Fire Safety Manager

Are passionate about fire safety and committed to ensuring the highest standards in social housing? Our vision is for everyone to have the opportunity to live in a good quality sustainable home within a lively and thriving neighbourhood. We’re working hard to improve disadvantaged areas and enhance people’s lives across the Borough, including a carbon neutral strategy.

Dedicated to ensuring the safety, comfort, and well-being of our residents. With a commitment to providing safe and secure homes, we are now seeking a skilled and passionate Fire Safety Manager to join our team.

As Fire Safety Manager, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring fire safety compliance and best practices across our housing portfolio. You will act as the organisation's lead on fire safety, ensuring that policies, procedures, and practices align with statutory obligations and reflect industry best standards. You will work in partnership with the Building Safety Manager, Health and Safety Manager, Compliance Technical Officers, Asbestos Officer, FRA Carpenters and Health and Safety Officer to maintain the Council’s Statutory Compliance obligations.

About the role

The Fire Safety Manager will be responsible for all technical aspects of the Fire Safety Act 2021 and Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. You will be responsible for managing the action from the Fire Risk Assessments and producing a programme of works.

The Fire Safety Manager will be working with the Compliance Technical Officers to ensure that work orders are raised to external contractors to complete remedial works and compliance obligations namely:

• Fire Risk Assessments
• Fire door Inspections (Building Safety Manager)
• Fire Compartmentation surveys

Key Accountabilities are:

• Support the Compliance Team Manager.
• Review and amend the Policy for Fire Safety and Fire Risk Assessments.
• Review, develop and maintain the systems for Fire Safety Management.
• Review the completion of the Fire Risk Assessment programme, including the validation of the assessments and appointment of Specialist contractors for the completion of Fire Risk Assessments.
• Create reports on progress to be compliant in relation to Fire Safety works.
• Plan and support Fire Drills within our Sheltered Housing Schemes.
• Point of contact for the Royal Berkshire Fire Rescue Service and Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.
• Review of Fire Safety Measures following a report of a Fire in a Housing building.
• Escalation of non-conformities to service colleagues.
• Act as subject matter expert (Fire) to Project Managers and building surveyors to ensure effective delivery of the programme.
• Engage with key stakeholders and ensure effective communication and involvement with project activity.
• Track all fire safety related project activity including monitoring against budgets and delivery of targets against time and cost.
• Maintain formal project controls (risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies) – ensuring these are visible and accessible and continually updated and acted upon.
• Deliver the programme and projects in accordance with agreed standards.
• Taking action to address risks including escalating risks and taking action to eliminate, reduce or delay risk.
• Monitoring the expenditure and costs against the funding as the programme progresses.
• Escalate risks and issues which may impact any aspects of performance or the Council’s reputation.

You’ll be part of a team that relies on each individual to play their part to the best of their ability. As well as the colleagues that you work closely with every day, you’ll also be part of Team Reading, playing your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place.

About you

The ideal candidate will need to be front facing so will have to be able to engage with internal and external stakeholders at all levels. You will be able to demonstrate change management experience.

You will have to demonstrate your subject matter expertise. You will have a commitment to customer care, with a significant level of skills to deal with a diverse range of people, communicating clearly, simply and effectively in writing and verbally.

The proven ability to lead, motivate, empower and develop staff with a positive attitude to change and flexibility and be able to prepare and present in-depth reports, including committee reports and Key Performance Indicators to an extremely high level.

Specific requirements

Candidate must have a full UK driving licence and own a car.

Our offer

We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition is strongly encouraged, and you’ll get a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.

A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:

• Generous holiday entitlement - 25 days holiday each year plus bank holidays - rising to 33 days after 10 years' service, with the option to buy additional leave.
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
• Life Assurance - three times your annual salary (for members of the LGPS).
• On-site day nursery (Kennet Day nursery) rated outstanding by Ofsted, and a salary sacrifice scheme to help lower the cost of your nursery fees.
• Season Ticket Loan - a loan to help with the cost of your rail or bus journey, to and from work.
• Lease car salary sacrifice scheme allowing you to lease a brand new, greener car for three years. The monthly fee includes insurance, servicing and road tax.

To arrange a confidential discussion on this position please email Charles Hahn: charles.hahn@reading.gov.uk

Closing Date: 2nd February 2025

Interview Date: TBC

Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity and inclusion is the key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.