Sustainability Manager

This role is effectively the project's in-house sustainability conscience. You would own the Sustainable Engineering Excellence strategy on a science and research laboratory in Oxford, translating the company's carbon, circularity and social impact ambitions into concrete actions across preconstruction and construction. Day to day that means chairing sustainability working groups, tracking BREEAM credits, and making sure no design or procurement decision quietly undermines the environmental targets. A large share of your time would go to whole life carbon and circularity: developing assessments to the RICS standard, setting baselines under PAS 2080, testing lower carbon options for structure, façade and building services, and running pre-demolition and pre-refurbishment audits to keep materials in use. You would also embed sustainability requirements into subcontract enquiries and review supply chain submissions against them. Longer term, you would build environmental capability across the project team and supply chain through inductions and toolbox talks, and work with the Social Value team to deliver employment, skills and community commitments with Oxford partners. Monthly reporting to both the client and the company would keep everything accountable.

The technical exposure here is unusually deep for a project-level role. You would work hands-on with whole life carbon assessment under PAS 2080 and the RICS methodology, supported by a dedicated Carbon Manager, which is a strong environment in which to sharpen carbon modelling skills. BREEAM UK New Construction at Excellent level on a highly serviced laboratory building would also give you credit management experience that is hard to replicate on simpler projects. The project's focus on operational energy performance, energy modelling and on-site renewables could broaden your understanding of the design-to-performance gap, especially for energy-intensive science facilities. You would likely pick up practical knowledge of CIBSE TM54-style assessment and possibly Biodiversity Net Gain, depending on how the project evolves. On the softer side, the role demands regular engagement with clients, design teams and supply chain partners, so you would develop influencing and training skills, learning how to make sustainability requirements land with people who do not see them as their day job..

The posting is explicit that this is not an entry-level role. Sir Robert McAlpine wants someone who has already provided technical sustainability support on complex, highly serviced construction projects (ideally laboratories, healthcare or science buildings) and who can point to detailed BREEAM New Construction experience including credit management and evidence trails. Familiarity with One Click LCA or similar carbon tools and experience of carbon reduction under PAS 2080 are effectively prerequisites. Beyond technical depth, the ideal candidate needs to be comfortable embedding environmental requirements into design responsibilities, procurement packages and subcontract enquiries, and reviewing supply chain submissions against them. Experience of waste reduction and circular economy on live construction sites matters, as does a solid working knowledge of ISO 14001 and environmental legislation. Social value delivery experience would set someone apart, given the project's Oxford community commitments. Soft skills are not an afterthought here: strong communication and influencing skills, the confidence to work directly with clients and design teams, and the ability to manage several workstreams to a fixed programme are all called out. Membership of ISEP or CIOB is expected, with chartered status desirable, as are BREEAM AP, WELL AP or LEED AP credentials.

This is a project-based role with a very specific technical bar, so your application should lead with evidence that you have carried BREEAM New Construction through both design and construction, not just that you know the scheme. Show credit management, evidence capture and post-construction certification experience concretely, and name the buildings: laboratories, healthcare or other highly serviced facilities will resonate far more than generic commercial projects. Because the role spans carbon, circularity, compliance and social value, avoid presenting yourself as a pure specialist. Sir Robert McAlpine needs someone who can hold several workstreams simultaneously to a fixed programme. A short narrative, perhaps three project examples, showing how you embedded sustainability into procurement, tackled waste reduction, and trained site teams would demonstrate the breadth they are looking for. Finally, connect your motivation to the client-facing nature of the job. This is a landmark science and research laboratory in Oxford, and the company prides itself on a values-led, family culture dating to 1869. Showing that you can build credibility with a client and design team, not just produce reports, would align well with both the role and the organisation.

The role's centre of gravity is the project's Sustainable Engineering Excellence strategy, which Sir Robert McAlpine frames around carbon, circularity and social impact. On the environmental side, whole life carbon is the headline: developing assessments to RICS standards, setting baselines under PAS 2080, and testing lower carbon options for structure, façade and building services. BREEAM Excellent is the formal certification target, so credit protection and evidence management would be a constant thread. Circularity is the second pillar: pre-demolition and pre-refurbishment audits, material reuse, resource management planning and waste reduction targets all point to a project trying to keep materials in play rather than defaulting to demolition and disposal. Biodiversity and environmental assessment also feature, with ISO 14001 implementation on site covering risks, consents, ecology and monitoring, and Biodiversity Net Gain flagged as desirable knowledge. Social value is the third, and it is notable that the posting explicitly references working with the company's Social Value team on employment, skills, education and community commitments with local Oxford partners. For a construction firm, this triangulation of carbon, circularity and community is a fairly mature framing, the role is about making all three tangible on a single, high-profile laboratory project.

