Maintenance Manager for Church House

Background

Church House is the administrative headquarters of the Church of England and occupies one of London's most distinctive and historic buildings. As a listed property, it combines heritage architecture with modern workplace requirements, so its facilities management has to preserve the building's character while keeping a working headquarters running.

To support its long-term estate strategy and its sustainability objectives, Church House needed an experienced Maintenance Manager to oversee the integrity of the building's fabric and infrastructure, lead the maintenance team and help drive its commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. Maxwell Stephens was appointed to run the search.

The Challenge

This was a specialised appointment. The Maintenance Manager had to balance the demands of a historic estate with modern facilities management practice, providing leadership across all maintenance operations while keeping the building safe, compliant, efficient and fit for purpose.

Key responsibilities included:

• Managing the maintenance of the building's plant, systems and fabric
• Leading and developing an in-house maintenance team
• Coordinating specialist contractors and service providers
• Overseeing CCTV, fire, intruder alarm and lift maintenance contracts
• Supporting capital works and refurbishment programmes
• Managing maintenance budgets and procurement activities
• Ensuring statutory compliance and health & safety standards
• Driving sustainability initiatives and environmental improvements
• Supporting Church House's carbon neutrality objectives

The role therefore called for a strong technical background, proven leadership capability and the ability to work within the constraints of a listed building. That last point narrows the field more than it might seem: in a heritage environment, the usual answers to an energy or plant problem are often unavailable, and the manager has to find routes to improvement that respect the fabric of the building and the consents that govern it.

Our Approach

Understanding the Estate

Maxwell Stephens worked closely with Church House's leadership team to build a detailed understanding of the building, the operational challenges involved and the organisation's long-term strategic goals. Particular emphasis was placed on candidates with experience of building services and plant management, historic or heritage property environments, sustainability and carbon reduction programmes, contractor and supplier management, team leadership and staff development, and capital projects and lifecycle maintenance planning.

Targeted Search

Drawing on our facilities management network, we ran a focused search for maintenance professionals with a proven record of managing complex estates and leading high-performing teams. We prioritised candidates who could demonstrate:

• Extensive maintenance management experience
• Strong technical knowledge of building systems
• Health & safety leadership capability
• Experience managing maintenance budgets and contracts
• Familiarity with CAFM systems and planned maintenance programmes
• A proactive approach to operational improvement and sustainability

Candidate Assessment

Each candidate went through competency-based interviews and technical assessments. Particular attention was given to leadership and team management skills, contractor management experience, compliance and risk management knowledge, sustainability expertise, communication and stakeholder engagement, and experience of operating within heritage or listed building environments.

The Outcome

We appointed an experienced Maintenance Manager with more than a decade of facilities and maintenance management expertise. The successful candidate had a strong background in plant and building maintenance alongside a genuine commitment to sustainability and continuous improvement, and quickly took on responsibility for both day-to-day operations and longer-term strategic initiatives.

Since the appointment, the Maintenance Manager has delivered across four areas:

• Sustainability leadership. Supporting Church House's environmental objectives by implementing initiatives designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce the building's carbon footprint.
• Team development. Providing clear leadership and ongoing development opportunities that have strengthened the in-house maintenance team and the standards of service delivery and compliance it maintains.
• Operational efficiency. Improving maintenance planning, contractor management and procurement processes while keeping effective control of the budget.
• Compliance and risk management. Establishing robust maintenance programmes and proactive compliance management so that Church House continues to meet its statutory and health & safety obligations.

Taken together, the appointment has given Church House a Maintenance Manager capable of preserving the integrity of a historic estate while supporting the organisation's future ambitions: improved maintenance planning and operational control, stronger sustainability performance, better team leadership, effective contractor and supplier management, robust compliance and continued support for long-term estate objectives.

Why This Placement Worked

Maintenance roles in heritage buildings are sometimes filled on technical credentials alone, on the assumption that a good engineer will adapt to the setting. In practice the setting shapes everything: what can be changed, how quickly, and with whose agreement. Candidates who have already worked in listed or historic environments understand that, and they bring realistic expectations about how sustainability gains are made in a building that cannot simply be re-engineered.

By weighting heritage experience and sustainability alongside core maintenance capability, this search found someone who could improve the building's performance without compromising its character.

Maxwell Stephens recruits facilities and maintenance professionals for complex, high-profile and heritage environments. If you are planning a similar appointment, get in touch with our team.