Empowering Safety & Sustainability at Somerset House

Background

Somerset House Trust engaged Maxwell Stephens to recruit a Facilities and Health & Safety Manager for Somerset House, the renowned arts centre in London. Steeped in history and cultural significance, the site needed a professional capable of managing its diverse facilities, ensuring health and safety compliance and promoting sustainability initiatives.

With a focus on maintaining its heritage buildings and hosting large-scale events, the Trust was looking for someone with a decisive, practical approach and excellent stakeholder management skills. The appointment was for a temporary contract spanning three to six months, which shaped the search from the outset.

The Challenge

Several factors made this a demanding brief:

• A heritage site with public access. Managing a heritage building that is open to the public and hosts a diverse events programme is inherently more complex than running a closed office estate. Compliance, contractor control and visitor safety all have to be handled with the building's fabric and its audiences in mind.
• A temporary contract. With the role spanning three to six months, there was no time for a slow induction. The candidate had to adapt quickly and address the site's facilities and health & safety needs from the first weeks.
• A broad remit. The Facilities and Health & Safety Manager would coordinate H&S training, manage contractors, oversee sustainability efforts and maintain compliance with budgets and regulations — operational, compliance and financial responsibilities combined in one role.

Temporary facilities and health and safety roles on complex sites tend to attract two kinds of candidate: experienced interims between assignments, and permanent managers considering a change. Only the first group can usually be relied on to land quickly without disrupting the site, and identifying who is genuinely available takes direct market knowledge.

Our Approach

Maxwell Stephens focused the search on facilities professionals with a proven health and safety background and experience of public or heritage environments, rather than casting widely:

• Prioritising immediate effectiveness. Given the contract length, we looked for candidates with a record of stepping into live sites and taking ownership of compliance, contractors and training without a lengthy handover.
• Testing the practical, decisive approach the Trust asked for. Candidates were assessed on how they had handled contractor management, budget control and health and safety committee work in previous roles, not on how well they described it.
• Stakeholder fit. Somerset House is home to resident creative businesses as well as visitors and staff, so we weighted communication and relationship-building alongside technical competence.

The Outcome

We placed a skilled Facilities and Health & Safety Manager at Somerset House Trust who demonstrated strong capability in managing the site's facilities and promoting sound health and safety practice. Over the contract period, the appointed manager:

• Implemented key H&S actions, coordinated training programmes and supported the effectiveness of the H&S Committee.
• Played a central role in sustainability initiatives, completing sustainability reviews and assisting in the development of a sustainability plan.
• Managed contractors effectively, maintained budgetary control and built strong relationships with stakeholders, including resident creative businesses, through proactive communication and decisive leadership.

Their contribution supported Somerset House Trust's mission of promoting creativity, diversity and inclusivity while ensuring a safe and sustainable environment for visitors and staff alike.

Why This Placement Worked

Short contracts are often treated as lower-stakes appointments. On a heritage site with public access and a full events calendar, the opposite is true: a temporary manager inherits live compliance obligations immediately and has no time to grow into them. Recruiting specifically for the ability to land quickly, rather than for the longest CV, is what made this appointment effective within its timeframe.

If you need a facilities or health & safety manager on a temporary or interim basis — for a heritage site, a public venue or an events-led environment — Maxwell Stephens can help you find someone who is effective from the start. Get in touch with our team.