Property Development Officer- Property - SPARK Schools Support - 2023
SPARK Schools, South Africa
Job Description
Watch our Vision Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOU0TYnNsZo
Take a tour of our Website: https://sparkschools.co.za/
SPARK Schools is a social impact disruptor and is leading change in the education space through its network of affordable private schools. The SPARK Schools network provides transformational education innovation through Africa’s first blended learning model, which elevates student achievement and provides the tools teachers need to serve their students effectively.
The blended learning model, which combines classroom teaching and online instruction, allows teachers to anticipate student needs and equips schools to provide personalized education at an affordable cost. SPARK Schools is pioneering this transformative education model to ensure the accessibility of university and careers for all.
SPARK Schools is a high growth, mission and values-driven entrepreneurial organisation, operating 20 primary schools, 4 high schools and serving over 15,000 families in 2023. We are looking for dynamic people to join our team.
Purpose of Role:
The Property Development Officer drives the efficient planning, design and development of new and expanding properties to ensure the timely opening of SPARK sites. The Property Development Officer is responsible for project managing as well as managing a network of contractors and service providers to ensure that construction projects are run efficiently, delivering buildings that are
- Opened on time
- Cost efficient - both in terms of initial capex and ongoing opex
- Suitable for scholars to learn effectively
- Attractive
- Compliant with all relevant regulation (e.g. health and safety, municipal laws)
Leadership from the Property Development Officer in the SPARK Schools network is integral to the successful delivery of the SPARK Schools business plan - rapidly growing a network of schools.
Reports To: Property Manager
Responsibilities:
- Work together with the Property Manager on all property projects, ensuring the timely handover of all new sites and expansion of existing sites to operations - opening multiple new schools in specified and/or the same time frames
- Manage all aspects of the property build process, for example
- Project initiation, set-up, full project planning and scheduling
- Building design - working with architects and designers, to ensure building designs are in line with budget, optimized for initial capex and long-term maintenance and design is in line with SPARK
- Project outlining and briefing for service providers involved in the construction and fit-out of the building
- Service provider identification and assessment
- Commercial negotiation and contracting
- Racking, progress reporting and risk identification
- Coordination of project teams and service providers
- Performance management of service providers and contractors - across technical, commercial and general contract terms
- Attend regular site visits and site meetings, including documentation thereof
- Quality assurance and snagging
- Site sign-off and handover to operations
- Project administration, document consolidation and reporting against business case
- Ensure school compliance requirements are obtained for each site
- Identify and manage all project risks - particularly in relation to on-time opening of schools and the construction of a safe environment for children and adolescents
- Continuously and carefully assess the risk of late delivery of all projects - communicating this well in advance to key stakeholders
- Complete regular site inspections to identify potential safety and security risks for scholars, employees and stakeholders
- Complete projects within the allocated property budget
- Provide input into annual budgets
- Maintain expenditure within property budget
- Identify opportunities to enhance budget efficiency
- Track ongoing spend
- Build and maintain strong relationships with partners such as landlords, service providers. government officials, regulatory bodies, building and permitting officials, local communities and with internal team members such as the operations and schools teams
- Identify opportunities for improvement - in terms of more cost effective builds and increased likelihood of on-time delivery
- Track and report on financial performance of projects
- Analyze project costs to identify cost and efficiency improvements
- Identify opportunities for further enhancement and improvement in new projects
- Create, maintain and organise key internal documentation to im