Job Description

Henshaws is a northern charity supporting people with sight loss and a wide range of additional needs to live independent and fulfilling lives. Our vision is a world where everyone with a visual impairment or disability can go beyond expectations. The environments we provide are central to achieving this mission. They must be safe, welcoming and designed with dignity and purpose.







We are seeking a skilled and strategic Head of Facilities to lead all aspects of facilities management across our sites. This includes our Specialist College, residential settings, community services and our Arts and Crafts Centre. You will be responsible for ensuring our environments are safe, compliant, efficient and enable the highest standards of service for staff, students and visitors.

Position:

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Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, this role will oversee facilities, property management, maintenance, catering and housekeeping. You will line manage the Facilities Manager and Maintenance Manager and have full responsibility for external contracts, service standards, team development and budget oversight.


You will work closely with colleagues across the organisation to ensure the delivery of responsive, joined up services that support operational excellence. You will also play a key role in longer term planning and contributing to strategic decision making, particularly around estates and compliance.



Salary: 24.03 per hour/47,483.28 per annum Hours per week: 38 Weeks per year: 52 Annual leave: 5 weeks plus 10 days bank holiday Contract: Permanent Location: Harrogate and Knaresborough Closing Date: 28th February 2026 - Noon

Requirements:

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Key responsibilities

To provide senior, organisation-wide leadership of Henshaws' Estates and Facilities services across the entire portfolio, ensuring safe, compliant, high-quality and cost-effective environments for disabled people, staff, students and visitors. To act as the organisations' senior accountable lead for Estates, Facilities and Health & Safety, setting the strategic direction, governance frameworks and organisational expectations for safety, compliance and infrastructure. To lead and modernise the delivery of estates and facilities services, including maintenance, catering, housekeeping and property management , ensuring services are compliant with legislation and aligned to organisational priorities. To provide assurance to the Chief Operating Office, Executive Leadership Team and trustees that estates, facilities and Health & Safety risks are effectively identified, managed and mitigated. To sponsor and oversee a specialist Health & Safety function, ensuring robust operational delivery of Health & Safety activity while retaining senior oversight and accountability. To contribute operational insight and expertise to longer-term strategic planning, capital development, service sustainability and organisational risk management.

About you

We are looking for someone who can bring a blend of operational expertise, strategic thinking and a strong commitment to quality and inclusion. You will have:

Proven experience in a senior leadership role in facilities or estates management, ideally within a multi site education, health, care or charitable environment Demonstrated ability to lead and develop multidisciplinary teams across maintenance, catering and cleaning Understanding of Health & Safety governance within regulated care, education or SEND environments. Understanding of statutory requirements relevant to SEND settings (e.g. CQC, Ofsted, Food Hygiene) Knowledge of legal requirements and inspection frameworks relevant to facilities supporting disabled or vulnerable people Experience of managing budgets and delivering cost effective services across multiple departments A confident approach to policy development, performance monitoring and continuous improvement Excellent communication and influencing skills and the ability to build positive relationships both internally and externally Strong background in developing and implementing SLAs and KPIs within the facilities sector. A relevant qualification or equivalent experience in facilities or property management A flexible, hands on approach and a commitment to Henshaws' values of accessibility, empowerment and community inclusion

Other information:

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Henshaws Society for Blind People aims to employ a diverse workforce and is committed to equality of employment and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community.

Henshaws is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and vulnerable adults. It is a criminal offence for people barred from working in regulated activity to apply for roles that require them to work unsupervised with that particular group e.g. vulnerable adults, children or both. An Enhanced DBS with barring and reference checks will be sought from the successful candidate.

Henshaws reserves the right to check social media accounts of all successful applicants.

Registered Charity No: 221888