Planner

Colas Ltd are a UK subsidiary of the global Colas Group, which operates in over 50 countries worldwide and employs over 55,000 people including over 1500 in the UK across multiple sites. We are specialists in highways construction and have been involved in large-scale UK and international construction projects within the highways, airfields, and marine sectors as well as offering highways maintenance services and manufacturing our own innovative surfacing products. We hold a 'Gold Investor in People' award for continuously developing and rewarding our employees, offering excellent career potential.

Colas Ltd Purpose and Overview

Purpose of the Role

Colas are responsible for the eight-year Maintenance & Response contract for National Highways Area 9. The contract covers around 2,300 miles of Strategic Road Network within Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, and Shropshire, as well as parts of Gloucestershire, Derbyshire, and Leicestershire. We deliver cyclical maintenance, reactive maintenance, incident response, severe weather response and minor works in a region that has five strategically critical motorway interchange junctions, as well as being at the heart of the new HS2 network. Area 9 is a critical transport hub enabling customer journeys across the UK.

We are seeking a Planner to be based at the Strensham office, WR8 9LJ to support the development, monitoring and reporting of multi-disciplinary maintenance programmes across the network. The role is responsible for planning and coordinating both cyclical and reactive works, ensuring service delivery aligns with client requirements, contractual obligations and commercial objectives. Working closely with operational teams, clients and stakeholders, you will help maximise productivity, optimise resource utilisation and contribute to the successful delivery of highway maintenance services.

Main Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain annual and short-term work programmes, ensuring activities are delivered in accordance with contract requirements, tender strategies and productivity targets.
• Support the implementation of commercial planning strategies, manage resource allocation and workforce planning, and ensure all operational programmes remain achievable, accurate and aligned with forecast expenditure profiles.
• Oversee the preparation and management of job packs, ensuring risks and hazards are appropriately identified and mitigated, while maintaining compliance with corporate procedures and health, safety, environmental and quality standards.
• Collaborate with operational teams, clients, contractors, local authorities, National Highways, emergency services and other stakeholders to coordinate works, manage road space requirements and minimise network disruption.
• Monitor programme performance, track progress, forecast delivery dates and expenditure, identify risks and communicate changes to key stakeholders.
• Support emergency response activities, assist with remedial repair coordination and contribute to network recovery following incidents.
• Attendance at planning meetings, production of programme reports and maintenance of accurate records will form a key part of the role.
• Work alongside the wider planning team to drive continuous improvement, identify innovative solutions, maximise opportunities within road closures and support a collaborative, high-performing team culture.
• Participation in the Silver/Bronze call-out rota will also be required.