Contracts Agent

Job Description

 

Job Title: Contracts Agent

Location: Bath  

Salary: £55k

Job Type: Full Time, Perm

Our client is rapidly expanding and takes charge in services include highways term maintenance, street lighting and electrical services, surfacing, traffic management and public realm infrastructure projects.

Due to continued growth and expansion, they are looking for a Contracts Agent  to join their well-established team in Bath.

The Contracts Agent Role is to ultimately:

• Help Project Manager deliver successful projects
• Build and maintain successful teams
• Maintain personal training and development as example to others
• A Contracts Agent is responsible for a larger project or a number of projects.

 

Role Requirements

GENERAL:

• To represent the company in the delivery of projects.
• To manage the delivery of all works in relation to C13246 Schemes, Public Realm, and 3^rd Party projects.
• To receive instruction on behalf of the company
• To issue instruction and provide direction in order to ensure the successful delivery of projects assigned by Senior Management.

CONSTRUCTION:

• Deliver the works safely
• Ensure all project team members align to the principles of CDM and company policy and procedures.
• Be familiar with and observe all relevant statutory provisions applicable to construction and related industries.
• Implement the company’s procedures for dealing with sub-contractors and ensure proper co-operation and co-ordination takes place between the various parties who may share the workplace/site.
• Provide an overall health & safety plan for each site, making an adequate assessment of the risks involved, and ensuring that safe systems of work and method statements are produced, followed, and reviewed.
• Ensure activity and/or substance-specific assessments under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations are made and communicated to those at risk.
• Ensure employees, self- employed, temporarily employed, and non- employed trainees/persons have received adequate training and information about the activity they are required to undertake, particularly by ensuring induction is provided for those attending a location for the first time.
• Ensure employees are aware of the company’s policy for health & safety at work and that they have understood its requirements.
• Liaise with others as applicable and support initiatives for health and safety representation.
• Ensure proper protective equipment is provided, maintained, and used.
• Report all accidents and incidents to the appointed health & safety manager, carry out investigations, make recommendations to prevent recurrence and ensure this information is effectively communicated.
• Arrange weekly health & safety planning meetings with the appointed health & safety manager.
• Attend 4 – weekly contract health and safety meetings

Complete Understanding of all the project objectives.

• Agree project targets with Project Manager for: –
  • Quality
  • Safety
  • Programming
  • Financial
  • Client
  • Staff Development
• Read thoroughly all documentation and specifications for the project.
• Understand the tender philosophy, pricing, and programming.
• Attend the tender handover meeting.

Build, develop, support, and maintain the team.

• Ensure that all team members are aware of their roles and responsibilities for this specific project.
• Regularly review performance against responsibilities and give feedback both good and bad.
• Develop an environment where all the team members can communicate with one another openly.
• Listen to what the team members have to say and support action by the individual where appropriate.
• Celebrate successes as a team.
• Facilitate when relationships in the team break down and take action.
• Encourage the client to be part of the bigger project team and monitor
• Actively follow the DPR programme and enrol team members to help you succeed.
• Give individual staff development feedback to Project Manager or relevant parties.
• Monitor morale within the team and take correct action, if necessary, with the support of the Project Manager.
• Ensure that staff are continually developing new skills and that complacency and comfort zones are constantly challenged.

Build and maintain a good relationship with the client and all external parties.

• Act in a professional manner, appropriate to a representative of the company.
• Work to build strong relationships with the client.
• Promote similar behaviour from each member of your team.
• Constantly manage the client’s expectation.
• Identify customer objectives, ensure regular feedback is collected and that action plans in response to feedback are implemented.

Monitor progress with up-to-date programmes so that timely clear direction can be given to the team on critical contract/financial targets.

