Apprentice Building Surveyor

Apprentice Building Surveyor

Fixed Term Contract (5 years)

Salary £25,652 - £41,510 p.a.

37 hours per week           

Provider - University of Portsmouth

Chartered Building Surveying qualification                       

We are looking for an enthusiastic person to join our repairs and maintenance teams who aspires to be a Chartered Building Surveyor.

Candidates must be resilient, enthusiastic, good communicators, have excellent attention to detail and be keen to develop their building surveying skills. You will have opportunities within the teams to gain building surveying experience whilst studying part time towards a RICS accredited Building Surveying degree at one of our accredited Universities.

Who are we?

The Housing, Neighbourhood and Building Services Directorate of Portsmouth City Council are responsible for maintaining and undertaking repairs and capital building projects to a stock of over 16,000 residential properties, 900 corporate assets as well as delivering the Housing Development pipeline of 350 new homes per year.

To support the delivery of this work we are seeking to recruit to a number of Surveying Apprentice positions. The Building Services team have a strong record in supporting the training and development of our staff having established our Building Surveyor apprenticeship programme 7 years ago. Since its inception we have grown the programme of surveying apprentices and have seen 15 apprentices and graduates gaining Chartership of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in recent years.

The apprentice positions offer a fantastic opportunity for those wishing to develop a career in Building Surveying through the provision of fully funded training, gaining of a diverse range of practical experience and the offer of a structured training programme supported by highly experienced Building Surveyors.

As no prior experience is required for any of our apprenticeship roles, we have recruited apprentices from a wide range of backgrounds including those leaving college taking their first steps into employment as well as more mature candidates who may be seeking the opportunity to change careers and retrain.

What is this role?

In this  5 year apprenticeship candidates will study a BSc (Hons) degree in Building Surveying from the University of Portsmouth on a day release basis whilst working full time for Portsmouth City Council, gaining a wide range of practical experience delivering a range of Capital Building Projects.  Alongside their day-to-day work, apprentices will also undertake their RICS assessment of professional competence, with the opportunity at the end of their 5 year apprenticeship to sit their RICS APC final assessment and become a fully qualified Chartered Building Surveyor.

Who is the person?

To apply for the role you need to:

1. Have the entry requirements to enrol on a BSc (Hons) Chartered Surveyor degree apprenticeship of a minimum 112 UCAS points, this can include A levels or BTEC qualifications.
2. Have an interest in building surveying and a desire to learn and become a Chartered Building Surveyor, any knowledge and awareness of the building surveying role and skills will be an advantage. 
3. Have the capability to undertake research so that you can evaluate different building options such as products or building methods. You will be trained to prepare a specification of work, gain quotations and manage repair work. 
4. Have relevant experience of using all Microsoft packages; in particular be able to demonstrate practical IT skills using Word and Excel spreadsheets to analyse data and be able to use various software packages as part of undertaking a surveying role. You will be trained to use AutoCAD or similar drawing packages to support Building Surveyors by producing planning and building regulations drawings.   
5. Be organised and methodical when preparing and managing your own workload or undertaking surveys and have excellent attention to detail. You will be trained to carry out a range of practical surveys including stock condition surveys and how to diagnose building defects as well as assess quality of work undertaken.
6. Be confident and a good communicator when working with all Housing staff, other departments, contractors and specifically our Local Authority Housing customers as most repairs and maintenance work is undertaken in occupation whilst our residents are living in their homes.
7. Have excellent written skills demonstrating good spelling and grammar along with setting out and presentation skills and be proficient in communicating your point concisely within a report.
8. Demonstrate an aptitude for understanding formal text, particularly legal text as set out in construction law.
9. Have a positive attitude towards work, be resilient, embrace change and actively work with your colleagues to improve the service offered to customers.
10. Demonstrate your ability to work effectively as part of a team to achieve a common task and also your ability work under your own initiative.
11. Either have a full driving licence and provide a car for work or have a commitment to learn to drive, as you will be visiting various sites across Portsmouth and will need to be able to travel effectively between them.
12. You will be inspecting a variety of buildings with different access arrangements and will need to be physically fit.

Please also answer the following questions in your application for this apprenticeship:

• Do you have an education, health or care plan provided by the local authority or have you been in the care of the local authority?
• Are you a citizen of the United Kingdom or another country within the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA)?
• Will you have been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom or another country within the EU or EEA for at least 3 years from current date?
• Do you depend on a visa or other permission to reside in the United Kingdom?
• If you have answered 'Yes' to the previous question, please describe what type of visa/permission you have. You will need to bring in your passport and visa or evidence of immigration permission when you enrol so that we assess your eligibility to receive Government funding for the Apprenticeship programme.

When completing the application form, please thoroughly tailor your application to the 'Who is the Person' points with the use of examples from your experience and attach this as a cover letter in the Supporting Documents section. This is really important or you are likely not to be shortlisted. Please click HERE for the full job profile!

To learn more about our Surveying Apprentice programme and hear from existing apprentices, we have created a video with the University of Portsmouth that can be watched here.

It is the intention that candidates will be commencing their studies in September 2025 so the opportunity is available to those currently completing their A Levels or BTEC and those who have obtained the grades in previous years.

For the right candidate there may be the opportunity to commence work before September 2025.

Applications should be submitted by 12noon o