Land Consultant

Job Description

WSP's Land team is seeking talented Land professionals to join the largest and most successful team in our industry. This is an exciting opportunity to develop or begin a career with a team that enjoys a reputation for the successful delivery of major strategic infrastructure projects across the UK and Ireland. We do this through the support provided in land referencing, urban and rural landowner engagement, consultation management, land access, formal consents, statutory orders, compensation agreements and land acquisition. Apply and come and discuss the contributions you can make in the delivery of the widest portfolio of projects across all sectors in the UK and Ireland.

The Role

Our land referencing professionals identify land and legal interest in land and use this data to secure powers and/or negotiate land acquisition and land access to support infrastructure development. We provide clients with all the land related statutory documentation the client needs to comply with planning processes as they develop, plan, secure and exercise powers to construct, operate and maintain their infrastructure assets. Using the land referencing data, we ensure projects not just comply with legislation but also fulfil their data security obligations, engage meaningfully with landowners and other affected stakeholders, and maximise the benefits of the landed data we provide throughout project lifecycle, ultimately registering the new rights in the name of the client.

• Your work will support our teams in the delivery of land referencing, land access, landowner & stakeholder engagement, optioneering and statutory processes.
• Identification of landowners, occupiers and other parties that hold an interest in land, through interpretation and research of the appropriate land registry information.
• Liaising with landowners, land agents, legal representatives, planning authorities, stakeholders, contractors and clients.
• Working with multi disciplinary teams to secure access to land for surveys, whether by agreement or through statutory mechanisms.
• Contribute to WSP Land delivery and success of high profile infrastructure projects locally and the wider UK and Ireland business.
• You will provide training and mentoring to junior colleagues and the ability to undertake technical assurance of other colleagues' work and contribute to and participate in our CPD accredited Land Academy.
• You will have commercial awareness with an understanding of budget, scope, change control and other project management activities, including identification of project and data security risks.
• The role will involve client facing activities where you will represent the business at Land Consultant level on projects.
• UK and Ireland travel plus the possibility of travel to WSP's Global Capability Centre (GCC) in India.

Qualifications

• A keen interest in delivering land services for clients (including land referencing, survey access, stakeholder and landowner engagement or statutory processes). You may have relevant transferable skills and will be passionate about the land and consenting industry.
• Experience of working as part of multi disciplinary teams to deliver high quality outputs for clients.
• Effective communication and organisational skills with ability to liaise at all levels with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to delegate and undertake technical assurance of other colleagues' work.
• Drive and enthusiasm to create strong technical work.
• The ability to travel effectively to various sites/locations is a necessary function of this role.
• General IT skills, Microsoft Office suite including Teams, and basic skills with GIS/mapping tools.
• If you have specific skills in the following fields and have ambition to apply and extend your skills within infrastructure projects as it applies to land and consenting:
• Identification of land, ownership, and interests in land.
• Strong understanding of land ownership and land management practices.
• Project management skills in infrastructure projects.
• Experience and/or knowledge of UK statutory consents requirements, which would be an advantage, but not essential. Consent examples include hybrid Bills, TWAs, DCOs, CPOs, and/or Vesting Orders.
• Experience of wayleave agreements would be beneficial.
• Don't quite meet all the criteria? Apply, and we can see how your experience aligns to this role and other opportunities within the team.

Where will you be based?

We support high profile infrastructure projects across the north of England as well as elsewhere in the UK and in Ireland. Local projects include TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU), HS2, the HyNet carbon capture project and Project Union. Many of our Energy projects are critical for the deployment of renewable energy, helping the UK economy to achieve net zero carbon emissions, and we support emerging rail, water, highways and other projects that represent investment in the UK's future. The role is based in our Manchester office.