Background
University College London (UCL) is one of the world's foremost universities, internationally recognised for its education, research and innovation. Its Estates division is responsible for one of the largest and most complex university estates in the UK, comprising more than 200 buildings with an asset value exceeding £2 billion, over four million square feet of academic space and approximately 4,000 student bedrooms.
Supporting an institution of this scale calls for operational leadership of a particular kind. Alongside managing an extensive and diverse estate, UCL is delivering a long-term capital investment programme valued at more than £1 billion, which makes its Estates function one of the most strategically important in the higher education sector.
Maxwell Stephens was appointed to recruit a Head of Facilities Services, a senior leadership position responsible for the delivery of soft facilities management services across the University's entire estate.
The Challenge
This was one of the most significant operational facilities management appointments in the higher education sector. Reporting into the senior Estates leadership team, the successful candidate would lead the strategic delivery of a comprehensive range of soft FM services across UCL's diverse portfolio, holding standards of customer service, operational performance and statutory compliance steady across all of it. The role carried responsibility for:
- leading a workforce of more than 300 facilities management professionals
- managing the delivery of soft FM services across a large multi-site estate
- developing service strategies to improve operational performance and customer satisfaction
- managing substantial operational budgets and driving value for money
- leading organisational change and service transformation programmes
- ensuring full compliance with statutory, regulatory and health & safety requirements
- working closely with senior stakeholders across academic, professional services and Estates teams
- supporting the delivery of UCL's long-term Estates Strategy
Given the scale and visibility of the appointment, UCL needed a leader able to combine strategic thinking with strong operational delivery. Experience managing large, complex estates and leading significant teams was essential, alongside a proven ability to drive continuous improvement across customer-focused facilities management services.
Soft FM leadership at this scale is a narrower market than the job description suggests. A front-line workforce of that size is largely visible, shift-based and distributed, which means service quality is decided by supervisory culture rather than by policy, and change programmes succeed or fail on whether the people delivering the service believe in them. Candidates who have only run contracted-out soft services from the client side have rarely had to carry that.
Our Approach
Maxwell Stephens ran a targeted executive search, drawing on our network of senior facilities management professionals across higher education, healthcare, commercial real estate and other complex operational environments.
Our process focused on identifying people with proven experience in:
- leading large-scale soft facilities management operations
- managing substantial multi-million-pound operational budgets
- delivering consistent service standards across complex, multi-site estates
- leading large, diverse operational teams
- driving organisational change and continuous improvement
- building effective relationships with senior stakeholders
- maintaining high standards of governance, compliance and operational resilience
Working closely with UCL throughout the assignment, we built a full understanding of the University's strategic objectives, organisational culture and leadership expectations, which allowed us to identify candidates offering both the technical expertise and the leadership capability the post required.
Each shortlisted candidate went through a rigorous competency-based assessment covering operational experience, strategic leadership, commercial awareness and the ability to lead large-scale facilities management functions.
The Outcome
The search led to the appointment of a Head of Facilities Services with extensive experience leading facilities management operations across large, complex organisations.
The successful candidate showed a proven ability to manage significant operational budgets, lead large multidisciplinary teams and deliver consistently high levels of customer service while driving continuous operational improvement.
Since joining UCL, they have played an important role in:
- strengthening the delivery of soft facilities management services across the University's estate
- leading large operational teams through periods of organisational change
- driving service improvements and operational efficiencies
- improving customer satisfaction across academic and professional services departments
- maintaining robust compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements
- supporting the continued delivery of UCL's Estates Strategy and long-term investment programme
Why This Placement Worked
Appointments of this kind are often assessed on portfolio size and budget scale alone. Those are necessary conditions, not sufficient ones. The harder question is whether a candidate can hold service standards steady through a change programme, in a setting where the workforce is large, visible and in daily contact with the people the institution exists to serve.
Testing for that from the outset is what separates a credible shortlist from a plausible one, and it is what this search was built around.
This assignment reflects Maxwell Stephens' experience recruiting senior facilities management leaders for some of the UK's largest and most complex estates, combining specialist market knowledge with a tailored executive search approach. If you are recruiting at this level, get in touch with our team to discuss the brief.