Project Planner

Project Planner – Marine Civil Engineering

Location: South West / Hybrid

Team: Ancora Groupwide Operations

Reports to: Operations Director

About

For over three decades, Ancora Group has been a trusted leader in the civils marine industry, delivering essential services and infrastructure that protect and empower coastal and flood-prone communities across the UK. From marine construction and commercial diving to flood defences, emergency repairs, and piling, we have honed exceptional expertise across the sector. Our team’s dedication and innovation enable us to tackle challenges of every scale with confidence and precision.

In the past ten years, Ancora Group has experienced remarkable, sustainable growth, positioning us to successfully deliver multi-million-pound projects while exceeding client expectations. At the heart of everything we do is a steadfast commitment to our customers. Our ethos is simple: place our customers first and complete every project with excellence, integrity, and a relentless focus on satisfaction.

Join us at an exciting time as we continue to build a stronger, safer future for our communities and the marine industry.

Role Purpose

The Project Planner will provide professional planning and programming support across the business, supporting both tender-stage activities and live project delivery across marine civil engineering operations nationally. The role is responsible for developing, maintaining, and analysing robust project programmes that support safe, efficient and commercially successful delivery.

Working closely with operational, commercial, and project teams, the Planner will ensure programmes are realistic, NEC4-compliant and aligned to the practical constraints of marine construction, including tidal working, weather impacts and specialist resource requirements.

This is a key role within the business, supporting proactive project control, improved operational planning, and effective resource utilisation across multiple concurrent projects throughout the UK.

The role supports:

• Effective delivery of marine and civil engineering projects across the Group
• NEC4-compliant programme management and reporting
• Improved resource planning and operational coordination
• Reduction of delivery and commercial risk
• Enhanced tender quality and programme credibility

The Project Planner will develop and maintain detailed project programmes across Ancora, that accurately reflect project scope, methodology, and operational constraints.

Key responsibilities include:

• Developing and maintaining NEC4-compliant programmes in line with Clause 31 and Clause 32 requirements
• Producing baseline, accepted, and regularly updated programmes
• Ensuring programmes clearly identify:
  Logical sequencing and dependencies, Critical path activities, Risks, constraints, and assumptions
• Preparing programme narratives and supporting information for submission and acceptance
• Supporting project teams in maintaining programme accuracy throughout project delivery

Responsibilities include:

• Incorporating tidal windows, marine access constraints, and weather downtime into programmes
• Reflecting marine plant utilisation and operational sequencing within programme logic
• Developing realistic assumptions relating to Working time restrictions, Environmental and consent constraints, Interfaces between marine and land-based activities
• Supporting operational teams in planning efficient and achievable delivery sequences

The Planner will support the commercial and operational management of projects through robust programme analysis and reporting.

Key activities include:

• Assessing and demonstrating the programme impact of compensation events
• Supporting the NEC4 Early Warning process with programme analysis and input
• Producing impacted, recovery, and acceleration programmes where required
• Developing “what-if” scenarios to support decision-making and mitigation planning
• Providing programme evidence to support commercial submissions and change management processes

The role will support visibility and coordination across multiple live and tender-stage projects, helping the…