Quantity Surveyor, Cost Analyst

Our client the Land Development Agency (LDA) is a key Government Commercial Semi-State Body that delivers social and affordable housing on State and other lands. It is overseen by an independent board of directors and the Government has committed to providing the LDA with €1.25 billion of equity which is drawn as required.

The LDA has commenced construction on various state sourced lands and is currently working on direct delivery projects that can deliver over 5,000 homes. It is also delivering affordable housing by working with the private sector on an initiative called ‘Project Tosaigh’, which will yield a further 5,000 homes.

Additionally, the LDA is working on large-scale longer-term strategic areas by master-planning and bringing forward planning applications in locations such as Limerick Colbert Quarter, the Digital Hub in Dublin and Sandy Road in Galway.

Role Purpose

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Cost Management Team and to support the development of the LDA’s extensive development pipeline, one of the most significant development pipelines in the history of the state.

The role will involve working across multiple business functions including Strategic Planning & Master Planning, Property, Construction, Land Acquisition, Developer Collaboration, Asset Management and Investment.

The LDA are looking for candidates with strong commercial and technical acumen with the ambition and drive to progress the development pipeline, with project values ranging from €60m to €1bn+.

This is a unique opportunity to play a key part in the most exciting, high profile and high value projects in country. You will have the opportunity to challenge to norm and work with a progressive, innovative, and professional team, whilst accelerating your career progression.

This role will support the delivery of quantity surveying duties and financial / commercial analytical output and be a key member of the LDA team by supporting the business with detailed analysis of construction and development data to present cost and affordability analysis by unit / project type, track build cost, inflation, out-turn cost, project soft costs and key design and construction metrics / KPIs.

Within a rapidly growing semi-state housing developer with a national footprint, this role represents an excellent opportunity for an ambitious professional to further develop their technical skills and assist the business in making sound commercial decisions with great exposure to the leadership team.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide analysis and KPIs by product typology across portfolio.
• Analyse and present data and provide feedback on affordability performance, improvements and efficiencies in design and cost.
• Assist in developing KPIs and dashboards for the above data. The candidate will be comfortable with distilling large amounts of data to provide key conclusions and insights.
• Assist in the development of construction cost dashboards.
• Assist in developing and maintaining cashflow forecasts.
• Assist in the development of KPIs from appraisal data, create functional dashboards and critically analyse data and report findings to the team for early stage optioneering.
• Completing detailed tender analysis and benchmark reports across portfolio
• Utilisation of technology to improve process automation and create process efficiencies.
• Assist in the on-going management and maintenance of a master database and cost data warehousing, (currently excel based, including hard and soft costs) including tracking and reporting on across portfolio.
• General QS duties, as required.

Person Specification

• Degree qualified Quantity Surveyor. Chartered or working towards chartership.
• Comfortable with distilling large amounts of data to provide key conclusions and insights.
• Experience in creating dashboards through Excel or using Power BI or other similar BI tools is welcome.
• Advanced Excel skills (Formula and Pivot table skills essential , Macro/ VBA skills an advantage but not essential)
• Strong mathematical and analytical skills.
• Proven commercial acumen is essential and knowledge of construction / real estate is preferred.
• Ability to work under own initiative and also enjoys working collaboratively.
• A willingness to attend training and to develop relevant knowledge, techniques, and skills.
• To have strong analytical skills and ability to present findings
• To have good spoken and written communication skills
• To be methodical, pay attention to detail and be accurate
• To be good at working with people at all levels and willing to work in a team
• To be self-motivated with ability to work on own initiative
• To be willing to accept responsibility for completing designated tasks.

To apply

The Land Development Agency is an equal opportunities employer.