Administrative Officer (Estates)

What youll do

Join our Estates team in the South and help support the people who care for the New Forest and wider South Forest District. Working closely with Area Land Agents, Senior Building Surveyor and a wide range of stakeholders, youll provide excellent administrative support, helping to coordinate repairs and maintenance work for our built assets across the district. You'll help safeguard Forestry England's legal, environmental and operational interests while supporting the sustainable stewardship of one of the nation's most valued landscapes. We're looking for an organised, proactive and personable individual with strong communication skills, attention to detail and a customer-focused approach. 

Please see the job description attached for more information and details about what we need from you.

Where youll work

This role will be based at Kings House, Lyndhurst, New Forest, SO43 7NH.

Forestry England is the country's largest land manager, caring for the nation's forests for people, nature and the economy.  The foundation of our organisation is our world-class sustainable management of the nation's forests.

Our South England Forest District is made up of around 170 people with a diverse range of roles, from foresters and wildlife rangers to civil engineers, and ecologists to marketing professionals.  We all contribute towards the management of 46,000 hectares of public forest estate in East Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, Surrey and Berkshire. Nearly all of our forests are within either a National Park or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  

Much of this forest is of high importance for nature conservation and wildlife, and of international importance for biodiversity which impacts the way we work.  We also provide public access to our forests with nearly 50 million visits every year. 

To provide a high level of administrative support in a professional manner to the Land Agents responsible for managing the Public Forest Estate across the South District. Including but not limited to:

Providing administrative support to the local team and business functions.

Supporting colleagues carrying out tenders.

Monitoring, actioning and following up on maintenance issues across the Built Estate

Monitoring team mailbox(es), responding to or escalating queries.

Raising and processing purchase orders and invoices.

Organising meetings using the in-house booking platform and Outlook/Teams.

Supporting the Senior Building Surveyor in managing reactive and planned works across the district.

Monitoring, actioning and following up on maintenance issues.

Updating internal systems and databases.

Liaising with internal and external stakeholders, including contractors, tenants and building managers.

Providing administrative support for team projects.

Maintaining and analysing statistical data.

General office duties to support the Area Land Agents.

And any other tasks, reasonably requested by your line manager.

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

Competent IT user with experience in MS Office suite of applications.

Experience of working in an office environment with a large, dispersed, and often remote, team.

Experience working within a busy office environment.

Strong literacy and numeracy skills.

A sound working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word/Excel/Outlook/Teams/Sharepoint).

Good communication skills, both written and verbal.

Excellent organisational ability and the ability to organise others.

Desirable professional and technical experience

Knowledge and experience in the use of financial systems.

Knowledge and experience in the use of mapping applications.

Basic knowledge and understanding of tenancy agreements and/or contract management

Qualifications

Essential

a GCSE in Maths and English or functional skills equivalent.