Job Description

View Vacancy - Estates Transformation and Projects Lead- MLC 2661

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Open Date

11/07/2025, 10:30

Close Date

24/08/2025, 23:55
Research Institute
MRC Mary Lyon Centre
Research Institute / Unit Information
The Mary Lyon Centre at MRC Harwell (MLC) https://www.har.mrc.ac.uk/ is located in an expanding science and innovation campus in Oxfordshire and is an internationally renowned centre at the forefront of genetics research. As the hub of the new National Mouse Genetics Network, the specialist facilities and capabilities of the MLC support a number of research groups across the UK to accelerate our understanding of human diseases, such as cancer, developmental disorders and neurodegeneration.
UK Research and Innovation is a new entity that brings together nine partners to create an independent organisation with a strong voice for research and innovation, more information can be found at www.ukri.org

Band
MRC - 3
Location
Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire
Salary
55,809
Contract Type
Fixed Term
Job Type
Technical & Scientific Professionals
Full Time / Part Time
Full Time
Contract Length
until end March 2026

Overall Purpose:

The Estates Transformation Projects Lead will manage and oversee a variety of estates transformation projects for the Mary Lyon Centre at MRC Harwell, achieving project deliverables against MRC's capital investment program and Estates and Sustainability strategies.


The Mary Lyon Centre at Harwell is actively working to deliver on a variety of upgrade, refurbishment and sustainability projects to provide world-class science and laboratory facilities, and is implementing a clear estates development strategy to meet operational and sustainability ambitions.


Working closely with, and reporting to the Head of Engineering and Estates, the role is responsible for managing the delivery of complex construction and Mechanical and Electrical Services projects, which include plant replacements, building fabric upgrades, services and estates upgrades, laboratory development and refurbishments, and renewables implementation and decarbonisation. The role will be involved in varying stages of development, working on projects from feasibility stages through to project delivery, ensuring technical and scientific requirements are met, and facility operability is maintained to ensure continuity of scientific objectives and programme delivery.


The post-holder will manage projects and the interface between client and contractor whilst working closely with scientific stakeholders, internal/external design teams, and appointed consultants and contractors, to ensure projects align with business needs, goals and objectives. The post-holder will be responsible for projects of varying size, typically ranging from 200k to 10m. The role requires demonstrable skills and experience in developing and verifying mechanical, electrical and construction elements, understanding the technical project requirements, potential impacts, and ensuring project delivery to specification with minimal risk. The role will actively manage projects, changes and development, and will report regularly to site stakeholders, providing assurances on coordination, planning, execution and monitoring whilst delivering schemes to specification, on budget and program.


The role will manage project development and direction as well as critique and challenge contractor/consultant performance against operational needs, ensuring facilities and projects deliver the required benefits and quality, whilst maintaining control of budget and programme constraints.


Specific building services engineering and construction knowledge and experience is essential for the role, to ensure that projects are suitably understood, managed and de-risked through design and construction stages, and to ensure that projects are delivered to specification and meet the compliance needs of mechanical, electrical, civil, structural, fire and building regulation standards.


The post-holder will have a strong Mechanical and Electrical Services focus and should be able to oversee all aspects of services engineering to ensure that projects are designed and controlled to achieve fully compliant, maintainable and resilient schemes.

Main Duties/Key Responsibilities:

Ownership and responsibility for the successful planning, execution, monitoring, and control of site projects Provide regular summary to Head of Engineering & Estates and relevant MLC Stakeholders with regular reporting of projects, providing progress reports to stakeholders and wider audiences Take responsibility for the management of projects, including design and specification development, procurement, programme, construction, gateway approvals, risk and financial status Develop feasibility studies, cost estimates, and project programmes tender documentation, engaging with specialists where required Be responsible for the coordination of projects, achieving the delivery of high-quality end products, to programme and within budget and in accordance with relevant legislation (including Building Control and tactical planning) Effective management and documentation of change control for projects, providing clear evidential decision-making trail Provide technical expertise and commentary to provide engineering solutions, enabling critical decisions to be made Carry out initial project assessments, undertake client discussions, and give client technical advice regarding project proposals, process, procurement of the project team and deliverables Liaise with relevant stakeholders, including those within the MLC and external to the campus, ensuring that requirements are considered at all stages of the project Interpret engineering needs from end users and the scientific community Pro-actively monitor and oversee the performance of main contractors and consultants, ensuring that all projects are delivered in a timely manner to meet the internal client needs, and that all costs are kept within the approved budget Ensure compliance with all relevant project Health & Safety legislation, undertaking project audits where required, ensuring that policies and procedures relating to Health & Safety are adhered to Implement project management controls, including, but not limited to risk management, quality management, financial reporting and programme Monitor compliance of projects with MLC process and governance requirements ensuring full and pro-active compliance Have a key understanding of sustainable engineering solutions to support the MRC and UKRI objective of reaching net zero by 2040 Actively manage record keeping, ensuring best practice of digital files; e.g., schematics/drawings Work with Estates department to hand over projects, ensuring that a robust planned-maintenance schedule is developed and implemented, ensuring full project handover - FM Software Manage the efficient handover of the completed project to the building occupiers and users, ensuring that central records, training and asset tagging are supported past project handover. For smaller projects, directly undertake the design and specification supported by the Estates Team, and in line with MLC standard specifications

Working Relationships:

As a member of MLC Estates Services, proactively support the Estates remit to deliver flexible, customer-focused and efficient services that support the delivery of the MLC vision, values and objectives.


