Our aim is for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.

The Church of England has set an ambitious target to reach ‘net zero’ across its operational activities by 2030. This target covers Cathedrals, parishes, schools, and Diocesan estates, including residential property owned by the Church. Today, residential property accounts for more than 18% of the Church’s carbon footprint, inclusive of those properties directly occupied by those in ministry within the Church (namely vicarages, Bishop’s houses, and Church retirement properties). We are looking for an experienced colleague to help us meet the challenge of ‘greening’ the Church’s residential property estate.

The Church is making significant funding available to meet the net zero challenge across the next 9 years (with £30m allocated within 2023-25). The new Net Zero Implementation Manager will work in concert with colleagues across the Church to develop a plan for how some of this funding is used to best effect to support the decarbonisation of Church housing. The role will be responsible for working with colleagues to identify prime sites for demonstrator net zero housing projects in the next three years, building on the success of initiatives already happening across the Church. They will then be responsible for managing some of these projects through to completion and evaluating the success of, and learning lessons from, all projects to create a ‘blueprint’ for further change.

The role will be based within the Church of England Pensions Board, who are one of the National Church Institutions, and who have a specific responsibility around retirement housing. The Board operates a residential portfolio of 1,200 rental properties and 7 Supported Housing schemes within England and Wales, with legacy home ownership arrangements (in which the Board is a financing partner). While based within the Board, the Net Zero Implementation Manager will be expected to work well with different Church bodies/organisations, to develop the programme of work. The role will also be an integral part of the wider Net Zero Programme team.

The Church has set an ambitious target to ensure its day-to-day operational activities are ‘net zero’ by 2030. This includes clergy housing. We are now recruiting a colleague to join the team to help accelerate work on the housing strand of the Church’s net zero programme. Our new Net Zero Implementation Manager will work closely with colleagues right across the Church to understand the gap to net zero for Church housing, and to develop plans for a series of new demonstrator housing projects over the next 3 years, learning from excellent work taking place within several Dioceses. They will also be responsible for managing the day to day delivery of agreed demonstrator projects within our retirement housing portfolio. We are looking for someone to join our team in this role, who is naturally collaborative, has deep property expertise, a passion for the environment and customer service, and who is prepared to ‘roll up their sleeves’ to get a project done.

The main responsibilities for this role are:

• Understand the ‘gap’ to go to net zero for the different types of housing within the Church, based on already commissioned research/existing data and through discussions with Diocesan teams, the Pensions Board and Church Commissioners
• Identify possible sites for ‘demonstrator’ net zero housing projects – working on a regional basis to explore and obtain synergies across retirement housing and ministry housing, particularly around procurement and use of specialist resources. Secure support from relevant property owners within the Church for these projects.
• Consider what degree of external funding could be accessed via any demonstrator projects, working with the wider Net Zero Programme team.
• As applicable, build relationships with funding providers/suppliers to understand and promote other funding streams which may be available where the works would not be directly delivered by the Church (e.g. shared owners, or when residents could arrange works subject to landlord consent)
• Develop the investment case for an appropriate no. of net zero housing interventions over the next three years for approval by the Programme Board and secure release of funding. This should also include any resources required to deliver the programme, in discussion with relevant Church property owners.
• Procure suitable contractors and consultants as applicable to deliver works programme(s)
• Develop the detailed project plans and technical specifications for the implementation of the net zero retirement housing demonstrator projects for sign off by the Director of Housing. Then manage the retirement housing projects through to completion.
• Evaluate the success of the net zero intervention for each retirement housing demonstrator project, and co-ordinate lessons learned exercises across all demonstrator projects to inform the development of future guidance to all Church residential property owners. Report progress back to the Programme Board.
• Develop the outline capital programme beyond 2025, building on experience to date to support future funding discussions.

The ideal candidate should have:

In the National Church Institutions (NCIs), we support the mission and ministries of the Church of England. We work with parishes, dioceses, schools, chaplaincies and other ministries, and with national and international partners including mission agencies, and other denominations and faith groups.-.

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Our NCI values

• We strive for excellence
• We collaborate
• We act with integrity
• We show compassion
• We respect others

We welcome everyone and we accept and value people for who they are and what they contribute, treating others in the way we would wish to be treated ourselves. We actively listen to and include others, encouraging and enabling everyone’s voice to be heard in discussions and decisions. When we disagree, we aim to disagree well with respect and kindness.

We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you. If there is anything we can do to support you in your application please get in touch via email to hr.recruitment@churchofengland.org.

• As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively look to attract, recruit and retain those of you who are disabled.
• We are a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and welcome applications from those of you who have served in our Armed Forces and their families.