Kara Healthcare
Regional Estates Manager
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Location: North East England/Hybrid
Job Type: Full-time
Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience
Overview
We are seeking an experienced, commercially aware, and proactive Regional Estates Manager to oversee the maintenance, safety, compliance, and effective management of our care home estate across a designated region.
Kara Healthcare is a quality care provider devoted to delivering first-class dementia, nursing, residential, and respire care to residents living in our homes. We believe our residents deserve choice, dignity, and independence.
This is a key leadership role responsible for ensuring that our residential and nursing care homes provide safe, comfortable, well-maintained, and compliant environments for residents, staff, visitors, and contractors.
The successful candidate will have a strong background in estates or facilities management, ideally within healthcare, adult social care, or another regulated environment. You will lead regional estates operations, oversee planned and reactive maintenance, monitor statutory compliance, manage external contractors, and support the delivery of property improvement and capital investment programmes.
Working collaboratively with senior leadership, care home managers, estates colleagues, and external service providers, you will ensure that buildings and facilities remain fit for purpose, maintenance issues are addressed effectively, and property-related risks are appropriately managed.
We are looking for a hands-on and strategic professional who can balance operational demands, regulatory responsibilities, budgetary control, and long-term asset planning while maintaining a strong focus on resident safety and quality of care.
Key Responsibilities
Regional Estates and Facilities Management
- Oversee the maintenance, condition, and operational effectiveness of care homes across the allocated region.
- Develop and implement regional estates plans aligned with organisational priorities, service requirements, and property investment strategies.
- Ensure effective delivery of planned preventative maintenance and reactive repairs across all assigned locations.
- Conduct regular site visits, property inspections, and estates reviews to assess building condition, identify risks, and monitor maintenance standards.
- Ensure maintenance issues are prioritised according to urgency, risk, resident safety, and operational impact.
- Monitor the performance of local maintenance arrangements and provide guidance and support to care home managers.
- Maintain oversight of building fabric, plant, equipment, grounds, and essential building services.
- Identify recurring maintenance issues and implement solutions to improve reliability, reduce disruption, and minimise avoidable costs.
- Support the development of consistent estates management processes and standards across the regional portfolio.
Statutory Compliance and Health and Safety
- Ensure effective oversight of statutory inspections, servicing, testing, and maintenance requirements across all properties within the region.
- Monitor compliance with applicable requirements relating to fire safety, electrical installations, gas safety, water hygiene and Legionella control, asbestos management, lifting equipment, and other relevant building systems.
- Ensure appropriate arrangements are in place for fire risk assessments, emergency lighting, fire alarm systems, and the management of associated remedial actions.
- Work with competent specialists, responsible persons, and relevant managers to ensure safety-critical systems are appropriately maintained and monitored.
- Maintain accurate compliance records, inspection schedules, certification registers, and remedial action trackers.
- Identify and escalate significant property risks, statutory compliance failures, and overdue remedial works, ensuring appropriate interim controls and corrective actions are implemented.
- Support care home managers in maintaining safe premises and providing evidence of compliance for CQC inspections and other relevant reviews.
- Ensure contractors follow appropriate health and safety procedures, including risk assessments, method statements, safe systems of work, and permit-to-work arrangements where required.
- Promote a proactive culture of risk management, accountability, and continuous improvement across the regional estate.
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Contractor and Supplier Management
- Manage and monitor regional contractors, specialist maintenance providers, and facilities service suppliers.
- Ensure contractors are appropriately competent, qualified, insured, and approved for the work undertaken.
- Monitor service delivery, workmanship, response times, contractual performance, and value for money.
- Support procurement activities, including tendering, quotation reviews, supplier selection, and contract negotiations.
- Review service agreements and identify opportunities to improve performance, consolidate contracts, and achieve cost efficiencies.
- Resolve escalated contractor performance issues and ensure outstanding works are completed within agreed timescales.
- Develop effective relationships with suppliers and specialist service providers to maintain consistent standards across all locations.
Capital Projects and Property Improvements
- Lead and coordinate regional refurbishment, maintenance improvement, and capital expenditure projects.
- Develop project scopes, specifications, budgets, delivery programmes, and procurement requirements.
- Monitor project progress against agreed timescales, costs, quality standards, and health and safety requirements.
- Coordinate contractors, consultants, care home managers, and internal stakeholders to minimise disruption to residents and care delivery.
- Ensure appropriate approvals, building control requirements, project documentation, and handover procedures are completed.
- Assess building condition and identify investment priorities, lifecycle replacement requirements, and opportunities to improve the estate.
- Support the delivery of property upgrades, accessibility improvements, energy efficiency initiatives, and infrastructure renewal programmes.