The Estates Services team needs to be agile and able to adapt to the ever-changing needs of our diverse customer base therefore it is expected that the post-holder will demonstrate a flexible and adaptable approach.

Additional Information:

The post-holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.



Person Specification

Education/Qualifications/Training Required:

Essential:

Must hold relevant professional qualification related to the construction industry and/or membership of a relevant professional body (RICS, ICE CIOB, RIBA, etc.) Project Management Qualifications or educated to degree level or equivalent in an engineering or construction discipline
Desirable:

Project Management Qualifications

Previous Work Experience Required:

Essential:

Experience within a lead role of managing a large and complex construction project portfolio Experience in leading with the delivery of a range of projects from relatively simple projects to complex refurbishment or new build projects An excellent track record in project planning, financial control, the assessment of contract strategies and contract supervision Experience in managing a multi-disciplinary design team throughout the pre-construction phase
Desirable:

Experience of supporting a research and laboratory environment Public Sector client-side experience in either Engineering, Architecture or Construction projects

Knowledge and Experience:

Essential:

Proven experience working with Mechanical and Electrical schemes and understanding key engineering principles Demonstrable knowledge and experience of dealing with complex engineering projects, with a detailed understanding of the possible design solutions in conjunction with the appointed designers Demonstrable knowledge and experience of dealing with current construction legislation, including planning, construction and contract law, health and safety, environmental management and building control A working knowledge of AUTOCAD, or other similar drawing packages, and an awareness of BIM. Detailed knowledge of the RIBA stages of work 2020, with associated engineering overlays such as fire engineering A detailed understanding of CDM 2015 and your responsibility as duty holder Use of project management software, including Microsoft Project

Desirable:

Knowledge of government soft landings Advanced knowledge of AUTOCAD, or other similar drawing packages

Personal skills/Behaviours/Qualities:

Essential:

Possess a high level of communication and negotiation skills Able to perform effectively within tight timescales, keep within strict budgets and create a positive client environment Ability to act as client's agent and coordinate work proactively and independently Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to deal with a wide range of people including highly influential external and internal contacts Excellent presentation skills Excellent written skills and experience of preparation of project reports and documents Ability to prioritise competing demands and demonstrate strong organisational skills and an ability to manage a wide remit of tasks and meet deadlines Demonstrable problem-solving capability Ability to maintain a flexible and collaborative approach To be self-motivated and resilient

Further Information
We will be reviewing applications regularly and reserve the right to close this vacancy early.

Equality & Diversity:

The MRC values the diverse skills and experience of its employees and is committed to achieving equality of treatment for all. Our objectives are that all individuals shall have equal opportunities for employment and advancement based on their skills, aptitudes and abilities. The MRC is committed to the engagement and retention of the best possible talent and to creating an environment that encourages excellence in scientific research through good equality and diversity leadership and management.

Corporate/Local Responsibilities & Requirements:

The post-holder must at all times carry out their responsibilities with due regard to the MRC's:

Code of Conduct Equality and Diversity policy Health and Safety policy Data Protection and Security policy

All employees are required to act professionally, cooperatively and flexibly in line with the requirements of the post and the MRC.



The MRC is a unique working environment where scientific researchers and professional support staff can actively partake in world class innovation and collaboration opportunities and their skills and knowledge through accessing a wide catalogue of training & development, including professional registration with the Science Council.


In addition, MRC (part of UKRI) provides its community of employees access to a whole host of useful benefits, including a defined benefit pension scheme and excellent holiday entitlement (30 days plus 2.5 privilege days & 8 bank holidays), family friendly policies (6 months full pay maternity & adoption leave), a range of shopping/travel discounts, access to our Employee Assistant Programme Scheme, Health and Wellbeing Support and a salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. Please follow this link to find out more - Benefits




Our success is dependent upon our ability to embrace diversity and draw on the skills, understanding and experience of all our people. We warmly invite people from diverse backgrounds and heritage, including people who identify as having a disability, to apply for a role that excites them. As "Disability Confident" employers, we guarantee to interview all applicants who have disclosed they have a disability and who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.


UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider whether this conflicts with your personal values or beliefs.


We will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as an essential part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check. The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.