THE ROLE

This role offers an opportunity to be at the forefront of tackling the climate and nature emergencies and the cost-of-living crisis in the UK. Our inefficient buildings are the second largest source of climate emissions and bold government action is needed to drive change at scale and pace.

UKGBC is looking for an enthusiastic and well organised Policy and Public Affairs Coordinator to help achieve transformational policies from governments at the national, devolved, and local level. You will work at the heart of the Policy and Places team, splitting your time 50/50 between coordinating projects to help accelerate national level policy progress and supporting local authorities to act. You will support the team’s engagement work with members, allies, civil servants, and politicians as well as wider administrative activities.

We are looking for someone who has strong project coordination and administrative skills and is a good communicator, works well in teams and thrives in a fast-moving environment. This will be an opportunity for a quick learner with a passion for our agenda to make a real contribution and at the same time develop first-hand knowledge, experience and skills in policy and public affairs.

UKGBC OVERVIEW

UKGBC is the membership-led industry network radically transforming the sustainability of the built environment. We represent the unified voice of our industry’s current and future leaders who are working together to deliver a just transition across the sector, in response to the climate and nature crises.

As a charity, our mission is to radically improve the sustainability of the built environment, by transforming the way it is planned, designed, constructed, maintained, operated and repurposed.

We collaborate to advocate, enable, and inspire accelerated leadership and action, primarily by business and government, on climate change, resource use, nature & biodiversity, health & wellbeing and socio-economic impact.

We engage our members in advocating a progressive message to the government, informing, and influencing policy at national, devolved and local levels.

Our vision is a built environment that enables people and the planet to thrive by:

• 
  Mitigating and adapting to climate change
• Eliminating waste and maximising resource efficiency
• Embracing and restoring nature and promoting biodiversity
• Optimizing the health and well-being of people
• Creating long-term value for society and improving quality of life

UKGBC is growing fast in profile, impact, membership and staff size as momentum around tackling the climate and nature crises build. We are an organisation which values employee wellbeing and development. Our lively, flexible approach to working enables us to be an inclusive, diverse, and caring employer with a people-focused culture.

UKGBC is committed to providing equal opportunities to all existing and prospective colleagues. We aim to be inclusive to everyone regardless of ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation or political beliefs.

JOB SUMMARY

Job title: Policy and Public Affairs Coordinator

Job purpose: Support the Policy and Places team, to help accelerate national level policy progress and to support local authorities to deliver their climate emergency declarations, with a big emphasis on scaling-up home retrofit programmes.

Line Manager: Head of Policy and Public Affairs

Length of contract: Full Time/1 year with the possibility of renewal

JOB DESCRIPTION

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Meeting Coordination

• Coordinate meetings including diary scheduling, inviting, and communicating with attendees. This will include UKGBC's Local Authority Retrofit Forum which regularly brings together over 50 authorities and national policy projects bringing together allies from across the sector.
• Manage agendas, record notes and oversee action points, including chasing action owners for updates.
• Supporting colleagues in arranging meetings with parliamentarians, officials, and stakeholders, including taking part in some of those meetings.

Project Coordination

• Collaborate closely with team members to plan and coordinate the delivery of projects including helping to establish clear timelines, anticipate and respond to opportunities and challenges, keep to deadlines, and record and report on progress.
• Coordinate the delivery of a range of activities including online and offline roundtables, launch events, receptions and member sign-on letters working with colleagues across the organisation.

Member, Political and Stakeholder Management

• Support the team to build and maintain relationships across the membership, wider industry and with politicians and officials with tailored engaging communications
• Keep our Content Relationship Management System (Salesforce) updated.

Research

• Support the research and production of a monthly member Policy Update e-newsletter.
• Assist with consultation responses, member communications, political and stakeholder engagement and priority projects using your judgement to source key facts and analysis and summarise key points.

Budgeting

• Help to manage project budgets, assisting with research to develop new budgets, coordinating with the finance team to issue and pay invoices and reporting for funders.
• Support the team to identify opportunities for and secure income streams via existing and prospective members and funding bodies for events, projects, and other initiatives.

Planning & Reporting

• Contribute to annual and quarterly team planning and reporting including by recording outputs and impact.

Leadership

• Champion and act as a role model for an enthusiastic, high-performing organisational culture.
• Facilitate efficient, integrated work processes and protocols.
• Share your knowledge and experience to support colleagues.
• Solicit and provide feedback across the internal network.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

KEY COMPETENCIES

Essential

• Demonstrate a passion for UKGBC’s mission and an understanding of how we seek to achieve change.
• Confident, enthusiastic, and highly self-motivated, with a collaborative and flexible approach
• Honest with integrity and the highest standards of probity.
• Impact-driven approach and ability to thrive in a fast-paced dynamic team.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with emotional intelligence
• Capability to establish and maintain effective communications with senior and influential external individuals and bodies.
• Ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with a wide range of people, both in writing and verbally, including adapting tone and content to different audiences.
• Demonstrable behaviours to remain calm under pressure and prioritise effectively in a busy work environment.
• Strong organisational skills and excellent attention to detail
• Strong project coordination capabilities with the ability to juggle multiple projects/activities and maintain tight deadlines.
• High level of competence in using standard software packages (MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Adobe Acrobat etc.) and virtual working programmes including Zoom and Teams
• An interest in UK politics and policy on environmental issues and demonstrable ability to learn quickly.

Desirable

• Experience of Salesforce or similar CRM tools
• Knowledge of environmental and social justice policy and debates
• Ability to build consensus from potentially competing viewpoints.
• Knowledge of UK wide political systems and dynamics