- Provide regular project updates and escalate risks, delays, and budget pressures as necessary.
Budget Management and Asset Planning
- Develop, manage, and monitor regional estates and maintenance budgets.
- Control expenditure on repairs, servicing, contractors, materials, and capital projects.
- Review costs and identify opportunities to improve efficiency without compromising safety, compliance, or quality.
- Support the development of annual maintenance plans, capital expenditure forecasts, and longer-term asset management strategies.
- Maintain oversight of property condition assessments, asset registers, and planned replacement programmes.
- Monitor utilities and energy consumption, identifying opportunities to reduce costs and improve environmental performance.
- Prepare accurate financial and operational reports for senior leadership, highlighting expenditure, risks, performance, and investment requirements.
Leadership and Stakeholder Management
- Provide leadership, technical guidance, and operational support to estates personnel and care home management teams across the region.
- Work collaboratively with registered managers, operational leaders, and central support functions to resolve property-related issues.
- Support the development of local maintenance capability and consistent standards of estates management.
- Promote accountability, proactive maintenance, effective communication, and a strong safety culture.
- Ensure estates activities are planned around residents' needs, dignity, privacy, accessibility, and wellbeing.
- Lead regional estates meetings and communicate priorities, risks, performance expectations, and improvement initiatives.
- Provide practical advice to senior management on property condition, regulatory risks, capital investment, and operational resilience.
About You
You will be an experienced estates or facilities management professional with the leadership skills, technical knowledge, and commercial awareness required to oversee a multi-site care home portfolio.
You will ideally have:
- Significant experience in estates management, facilities management, building services, or property maintenance.
- Experience managing multiple sites across a geographical region, preferably within healthcare, adult social care, residential care, or another regulated environment.
- Strong working knowledge of planned preventative maintenance, asset management, building condition assessments, and reactive maintenance operations.
- A sound understanding of statutory building compliance, fire safety, health and safety, water hygiene, asbestos management, and contractor control.
- Experience managing external contractors, service contracts, procurement activities, and supplier performance.
- Proven experience managing maintenance budgets, capital expenditure, refurbishment projects, and long-term asset investment plans.
- The ability to identify, assess, and prioritise property risks and implement effective corrective actions.
- Strong analytical, organisational, and project management skills.
- Excellent leadership, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management capabilities.
- The confidence to challenge poor performance, manage competing priorities, and make sound decisions in a fast-paced operational environment.
- A practical, solution-focused approach and a commitment to maintaining safe, compliant, and high-quality care environments.
- The flexibility to travel regularly between care home locations within the designated region.
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Qualifications and Professional Development
- A relevant qualification in estates management, facilities management, building services, construction, engineering, or a related discipline is desirable.
- Professional membership of a relevant organisation, such as the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM), would be advantageous.
- A recognised health and safety qualification, such as IOSH or NEBOSH, would be beneficial.
- Experience in project management, contract management, asset management, or building compliance would be advantageous.
- Evidence of continuing professional development in estates, facilities, health and safety, or property management is welcome.
Candidates should have the relevant technical experience and competence appropriate to the responsibilities of the position. Specialist statutory compliance work must be undertaken or supervised by appropriately qualified and competent personnel.
Key Performance Expectations
Success in this role will be measured by:
- Effective delivery of planned preventative maintenance across the regional estate.
- Compliance with statutory inspection, testing, servicing, and certification requirements.
- Timely completion of remedial actions and resolution of identified property risks.
- Improved building condition, asset reliability, and maintenance performance.
- Effective management of regional estates budgets and capital expenditure.
- Contractor performance, service quality, and value for money.
- Successful delivery of refurbishment and capital improvement projects.
- Reduction in avoidable breakdowns, repeat repairs, and maintenance-related disruption.
- Consistent estates standards and effective support for care home managers.
- Accurate compliance reporting, asset records, and regional performance information.
What We Offer
- A senior regional leadership opportunity within a growing care home organisation.
- The opportunity to influence estates strategy and property investment across multiple locations.
- A varied role combining operational leadership, technical oversight, and strategic planning.
- Opportunities for professional development and career progression.
- A collaborative working environment with operational leaders and central support teams.
- A competitive salary and benefits package, dependent on experience.
Why Join Us?
Our care homes must provide safe, comfortable, accessible, and well-maintained environments where residents can live with dignity and confidence.
As Regional Estates Manager, you will play a vital role in protecting the quality and condition of our properties, strengthening compliance, supporting our care home teams, and ensuring that estates services contribute positively to resident wellbeing and operational performance.
Through strong leadership, effective planning, and a commitment to continuous improvement, you
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