Associate Surveyor, Land Services - Ardent

About Ardent

Ardent is an infrastructure and regeneration specialist whose purpose is to deliver life-improving change for communities and future generations.
The business supports major infrastructure projects across the UK and Ireland, working with clients in the energy, transport, and renewables sectors, as well as city and town regeneration. Ardent also offers comprehensive services in land referencing, promotion, implementation, and compensation, delivering technical excellence across all aspects of its land and consents services.

Ardent has the largest team of CPO surveyors in the UK and Ireland and is the market leader in both Land Assembly & Compulsory Purchase and Development Consent Order (DCO) land advice.

The business has more than 35 years of experience, with over 100 DCOs submitted, involvement in more than 150 major DCO, CPO and TWAO projects, and experience acting as the property expert at over 100 DCO examinations to date.

Ardent has recently moved to a regional operating model, with a presence across the East of England, London & South East, South West, Midlands, North West, North East and beyond. This brings its former valuation & compensation and land assembly teams together into a single Land Services function within each region.

Where Ardent is Going

Ardent's growth is not just a future ambition; it is already well underway. The business has grown into the largest CPO team in the UK and Ireland and the market leader in Land Assembly & Compulsory Purchase Advice.
That growth is set to accelerate further, with Ardent having established a 10-year plan through to 2035.

This creates significant scope for career progression and the opportunity to influence how a region develops. Building out Cambridge and the East of England is a key part of Ardent's growth strategy.

This makes the role a key hire for the business and an exciting opportunity for the successful candidate to help establish one of its newest regional teams.

The Opportunity
Ardent is seeking an experienced Land & Property professional to help build its presence in Cambridge and the wider East of England.

Ardent's East of England office is new and follows the wider move to a regional structure. The business is looking for an Associate to join its Land Services team, with an opportunity arising in Cambridge for someone capable of leading the land and utilities interface on a major rail infrastructure project.

The Associate – Land Services role exists to provide commercial and technical leadership for day-to-day delivery. This is not simply a business development appointment; there is deliberate breadth built into the role, with exposure to regional projects across the solar, wind, transport and utilities sectors.

As the region builds from the ground up, there will also be an expectation to mentor and develop junior team members over time and to support the Senior Associate Director in managing the overall regional workload, allowing them to focus on winning work and growing the office.

Several of Ardent's current senior leaders joined as graduates or junior surveyors and have progressed to Senior Associate Director and Director level. This route to senior leadership can be achieved faster than is typically available at larger, more traditional firms.

For the right candidate, joining a region at this early stage offers a similar opportunity for significant career progression.

The Role:

Manage land, property and utility work streams across nationally significant infrastructure and utility projects
Pick up work across regional projects spanning the solar, wind, transport and utilities sectors
Build their own network in the early weeks and months, with the candidate encouraged to spend time in both the Cambridge and London offices
Contribute to bids and business development to support the region's growth targets
Mentor and develop more junior hires as the team grows from the ground up  
The Ideal candidate:
 
Experience delivering land services on infrastructure, utilities, energy or transport projects
Strong understanding of land acquisition and access processes, including negotiating voluntary agreements, rights and easements
Experience managing stakeholder relationships with landowners, occupiers, legal teams, local authorities and statutory undertakers
Knowledge of compulsory purchase, compensation and associated statutory frameworks
Ability to lead project work streams, manage programmes and coordinate multidisciplinary teams
Comfortable taking…