Since 1987, Mitie’s 68,000 employees, have been serving companies and communities across the world. We’re the UK’s leading facilities management company. Our clients range from banks to retailers, hospitals to schools, and critical government sites. We make a positive difference to millions of people, every day, and we’re very proud of this. Join us and together there’s no limit to what we can achieve.

Mitie - Projects

Mitie are looking for a Principal Designer to join an account-based Projects team supporting PD services for Mitie and our client portfolio to achieve compliance with CDM 2015.

The role is geographically based, with site visits and team meetings on site as required, the role supports projects managed by the Projects team and will provide Principal Designer and operational support services throughout the client portfolio (UK wide - excl. N.I.)

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work on a diverse range of projects undertaken by our Project Managers, who each manage a broad portfolio of projects ranging from circa £ 5K up to £ 5M+. Project teams are led by a of Head of Projects and Estate Change and are supported by Quantity Surveyors, Project Managers, Project Coordinators, and administrators.

On many occasions, Mitie are acting in the role of Client Representative and must fulfil those duties of behalf of our client.

We are looking to recruit an experienced, competent, and knowledgeable individual who will ensure compliance with CDM 2015 and health and safety legislation, while supporting and generating a high standard of service delivery, achieving successful outcomes for our clients, and capturing, sharing, and building CDM and health and safety knowledge across the Projects team.

Job objectives and responsibilities

The Principal Designer will support the Project team for ensuring that Mitie are fulfilling and discharging our legal obligations under the CDM 2015 Regulations with regards to the planning, managing, monitoring and co-ordinating health and safety in the pre-construction phase, and coordinate construction health and safety through the construction phase to ensure that projects are carried out without risk to health and safety of workers or others who may be affected by the works.

Responsibilities will include bit not limited to:

• Support the planning, managing, monitoring and coordinate health and safety in the pre-construction phase. In doing so they must take account of relevant information (such as an existing health and safety file) that might affect design work carried out both before and after the construction phase has started
• Help and advise the client and wider team in bringing together pre-construction information, and provide the information designers and contractors need to carry out their duties
• Work with any other designers on the project to eliminate foreseeable health and safety risks to anyone affected by the work and, where that is not possible, take steps to reduce or control those risks.
• Ensure that everyone involved in the pre-construction phase communicates and cooperates, coordinating their work wherever required.
• Liaise with the principal contractor, keeping them informed of any risks that need to be controlled during the construction phase.

The Principal Designer role will be responsible for directly supporting Mitie, our clients, designers, consultants, contractors, and others as appropriate to ensure compliance with the CDM Regulations.

The role will include:

• Ensure the successful implementation, management, and compliance of the CDM 2015 Regulations, health and safety legislation and industry legislation within Mitie projects
• Champion the Mitie Projects Centre of Excellence and Mitie CDM and health and safety policies and procedures to ensure health and safety is embedded into everything we do
• Provide advice, guidance and support the Projects team through all RIBA stages with regard to CDM as necessary; enquiry/briefing, design, tender, mobilisation/construction delivery and practical completion and handover
• Ensure the delivery of projects for, on behalf of or by Mitie are carried out in safe manner and that Mitie, our clients, designers, consultants, and contractors are aware of their roles, and fulfilling their responsibilities under the CDM Regulations
• Collaborate and communicate with all parties involved in a project, including Mitie, our clients, designers, consultants, contractors and health and safety personnel at the pre-construction and design stages, and through the construction phase as required
• Maintain and sustain professional contact with clients to be able to form strong working relationships and monitor customer satisfaction in terms of project risks and responsibilities
• Provide the right level of CDM management, support and guidance depending on the scale, risk, and complexity for each individual contract and project
• Support the development of Mitie Project Managers undertaking the role of the Principal Designer and/or Principal Contractor
• Collaborate with Mitie HSE, quality, and audit team communities to ensure a harmonised approach to compliance with both the Mitie Projects Centre of Excellence and Mitie CDM and health and safety policies and procedures
• Actively take part in Mitie CDM and Projects team meetings to share CDM and health and safety information, and identify and prioritises health and safety risk’s that affect Mitie and our clients

Main duties

The Principal Designer is to be pro-active and self-sufficient in ensuring that Mitie meet our legal obligations under the CDM Regulations. The role will provide Mitie, our clients, designers, and suppliers with the Principal Designer role and CDM Management services as required to assist all parties in meeting their statutory duties in relation to CDM 2015.

