Supporting The Royal Institution with Strategic Facilities Leadership

Client Overview

The Royal Institution (Ri), founded in 1799, is one of the world’s most prestigious centres for scientific education, research and public engagement. Based in its historic Grade I listed premises on Albemarle Street, London, the Ri is both a hub for science and a multi-purpose building open to the public. The venue combines a museum, café, event spaces, offices for Ri staff and commercial tenant accommodation, welcoming thousands of visitors annually.

Preserving heritage while enabling innovation is central to the Ri’s facilities strategy. With a mission to engage the widest possible audience in science, and a growing commitment to sustainability through Project FootpRint — a GLA-funded retrofit programme — the Ri required specialist facilities professionals to deliver high operational standards, manage heritage-sensitive projects and support long-term organisational goals.

Over several years, the Ri has entrusted Maxwell Stephens with multiple key appointments, including a Head of Facilities, a Facilities Project Manager and a Facilities Manager (maternity cover).

The Challenge

Each role presented a distinct set of challenges.

Head of Facilities

The Ri required a leader to oversee facilities services across the estate, ensuring smooth daily operations, compliance and tenant management, while optimising space utilisation to generate income from events, hospitality and lettings. This individual needed to combine strategic oversight with the ability to influence at all levels of the organisation.

Facilities Project Manager

This role was created to lead Project FootpRint, a complex retrofit programme designed to reduce the building’s carbon footprint while safeguarding its historic fabric. The project required a candidate with expertise in project delivery, sustainability and government-funded grant compliance, alongside the ability to manage disruption in a busy heritage setting.

Facilities Manager (maternity cover)

A fixed-term role responsible for the daily running of the building, including hard services, compliance, team leadership and tenant management. The Facilities Manager also supported the integration of Project FootpRint outcomes into daily operations, while ensuring smooth delivery of high-profile events such as the Ri’s world-famous Christmas Lectures.

In every case, the Ri needed professionals who could balance technical expertise with diplomacy, collaboration and a genuine interest in both heritage and science engagement. Grade I listed buildings narrow the field on their own: every intervention, from a retrofit measure to a reactive repair, has to respect the fabric and the consents that protect it, and candidates without heritage experience tend to underestimate how much that shapes daily decisions.

Our Approach

For each role, Maxwell Stephens worked closely with the Ri to understand the organisation’s particular requirements, from the practical challenges of managing a Grade I listed building to the cultural importance of aligning with the Ri’s mission and values. Through targeted search and selection, we identified candidates with a rare combination of:

• Facilities expertise across operations, compliance and project delivery.
• Experience in heritage or complex multi-use environments, where museum, commercial, office and events uses share one building.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, including tenant and contractor management.
• Commitment to sustainability and innovation in facilities management.

We presented shortlists of high-quality candidates for each appointment, assessed for technical capability and cultural fit in equal measure.

The Outcome

• The Head of Facilities established high standards of service delivery, strengthened contract management and optimised space usage to support the Ri’s financial sustainability.
• The Facilities Project Manager took charge of Project FootpRint, ensuring progress against sustainability goals, careful heritage preservation and robust reporting to the Greater London Authority and trustees.
• The Facilities Manager provided stability during a period of change, maintaining uninterrupted operations, compliance and stakeholder satisfaction while supporting both day-to-day facilities management and strategic projects.

Together, these appointments have been instrumental in enabling the Ri to balance its dual priorities of preserving heritage and driving innovation. The expertise and leadership of these facilities professionals have allowed the Ri to deliver reliable daily operations, high-profile events and long-term sustainability projects.

Why This Placement Worked

Three different roles, one building, one set of values. What made each search succeed was treating the Ri’s context — heritage fabric, public access, commercial tenants, a science mission — as part of the brief rather than background colour, and assessing candidates on how they would operate within it. That is also why the Ri has returned to Maxwell Stephens over several years for further appointments.

If you are recruiting facilities leadership for a listed or heritage building, a multi-use public venue or a sustainability retrofit programme, Maxwell Stephens can help you define the brief and reach candidates with the right combination of expertise and temperament. Get in touch with our team.