Creating and building beautiful award-winning homes is what we do at Dandara. Homes that combine innovative design with only the highest standards of quality. It’s something we have been doing for over 30 years and It’s part of the reason why we’re one of the UK’s most respected private housebuilders.
This is a great opportunity to join us as our new Group Health & Safety Director. This is a key leadership role responsible for setting and delivering our Health, Safety & Environmental strategy across all operational sites, ensuring the highest standards of safety, environmental compliance, and best practice.
Whilst the role is advertised as Milton Keynes this role can be based anywhere in the South East as Group wide travel to our network of offices will be required.
If you would like to talk to our Head of Recruitment, Ross Davies, in confidence, you can reach him on LinkedIn to discuss the role as we will not be using any recruitment agency for this role.
What you will do
Lead, manage, and enhance the company's Health, Safety & Environmental culture across all housebuilding sites, with a particular focus on low-rise residential developments.
Conduct regular site visits across developments to provide leadership, coaching, and visible support to operational teams and subcontractor partners.
Develop, review, and implement robust Health, Safety, and Environmental strategies, policies, processes (including environmental and waste audits) and systems in line with evolving UK legislation and best practice.
Act as the primary advisor to the board and senior leadership on all matters related to Health, Safety & Environment.
Lead investigations into serious incidents, ensuring thorough root cause analysis and implementation of preventative actions.
Oversee the preparation of Construction Phase Plans and ensure compliance with CDM Regulations 2015.
Manage corporate accident/incident reporting and analyse trends to drive continuous improvement.
Implement and oversee comprehensive induction, training, and refresher programmes across the business.
Produce regular Health, Safety & Environmental reports for Executive and Board review, including KPI tracking and statistical analysis.
Chair regular Health, Safety and Environmental forums with operational and management teams.
Foster strong relationships with regulatory bodies (e.g., HSE) and industry groups to stay ahead of regulatory and legislative changes.
Collaborate closely with ESG, Operations, and Quality teams to drive improvements in environmental and governance performance.
Support the company's broader sustainability strategy, aligning health and safety initiatives with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) objectives.
Lead business preparedness and response planning for emergencies, ensuring continuity and compliance with regulatory expectations.
What you will have
Demonstrable passion for Health, Safety, and Environment, and a track record of promoting a proactive safety culture.
Significant senior leadership experience (typically 5+ years) in a Health and Safety role within the UK housebuilding or construction sectors, preferably with direct experience in low-rise residential schemes.
Expert knowledge of UK Health and Safety law, including CDM Regulations 2015.
Strong leadership, strategic planning, and people management skills; capable of leading a geographically dispersed team and developing a high-performing HSE function.
Proven client and stakeholder engagement skills.
Highly skilled communicator at Board, operational, and site level.
Strong working knowledge of ISO 45001 (Occupational Health & Safety), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management), and ISO 9001 (Quality Management) standards.
Professional qualifications such as:
NEBOSH National Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety (or equivalent)
Membership of IOSH (Chartered Member status desirable)
CSCS Professional Card
First Aid at Work qualification
Strong IT proficiency, particularly in preparing management reports and using health and safety management software.
Experience in deploying or using digital HSE reporting tools and dashboards to drive data-led decision making is desirable.
Full UK driving licence essential.
What we will offer you:
Dandara was established in 1988 from the desire to provide innovative homes and commercial properties, which would offer real value for money without compromising on design, durability, or quality. Today Dandara is one of the UK’s largest independent property development companies, with over 12,000 happy customers and more than 120 industry awards for design and quality – and it’s all thanks to the vision and passion of our dedicated team. Our benefits include:
£Competitive basic salary
Car Allowance
Discretionary bonus
33 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays)
Private Medical Insurance
Employee Assistance Programme - EAP
Health Hero digital doctor - 24 hr virtual help and appointments
Health Assured Wisdom App
Competitive parental leave
3x salary life assurance (paid option to increase to x4)
Cycle to Work Scheme
Employer matched pension scheme of up to 5%
Flexible benefits including shopping vouchers, airport parking and reduced gym membership
Important note for Recruitment Agencies
Please do not send, by any means, unsolicited Resumes (i) in response to any of our roles, (ii) to any of our employees or any person engaged by us, or (iii) to any of our regional businesses, including our head office. Any unsolicited Resumes received by us shall be deemed to be our property.
Any candidate submitted to us by an Agency via an unsolicited Resume shall be deemed to have been referred by that Agency free of commission, fee or any other charge (Fees). We are not liable for any Fees relating to the engagement of any person resulting from an unsolicited Resume and will not pay a Fee to any Agency that is not an Appointed Agency.