Public Liaison & Social Value Coordinator

Salary: £26,000 – £36,000 per year

Are you an enthusiastic, positive and friendly individual? Do you enjoy speaking to a wide range of people? Would you like to be involved in the organisation of community and volunteering projects to support local people? If so, this may be a great opportunity for you!
SWH Contracting are looking for Public Liaison and Social Value Co-ordinator to join our friendly site-based teams.
SWH Contracting are one of the leading civil engineering companies within the South West with 100+ employees within the region (with offices in Exeter & Plymouth), and part of Eurovia UK and the wider VINCI Group. As a business we specialise in the delivery of schemes such as highway construction, town centre regeneration and environmental works, taking pride in every project we deliver. As a result of recent bid successes we are currently expanding our teams across the South West region. Our new Public Liaison & Social Value Co-ordinator will work closely with our site delivery teams, with this role reflective of our commitment to working closely alongside local communities and enhancing the areas in which we are working.
The role:
This is a diverse and rewarding role, with key aspects including speaking to members of the public, businesses and stakeholders about the schemes we are delivering, organising community and volunteering projects within the areas we are working and helping increase SWH’s social value activities.
This role is based out of our Exeter office; however, the successful candidate will primarily be based at site locations as required for effective delivery of the Public Liaison side of the role (typically based 3 days+ a week from site locations, dependent on the nature of the project).
The first exciting opportunity within this role would be to work with one of our site teams delivering a town centre regeneration project in Yeovil, helping to make Yeovil a more vibrant place to live, work, shop, learn and visit. This project has already commenced and will be running for c.8 months. Following completion of this project, the role will then be based from another of our South West project locations (typically 3 days+ a week, or as required) and our Exeter Office.
We are passionate about the works we do to enhance local areas and are seeking a candidate who will share in our enthusiasm, with excellent communication skills to promote the benefits of our works within local communities.
Key tasks and accountabilities
Public Liaison
* To be a key point of contact for the public, local businesses and stakeholders for any scheme queries (supported by our Site Manager), responding to these in a timely manner
* Develop relationships with relevant businesses and other stakeholders during the works, including visiting properties and identifying any specific requirements that need to be accommodated
* Liaise with the Client to understand their preferred approach to scheme communications and keep them informed of any public/stakeholder issues arising due to the scheme
* Work closely with the Site Manager to ensure effective communication with all relevant parties, including the creation and distribution of information letters, flyers and progress reports
* Hold ‘drop-in’ sessions, welcoming members of the public/businesses/stakeholders to ask any questions
* Work closely with the Site Manager to ensure any issues or concerns raised by the public/businesses/stakeholders are fully addressed
* Respond to any queries and complaints in a timely fashion, keeping a register of all comments, compliments and complaints received
* Attendance at meetings with the Project Team and Client as required
* Work with the site team to deliver best practice customer service in alignment with the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) Code of Practice, including the monitoring of CCS Scores, undertaking lessons learnt reviews and sharing best practice using case studies
Social Value Co-ordinator
* Proactively look for opportunities to support communities whilst we are working within the local area, including developing relationships and partnerships with local charities and community organisations
* Develop scheme specific Social Value Plans (in collaboration with the Site Manager and our Social Value Advisor) and plan, co-ordinate and manage social value activities during delivery of the scheme
* Liaise with relevant organisations to fulfil our contract promises in relation to social value, for example identifying opportunities to support disadvantaged and under-represented minority groups
* Support the project team to meet project and company KPIs in relation to social value and environmental outcomes
* Organise and participate in events such as school visits with our site teams, promoting career opportunities within the civil engineering industry
* Represent SWH Contracting at external employability and community events as required, e.g. careers fairs
* Record and monitor social value activities through our internal measuring tool or use of online social value portals
* Champion community engagement activities, encouraging our employees to get involved in volunteering events
* Liaise with our internal Communications team to develop good news stories and social value case studies
* Willingly carry out any reasonable task as requested by a member of management
Personal Skills/Qualities
* Communicate confidently, comfortable speaking to a group of peopl
* Friendly and approachable manner
* Good written communication skills
* Ability to assess a situation and take action without direction from someone else
* Organisational skills including effective record keeping and ability to meet deadlines
* Commitment to high quality service
* Competent IT skills and computer literacy using
* MS Office
* MS Outlook
* MS Excel
* Enthusiastic, team player
Driving licence essential due to the nature of the role