Background
King's College London (KCL) is one of the world's leading universities, internationally recognised for excellence in teaching, research and innovation. With a diverse estate spanning multiple campuses across London, the University's Estates & Facilities Directorate plays a critical role in creating safe, sustainable and high-performing environments that support thousands of students, academics and visitors every day.
Maxwell Stephens was engaged to recruit a PFI Manager to oversee two of the University's most significant Private Finance Initiative (PFI) buildings — New Hunt's House and the Franklin-Wilkins Building. This strategically important appointment would ensure the effective management of complex contractual relationships while maintaining exceptional operational standards across both facilities.
The Challenge
This was a highly specialised Facilities Management appointment requiring a rare combination of technical expertise, commercial awareness and stakeholder management skills.
Acting as King's College London's principal representative for the PFI contract, the successful candidate would be responsible for managing the relationship with the University's private sector partners, ensuring contractual performance, driving continuous improvement and safeguarding the long-term performance of both buildings.
Key responsibilities included:
- Acting as the University's lead representative for all PFI contractual matters.
- Managing relationships with external service providers and PFI partners.
- Monitoring contractual performance and service delivery.
- Leading capital works and improvement projects.
- Managing operational and project budgets.
- Ensuring statutory compliance and health & safety standards were maintained.
- Supporting King's sustainability, energy efficiency and carbon reduction objectives.
- Working collaboratively with academic departments, professional services and senior stakeholders.
Finding an individual capable of balancing technical knowledge with excellent commercial judgement and relationship management required a highly targeted search.
The successful candidate also needed experience across complex estates, multi-site operations and large outsourced service contracts, together with the confidence to influence senior stakeholders and contractors alike.
Our Approach
Maxwell Stephens carried out a comprehensive search across the Higher Education, Healthcare, Corporate Real Estate and Public Sector markets, targeting professionals with proven experience managing complex PFI and outsourced Facilities Management contracts.
Our assessment focused on candidates who could demonstrate:
- Significant experience managing PFI or major outsourced FM contracts.
- Strong commercial and contractual management capability.
- Excellent project and programme management experience.
- Knowledge of statutory compliance and health & safety legislation.
- Experience working across large, complex operational estates.
- Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills.
- A commitment to sustainability and continuous improvement.
Every shortlisted candidate underwent detailed competency-based interviews to assess both their technical expertise and their ability to operate within a complex university environment.
The Outcome
Our search resulted in the successful appointment of an outstanding PFI Manager who exceeded King's College London's requirements.
The successful candidate brought extensive experience in contract management, project delivery, operational leadership and stakeholder engagement, allowing them to make an immediate impact within the Estates & Facilities team.
Since joining the University, they have played a key role in:
- Strengthening relationships with PFI partners and contractors.
- Driving improvements in service delivery and contractual performance.
- Supporting the successful delivery of building improvement projects.
- Maintaining robust compliance and health & safety standards.
- Contributing towards King's sustainability and carbon reduction objectives.
- Ensuring New Hunt's House and the Franklin-Wilkins Building continue to provide high-quality environments that support world-class teaching, research and student experience.
This successful appointment further demonstrates Maxwell Stephens' expertise in recruiting senior Facilities Management professionals for highly complex operational environments, combining specialist market knowledge with a targeted executive search approach to deliver outstanding recruitment outcomes.