• Organise regular update meetings with the team to review specific progress on the sections and update the overall strategy if required. Give direction on key dates, critical path, and areas of concern.
• Ensure the programme is kept fully up to date with as built information, changes, delays, or lost time complete with references and measured against original.
• Discuss the implication of any revisions to the programme with the client if changes occur and present a revised programme if applicable.
• Have weekly review meetings with the client to discuss progress even if official meetings are planned once monthly.
• Constantly review the future strategy ensuring that work is still planned in the most effective manner and that all opportunities for improvement are being investigated.
• Regularly review financial progress and review trends so that any possible overspend can be identified early and corrective action taken with the Project Manager.
• Provide regular formal progress updates to the Project Manager as agreed.
• Manage the production of as built information, records, and dates on drawings and in diaries.

Development, Management and Maintenance of Site Management Plan

• Regular update meetings with the site team to review progress discuss problems and agree on solutions.
• Prepare the management plan including those aspects which are relevant to the project.
• Create a concise list of those functions that are detailed in the plan and allocate appropriately and fairly to members of the site team.
• Agree with the team members which functions they are accountable for. Make sure that they are completely aware of what is expected of them.
• Communicate to all team members what everyone in the team is responsible for.
• Organise timely support from members outside the team (subcontractors) for specified functions again ensuring that clear accountabilities have been agreed.
• Regularly review procedures and suggest methods of streamlining where possible.
• Carry out spot checks personally to ensure that the systems are on track and give praise/warnings to team members where necessary.
• Ensure site induction and method statement briefings take place.
• Carry out your responsibilities from the site management plan

Identify and evaluate risks, determine, and manage actions, maintain Risk Register

• Continuous process of asking, “What are the risks that might prevent delivery of this project?”
• Risks will either be Accept/Treat/Transfer/Terminate
• Consider opportunities

Manage and control changes to scope, requirements, personnel etc.

• Resist unnecessary change or preferential engineering.
• Operate change control procedures, quote value and time implications of change in advance of doing the work.
• Ensure accurate records of resources are kept.

Monitor progress against cost plans, programmes, and quality/environmental plans

• Prepare detailed cost plan in conjunction with the Project QS.
• Reconcile costs spent to date and future costs monthly.
• Monitor labour and plant costs on a weekly basis against planned activity.
• Reconcile bulk materials and wastage.
• Report additional unplanned costs.
• Working with the planner to input and assess the impact of change
• Ensure programme revisions are issued to the client team monthly.
• Ensure detailed programmes that support delivery of the main programme are produced, used, and reported again at weekly team meetings.
• Ensure compliance with the VH Management System, quality, and environmental plans.
• Assist with audits
• Ensure NO acceleration without senior management approval

Manage stakeholder engagement

• Identify all stakeholders and prepare communication plan that addresses their individual needs.
• Attend community business liaison meetings.
• Maintain open door access for stakeholders and keep register of issues raised and record actions taken.

Develop and protect our subcontractor relationships

• Assist with expanding the supply chain and develop on-going collaborative relationships with existing suppliers.
• All subcontractors are to be approved before starting work and procurement of suppliers for key packages is to be in line with the VH Supply Chain Policy and agreed protocol for this project.

Prepare and present project reports

• Programme, costs, resources
• Highlight reports – progress and issues
• End of project reviews and lessons learnt
• Monthly client progress reports
• 4-weekly HSEQ minutes/reports
• Working hour/accident reports

Liaise with line management re: approvals and decisions at key stages

• Seek approval of all major plans and authorisation of significant deviation from the plan e.g., staff discipline unplanned cost increases, acceleration etc.

Prepare and maintain project information

Ensure this is communicated to new staff joining the team and keep available for health check reviews

• Project objectives
• Scope
• Outline of deliverables
• Exclusions/constraints
• Budget
• Quality expectations of key stakeholders
• Acceptance criteria reflecting the users’ requirements
• Summary of known risks

Candidate Attributes:

• Proven technical and project management abilities
• Strong organisational and management skills
• Knowledge of the requirements and implementation of CDM regulations
• Ability to produce Work Package Plans, Task Briefing Sheets, and implement safe systems of work
• Detailed knowledge of Safety, Quality and Environmental issues relevant to the project environment
• Sufficient experience required in construction.