Head of Bristol Office, Land Services - Ardent - #2150986

About Ardent
Ardent is an infrastructure and regeneration specialist. They understand that the value of land lies in its potential to improve lives and create a more sustainable future. The business supports major infrastructure projects across the UK and Ireland, working with clients in the energy, transport, and renewables sectors, city and town regeneration, as well as offering comprehensive services in land referencing, promotion, implementation, and compensation.

They have the largest team of CPO surveyors in the UK and Ireland and are the market leader in both Land Assembly & Compulsory Purchase and Development Consent Order (DCO) land advice. Their track record speaks for itself with over 35 years in business, 100+ DCOs submitted, involvement in more than 150 major DCO, CPO and TWAO projects, and experience acting as the property expert at over 100 DCO examinations to date.

The business has recently moved to a regional operating model, with presence in the East of England, London & South East, South West, Midlands, North West, North East and beyond; bringing its former valuation & compensation and land assembly teams together into a single land services function in each region.

Where Ardent is Going
Ardent's growth isn't just a future ambition, it's already well underway, having grown into the largest CPO team in the UK and Ireland and the market leader in Land Assembly & Compulsory Purchase Advice.

The Opportunity
Ardent is looking for a leader to establish its presence in Bristol, building a credible, visible operation to increase coverage and visibility across the South West and South Wales, and to capture significant client opportunity across the wider region. Ardent already has a Bristol presence, which this role is set to build on, growing it into a fully-fledged office with its own identity, pipeline and people, in a market where there is already significant client demand and opportunity.

As the gateway into South Wales, Devon and Cornwall, Bristol represents new territory of real strategic importance to the business. Land Services is also seen internally as the key engine of Ardent's projected growth.

The Bristol office also has a strong existing national pipeline, including relationships with utility, transport, and local / combined authority frameworks. The first six months are about establishing a strong, credible presence and starting to recruit; the following one to two years are about building a Bristol and South Wales-focused pipeline of work. The ambition is a team of 10–15 people within 12 months, which is an exciting scale of growth that reflects just how much Ardent wants to invest in Bristol's future.

The successful candidate will:

• Establish a credible, visible Ardent presence in Bristol and start recruiting from day one
• Build and lead a local team, with an ambition of 10–15 people within 12 months
• Generate work by winning new relationships and leveraging existing ones
• Take on utilisation responsibility and increasing autonomy over recruitment and client decisions
• Represent Ardent and help shape a still-new office-lead group across the business

The Role
The purpose of this role is to establish Ardent's presence in Bristol, building, and recruiting a local team, and generating work by winning new relationships and leveraging existing ones.

The initial focus is on Land Services, with a long-term ambition to grow all of Ardent's service lines in Bristol: Land Services, Land Referencing, Stakeholder Engagement & Communications, Consents Management, and Complex Cases.
Although the P&L responsibility sits with the Head of Land Services, the role carries utilisation responsibility and growing autonomy over recruitment and client decisions, with potential flexibility to offer fuller P&L autonomy for a suitably senior, established candidate over time.

The Ideal Candidate
The preferred candidate will have the following experience:

• Chartered Surveyor with a professional practice/consultancy background
• Technically strong in the DCO/NSIP consenting regime, with a working understanding of valuation
• Sector experience is preferred, yet candidates from any sector are of interest
• Ideally an established leader, or an ambitious Senior Associate or Associate Director ready for progression

Why Join Ardent?
Ardent's purpose is straightforward: delivering life-improving change for communities and future generations.

It's a mission the leadership team treats as something to be lived, not just communicated. The business has grown on the strength of being a market leader in land and consents advice, and is now working to a defined growth plan, while keeping the personal, collaborative culture that got it here.

That culture is shaped by five values Ardent asks everyone to live by day to day: a thirst for knowledge, owning what you do, being the difference, enjoying the journey, and adapting as the business and its markets change.

Career development is treated as a genuine priority. Ardent invests in structured training and development, supports people toward the qualifications they need, and has a strong record of promoting from within, with several current directors and senior consultants starting as Assistant Surveyors or Assistant Consultants.

For someone joining a region during its build-out phase, that same commitment to backing people applies just as much to building a team locally. Ardent's people also point to the variety and significance of the projects on offer, from HS2 and Sizewell C to major regeneration schemes like the Brentford Football Club stadium redevelopment, and to a deliberate effort to give people breadth across sectors rather than siloing them on one scheme.

This vacancy is exclusively managed by Joshua Robert Recruitment. All direct and third-party applications will be forwarded to Joshua Robert for consideration.