A highly serviced laboratory is one of the harder building types on which to deliver sustainability. Operational energy demands are high, and the tension between energy-intensive science requirements and carbon reduction targets could surface repeatedly during design and commissioning. Balancing PAS 2080 carbon reduction with BREEAM credit protection and client requirements would require constant judgement about where the biggest wins actually lie. Programme pressure is another likely challenge. You would be managing carbon, circularity, compliance, social value and reporting simultaneously on a fixed programme, often needing information from design and commercial teams who have competing priorities. Getting sustainability requirements embedded early enough to influence procurement, rather than being asked to retrofit them afterwards, is a perennial difficulty on construction projects. There is also the human dimension: upskilling project staff and supply chain partners through inductions and briefings takes persistence, and resistance or apathy from teams under delivery pressure is a realistic obstacle. Recovering BREEAM credits where possible implies that some may be at risk, so you would need both technical fluency and the influencing skills to push back without damaging relationships.

A typical day would likely start with a quick review of correspondence from the BREEAM assessor, design team or supply chain, checking whether evidence requests have been answered or whether a credit is drifting. You might spend the morning in a design or carbon workshop, testing lower carbon options for the façade or building services alongside the Carbon Manager, then follow up with the commercial team to make sure sustainability requirements are reflected in a subcontract enquiry going out that week. Site time would feature regularly: environmental monitoring, checking waste segregation or reuse practices, or delivering a toolbox talk as part of the induction programme. You could also sit with the Social Value team to review progress on local employment and skills commitments, or meet community partners in Oxford. Reporting deadlines would bring quieter stretches of data consolidation for the monthly client and company updates. The rhythm would shift with the project stage. Preconstruction would lean heavily on design integration, carbon baselines and BREEAM evidence planning, while construction would tilt towards site implementation, ISO 14001 compliance, supply chain reviews and audits. Occasional travel beyond the Oxford site is mentioned, which could mean company sustainability meetings or visits to other projects.

Sir Robert McAlpine advertises wide-ranging, performance-related progression, and this role sits at the sharp end of project delivery, which tends to be where credibility is built fastest. Successfully steering a landmark laboratory project through BREEAM Excellent and whole life carbon targets would be a strong, demonstrable achievement on any sustainability CV, arguably more valuable than a purely advisory role. Within the company, a natural path could run from project-level sustainability lead towards regional or strategic sustainability roles, particularly given the firm's size and its portfolio of major infrastructure and building projects. The posting also mentions working alongside a Carbon Manager, which suggests a wider specialist community to learn from and potentially move into, such as a carbon-focused or environmental compliance career track. On the development side, the role supports working towards Chartered status, and the desirable list (BREEAM AP, WELL AP, LEED AP, Biodiversity Net Gain knowledge) points to a deliberate professionalisation agenda. For someone aiming at chartered environmentalist status, this project could provide the breadth of evidence and client exposure that chartership panels value.

The most immediate relationships would be internal: the project leadership team, design managers, commercial and procurement staff, and operational site teams, all of whom need sustainability requirements translated into language they can act on. You would work closely with the company's Carbon Manager on whole life carbon and with the Social Value team on community and employment commitments. The BREEAM Assessor would be a near-constant counterpart, jointly managing credits and evidence. Externally, the client is a central stakeholder, the posting is explicit about working closely with them and producing monthly sustainability reporting on their behalf. The design team, including architects and engineers, would be key partners for embedding requirements into design responsibilities and testing lower carbon options, while subcontractors and supply chain partners would need both briefing and review against environmental and sustainability criteria. Beyond the project, you would likely interact with local Oxford partners on social value delivery, environmental regulators or consultees on consents and ecology, and colleagues in company-level sustainability and performance reporting functions. The role is therefore a hub: translating between technical specialists, delivery teams and the client, often under programme pressure.