Centre Manager (The Bale House Visitor Centre)

SALARY: £25,200 per annum

CONTRACT TYPE:  Permanent

OPERATIONAL AREA:  Sussex & Surrey

LOCATION: Bale House, Lower Coastguard Lane, Fairlight, Hastings, TN35 4AD

REF:  CMBS21

 

ROLE DESCRIPTION:

At community charity, Groundwork South, we are changing places, changing lives across the South of England, one green step at a time.

Do you have the skills and experience to manage a is a vibrant, well managed facility which engages visitors and supports the country park development? This is an exciting opportunity to work in a unique straw bale building in one of the UKs most stunning coastal landscapes. Its opening is eagerly awaited within the local community. We are looking for a professional enthusiastic person to play a central role in the management of The Bale House visitor, working closely with the Hastings Borough, café concession team, and voluntary sector partners.

The Bale House is a new Visitor Centre in Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve. Its construction was funded by Hastings Borough Council (HBC) with grant aid from the Interreg NWE programme. Thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund and our other supporters the post holder will be delivering a range of community, school and volunteer sessions and events.

Groundwork South have been working in partnership with HBC throughout the construction of the building and will be managing delivery from the building moving forward.

Connecting Hastings and Rother Together (CHART) Community Led Local Development (CLLD) Programme is delivering the CHART CLLD Local Development Strategy to support projects that bring a fresh approach to tackling deep-rooted problems in deprived communities within Hastings and Bexhill.  The Programme uses European Structural and Investment Funds.

MAIN PURPOSE OF ROLE

Manage operational functionality of the centre. Build strong working relationships with stakeholders to ensure the positive development of the country park. Deliver the objectives of the Hidden Hastings, lottery funded project and oversee the management of small community and education projects that run from the centre and surrounding areas.

MAIN DUTIES

  • Work to deliver the Hidden Hastings Heritage project outcomes in line with the project Activity Plan, Business Plan and supporting documents.
  • Manage operational functionality of the centre.
  • Build strong working relationships with stakeholders.
  • To provide a range of services that meet the needs of visitors, customers, and students from local schools.
  • Review and update interpretation displays.
  • Mange the small retail offer on site.
  • To maximise usage of The Bale House.
  • To recruit, develop and manage centre volunteers.
  • Support the project’s relationship with external Monitoring and Evaluation consultants to deliver the monitoring and evaluation plan through collection and evaluation of the required project information.
  • Lead on the delivery of the Schools Programme and Community Learning Programme for the Project.
  • To manage Centre staff.
  • Produce promotional and communication materials, together with a social media presence for the project.
  • Support the delivery of volunteer conservation activities across the site focused on helping to uncover and protect heritage assets, including vegetation clearance and pathway and step maintenance.
  • To develop ideas and fundraise for new projects.

A job application pack can be downloaded from below.

Application forms should be returned to Laura Dyke, Business Support Administrator at ldyke@groundwork.org.uk

Closing Date:  8th August 2021

Interview Date:  12th August 2021

Start Date:  ASAP

APPLICATION PACK 

Centre Manager July 2021 v2

Application_Form – Centre Manager

How_To_Apply

Groundwork South is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable groups.  Inline with our Safer Recruitment & Selection Policy and Procedure, successful applicants are subject to references and an enhanced with barred lists disclosure check.

CVs will not be accepted. No agencies please. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Please note that we reserve the right to close applications early in the event of a large response.

We are committed to the employment and career development of disabled people. To demonstrate our commitment we have been awarded the Disability Confident Scheme Symbol, which is awarded by the Employment Service. We guarantee an interview to anyone with a disability whose application meets the essential criteria for the post. If you consider yourself to have a disability and would like to apply under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme please complete the Guaranteed Interview Scheme form (at the top of our current vacancies page) and submit this with your application. We shall ensure fairness and equal opportunities throughout our workforce and in service delivery.

Groundwork South is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We welcome applications from suitably skilled candidates regardless of ethnicity, gender, disability, sexuality, religion or age. A copy of our Equality and Diversity policy may also be made available to candidates on request.