Description
Reporting to the Head of Residential Property Acquisition, this is a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in delivering Heathrow’s Expansion Programme and supporting one of the UK’s most significant infrastructure projects. As Residential Property Acquisitions Manager, you will lead the end-to-end acquisition of residential properties required for the Development Consent Order (DCO) application, helping to drive progress while ensuring a fair, transparent and respectful approach throughout. Working directly with homeowners, their representatives and professional advisors, you will focus on achieving voluntary agreements wherever possible, while maintaining a robust and evidence-based approach to Compulsory Acquisition (CA) as a last resort. Managing a portfolio of complex and sensitive cases, you will coordinate valuation, legal and conveyancing activities, ensuring each acquisition is delivered efficiently, compliantly and in line with key programme milestones.
This role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful difference to people’s lives during a significant life transition. Recognising that for many residents this may be their first experience of moving home, you will work closely with the Home Relocation Support Service (HRSS) and Communities teams to provide clear guidance, practical support and reassurance throughout the process. By building trust, addressing challenges proactively and delivering timely, accurate information, you will help achieve positive outcomes for residents while supporting programme objectives. We are seeking an individual with strong commercial judgement, exceptional attention to detail and the ability to engage confidently with a diverse range of stakeholders, including residents, agents, advisors, local representatives and internal teams. Above all, you will be passionate about delivering a people-focused approach that balances resident needs with successful programme delivery and protects Heathrow’s reputation.
Responsibilities
- Manage a portfolio of residential property acquisitions from initial engagement through to completion, ensuring delivery aligns with Heathrow’s policies, programme milestones, governance requirements, and resident commitments.
- Lead negotiations with property owners and their representatives to achieve timely, fair, and defensible acquisition agreements, escalating complex, contentious, or high‑risk cases where appropriate.
- Coordinate internal and external advisors, including valuers, surveyors, conveyancers, and legal teams, ensuring high‑quality outputs, clear instructions, and timely resolution of issues that could impact delivery.
- Apply acquisition and compensation policies consistently, providing clear guidance to residents and working closely with the Home Relocation Support Service (HRSS) to ensure enquiries are managed efficiently, compassionately, and transparently.
- Maintain accurate records, audit trails, and case information, while identifying, managing, and escalating acquisition risks, dependencies, and issues to support robust programme reporting and decision‑making.
- Support stakeholder engagement activities, governance forums, and senior reporting by preparing briefings, progress updates, and recommendations, while working collaboratively with Communities, Property, and HRSS teams to ensure a positive resident experience.
Qualifications
- Experience delivering end-to-end residential property acquisitions, property casework, or complex negotiation activity within a regulated, reputationally sensitive environment.
- Strong negotiation and influencing skills, with the ability to build trust, manage conflict, and reach fair and timely agreements with residents and their representatives.
- Strong commercial judgement and attention to detail, with confidence interpreting valuation advice, legal inputs and policy requirements to inform recommendations and decisions.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex processes clearly and empathetically to non-technical audiences.
- Strong organisational skills to manage multiple cases, priorities and stakeholders, maintaining momentum and meeting programme timelines.
- Experience working with external suppliers/advisors (e.g., valuation, legal, conveyancing), ensuring clear instructions, quality outputs and effective issue resolution.
- Ability to maintain accurate records and audit trails and to produce clear reporting for governance and assurance purposes; familiarity with CRM/case management tools (e.g., Salesforce) is an advantage.
Ideally, you will also have
- Knowledge of compensation and acquisition frameworks relevant to major infrastructure programmes (e.g., compulsory purchase process, land compensation principles) and/or experience operating within NSIP/DCO contexts.
- Professional qualification or progress towards qualification in a relevant discipline (e.g., RICS) or equivalent experience.
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