Main duties include:

• Formally agree and confirm the scope of the Principal Designer and/or CDM services with the client on a project-by-project basis, including the planning, management, and monitoring arrangements of the pre-construction phase
• Ensure client engagement and liaison throughout all stages of a project.
• Advise and support the client where required with the development of the client brief.
• Advise and assist the client where required in the appointments of designers and contractors, and review procurement methods.
• Ensure formal appointments and acceptance of the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor
• Notification of F10 to the HSE, where required.
• Ensure effective communication between all parties including Mitie, our client, designers, and the principal contractor/contractors and encourage regular progress meetings to be undertaken as necessary.
• Assist the client to identify and gather pre-construction information and distribute to designers, the principal contractor.
• Undertake site visits to establish existing site hazards and client restrictions to include within the pre-construction information.
• Identify gaps in pre-construction information, and advise the client where they require to commission further investigations and/or surveys, etc.
• Ensure health and safety risks are identified and discussed by all parties; add to the project risk register.
• Ensure designers comply with their duties under the CDM Regulations
• Facilitate effective coordination and cooperation between designers and ensure designers have established safe methods for construction of unusual or complex designs and make this information available to the principal contractor/contractors.
• Gather information from designers, including any design risk management information, to pass to the principal contractor/contractors.
• Liaise with the construction team throughout a project to ensure that there is an ongoing exchange of health and safety information.
• Ensure supplier appointments include the assessment of organisational capabilities and individual competencies (SKET), and any specific client vetting requirements.
• Review and assist in the preparation of the Construction Phase Health and Safety Plans when required.
• Undertake formal risk assessment and method statement reviews when required.
• Ensure all CDM documentation and supporting information for each project from all parties are available.
• Ensure contractors and designers hand over information for inclusion into the health and safety file throughout the construction phase.
• Prepare an appropriate health and safety file and gather information as the project progresses.
• Provide the completed file, including operations & maintenance manuals to the client, in the format required timeously following project completion.

Additional duties:

• Undertake CDM health and safety inspections of live projects.
• Assist Project Managers with Mitie and external project audits.
• Deliver CDM training and workshops to Mitie and others as necessary to ensure continuous development of CDM and health and safety competencies.
• Coordinate management reports, newsletters and bulletins as needed by the Projects teams.
• Advise on a range of specialist areas, e.g., fire management, hazardous substances, asbestos, temporary works, work at height, confined spaces, and demolition, etc.
• Attend and fully participate in training and appraisal activities as required for role.
• keep up to date with new and revised legislation and maintain a working knowledge of CDM and health and safety legislation and any developments. Communicate and mange changes to the Projects team and wider Mitie community, as necessary.
• Keep personal CPD up to date of professional organisations.
• Attend organisational seminars and read professional journals to use knowledge to keep the Projects team abreast with changes in upcoming legislation, trends and best practices.

Person Specification

The successful candidate will meet the high expectations of our demanding customer and internal colleagues; we are looking for candidates who are ambitious, entrepreneurial, and confident in themselves and their abilities.

The candidate needs to be creative and think innovatively about how we can continually improve as a team, in the way we and our suppliers work; be pragmatic, pro-active, empowered, energetic, assertive, and commercially savvy with a heap of initiative and keen to drive themselves and us forward.

Personal specification:

• Strong client and customer focus, with diplomacy skills and an approachable personality that invokes trust and respect from clients, project teams and others involved throughout a project.
• A team player with a ‘can do’ attitude who is outgoing, polite, personable, respectful.
• Patience and diplomacy because the profession requires a collaborative approach.
• Self-motivation and ability to work both independently and as part of a team to deliver a high quality of CDM services and support.
• Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously.
• Excellent written and spoken communicator to explain CDM and health and safety processes to a broad range of clients and individuals.
• Excellent presentations skills
• Positive approach to adaptations of client and project requirements
• Negotiating skills where required to effectively communicate the need to implement and maintain safety standards that may compromise speed or efficiency.
• The ability to understand and analyse complex information and present it simply and accurately.
• An investigative mind
• Excellent attention to detail
• A flexible approach to work
• Physical fitness if your work will involve time on large-scale plants or on outdoor sites.
• A driving licence - essential for jobs involving travel between sites.
• Able to drive long distances when required, and occasional overnight stays away from home.

Personal qualifications and skills:

• A minimum of three years’ experience in the role or similar role within the projects/construction industry
• Strong understanding of the CDM Regulations 2015
• Previous experience advising on CDM compliance.
• NEBOSH Construction Certificate or NEBOSH General Certificate (Essential)
• QHSE qualification.
• Registered Member of Association of Project Safety (IMaPS or CMaPS) (Essential)
• Professional Qualifications in a design or engineering related discipline (desirable).
• Experience of the construction industry.
• Experience of CDM delivery to both private and public sector clients on a broad mixture of projects.
• Experience in other specialist areas such as asbestos, temporary works, fire safety in construction and confined space helpful, but not essential.
• An understanding of the general principals of prevention and risk reduction in design process.
• Full computer literacy, particularly with MS Office, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams .