, with 300+ specialist professional colleagues consisting of land consultants, property specialists, project managers and utility and topographical surveyors. We have the widest portfolio of projects available in our industry, offering unrivalled opportunities to both develop and diversify careers, working on some of the most exciting and challenging projects across the whole of the UK and Ireland.
Alongside our land referencing capabilities, our team of surveyors secures powers and/or negotiates land acquisition and land access to support infrastructure development. We provide clients with Property Cost Estimates, agree Heads of Terms and compensations, manage disposals, payments and client accounts, and offer the full range of property-related services to assist our clients in the planning, securing and exercise of powers to construction, operation and maintenance of their infrastructure assets.
Principal Land Consultant
- Ensure successful delivery of projects securely, on time, within budget and to high standards
- Be a trusted advisor to clients (externally and internally) and manage relationships
- Advise on Land issues across the UK and Ireland, including at least some of the relevant statutory processes to acquire land such as DCOs, DNOs, hybrid Bills, Scottish Bills, TWA, T&CPA, CPOs, Motorway Orders, Vesting Orders, etc
- Secure land rights for high profile, strategic infrastructure projects across all sectors
- Liaise with landowners, land agents, legal representatives, planning authorities, key stakeholders, contractors and clients
- Work with Land team colleagues and collaborate with engineering, environmental, and planning teams both within WSP and as part of project supply chains
- Undertake quality assurance of deliverables in relation to the identification of land interests and rights, negotiation of access to land for surveys, consents and acquisition of land rights for large scale development projects, as well as land acquisition and planning applications
- Support quality and the sharing of knowledge and lessons across regions and projects
- People management as a leader and role model
- Manage, motivate, mentor and develop staff and contribute to the development and delivery of the business strategy
- Support the writing of bids/tenders to secure opportunities from internal and external clients
- Delivery of training on technical topics by contributing to and participating in our CPD-accredited Land Academy
- UK and Ireland travel plus the possibility of travel to WSP’s Global Capability Centre (GCC) in India
What we will be looking for you to demonstrate
- Expertise in urban and/or rural environment, property, communities and stakeholders
- Experience in working on infrastructure development schemes with multi-disciplinary teams across a range of sectors and locations
- Experience of negotiating commercial terms with landowners and knowledge of the legal process for the acquisition of wayleaves and easement and negotiated access
- Demonstrable experience of reducing land risk for clients and advising them on land-related matters throughout all stages of a project lifecycle
- Track record of the development of Orders, etc and/or acquisition of consents and interests in land, and knowledge of relevant legislation
- Ability to communicate effectively with strong influencing and negotiating skills
- Ability to work in a team and on own initiative, being able to work under pressure and deliver high quality outputs
- Strong landowner and public engagement skills
- Good business and IT skills
- Adherence to quality assurance and good document management skills
- A degree in Geography, Land/Estate Management, Agriculture or similar
- Chartership or membership of a relevant professional body would be advantageous
- The ability to travel effectively to various sites/locations is a necessary function of this role
Location and Working Arrangements
The role is based in our Leeds or Newcastle offices, with the flexibility of hybrid working between one of these locations and from home. The candidate will ideally be located within North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire, County Durham, Teesside, Tyne and Wear or North Lincolnshire.
Development and Variety of Work
We appreciate that development and training is important to you and that is why we have a supportive environment that invests in your development, whether that’s chartership, training or mentoring. WSP’s Land Academy is designed and delivered by our expert Land team for our Land team, with a focus on providing the best standard training and CPD across the industry and support and guidance to achieve your chartership. With a network of experts available to guide, we support your management and ownership of your own projects, client advisory, line management, presentation, training and leadership skills.
With a broad selection of projects, we don’t pigeonhole you into a particular project or role. The Land Academy enables you to broaden your capability into GIS, Data Management, Valuations, Negotiations, Referencing and Access and Project Management to be a more rounded and valuable consultant. Project experience rotates, on average, around every 18 months. Day to day activities vary from site activities, landowner engagement, access negotiations, client meetings, project management, report writing, data management, digital innovation scoping and map production.
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