CSA Project Manager - Data Centres (North East - Site Based)
Arcadis · Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Professional Services · 10,001+ employees
About the role
The CSA Project Manager acts as the client-side lead for civil, structural, and architectural delivery on a major hyperscale data centre campus. Responsibilities include overseeing design development, construction progress, technical assurance, and managing complex interfaces between various project stakeholders.
What they look for
Requirements
The role requires extensive experience in CSA project management on large-scale, complex construction developments. Candidates must possess strong knowledge of building envelopes, structural works, and site coordination, along with the ability to manage multiple specialist contractors and consultants.
Full description
Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.
We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.
Role Summary
Arcadis is seeking a CSA Project Manager to act as the client-side lead for Civil, Structural and Architectural delivery on a major hyperscale data centre campus in North East England.
This role will provide oversight, coordination and technical assurance across external works, core and shell, envelope, façade, roofing, drainage, remediation and logistics, while managing key interfaces with MEPH, OFCI, utilities, substation and commissioning teams.
The successful candidate will play a critical role in ensuring CSA works are delivered safely, compliantly and in line with programme, quality and handover requirements.
Project Overview
This opportunity supports a major £10 billion hyperscale data centre campus, one of the largest developments of its type in Europe.
The programme includes:
- Approximately 540,000 sqm of development
- 10 data centre buildings
- Major enabling works
- Substation construction
- Environmental remediation
- Phased delivery from enabling works through to construction, fit-out readiness and handover
This development represents a significant long-term investment and is expected to create substantial economic and employment benefits in the region.
The Role
The CSA Project Manager acts as the Employer’s lead for CSA delivery across the project.
The role is responsible for overseeing the planning, coordination, monitoring and technical assurance of CSA activities from design development through construction and handover, ensuring readiness for follow-on activities including MEPH installation, OFCI equipment installation and commissioning.
This is a client-side project management role focused on delivery oversight, interface management, technical assurance and escalation of risks and issues.
Key Responsibilities CSA Delivery and Oversight
- Lead CSA delivery strategies across the project lifecycle.
- Support RFP processes, tender reviews, scoring and recommendations.
- Support onboarding of the CSA supply chain and review of initial deliverables.
- Oversee CSA works from design development through construction, fit-out readiness and handover.
- Monitor delivery against programme, quality, technical and contractual requirements.
- Drive resolution of technical, delivery and interface issues affecting CSA progress.
- Review contractor sequencing, readiness and short-term planning for upcoming works.
Coordination and Interface Management
- Manage coordination between the General Contractor, specialist contractors, design consultants, utility providers and package leads.
- Ensure effective interface management between CSA works and related packages.
- Coordinate closely with stakeholders to support construction readiness, access planning and smooth handovers.
- Identify and escalate blockers, interface clashes, access issues and readiness constraints.
Technical Assurance and Readiness
- Provide technical oversight across:
- External works
- Core and shell
- Structural works
- Building envelope
- Façade
- Roofing
- Drainage
- Remediation
- Track RFIs, technical queries, submittals and unresolved design coordination issues.
- Verify readiness for follow-on activities including MEPH installation, equipment installation and commissioning where applicable.
- Support quality assurance, compliance monitoring and close-out activities.
Reporting, Risk and Governance
- Maintain visibility of progress against critical path activities and milestone dates.
- Update action trackers, risk registers and issue logs.
- Produce clear and timely reporting for project and senior stakeholders.
- Support governance processes, strategic reviews and decision-making forums.
- Contribute to safety, quality, social value and community investment commitments.
Key Interfaces
This role will work closely with the following stakeholders:
- MEPH PM – for CSA completion, fit-out readiness, builders’ work, plant access and programme interfaces
- Substation PM – for energisation dates, temporary substations, utility interfaces and power constraints
- Commissioning Agent – where CSA completion, access, defects and building readiness impact commissioning
- Planning Consultant, Building Control Officer and Building Regulations Principal Designer
- EHS Manager – for high-risk CSA activities and contractor compliance
- OFCI Manager – for structural readiness, plinths, access, logistics and equipment installation readiness
- FIDIC Engineer – for changes, notices, instructions, determinations and formal correspondence
Candidate Profile
Essential Experience
- Strong experience in CSA project management on major construction projects.
- Experience delivering or overseeing civil, structural and architectural works on large, complex developments.
- Knowledge of:
- External works
- Core and shell delivery
- Building envelope systems
- Drainage
- Weathertightness
- Fit-out readiness
- Experience coordinating:
- General Contractors
- Design consultants
- Utility providers
- Statutory stakeholders
- Specialist contractors
- Strong capability in:
- Programme monitoring
- Risk management
- Technical assurance
- Reporting
- Ability to operate effectively in a client-side role with multiple stakeholders and complex interfaces.
Desirable Experience
- Experience on data centre, mission critical, industrial or similarly complex infrastructure / building projects.
- Experience working in environments with significant interface dependencies between CSA, MEPH, OFCI, power and commissioning.
- Familiarity with formal contract administration and project correspondence processes in a major project environment.
Key Skills and Behaviours
- Autonomous and self-driven
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
- Effective interface manager across multiple workstreams
- Quality-led and detail-oriented
- Collaborative approach with clients, contractors and supply chain partners
- Strong problem-solving capability and proactive escalation mindset
- Commitment to safe delivery and compliance
What This Role Is Not
For clarity, this role:
- Is not responsible for MEPH project management as a primary function
- Is not the OFCI Manager or Commissioning Agent
- Is not the General Contractor or installation manager
- Is not responsible for contractor means and methods
- Is not responsible for cost management, quantity surveying, legal services or specialist statutory advisory services
Core Deliverables
Daily
- Attend and contribute to daily activity briefings, coordination meetings and planning forums relevant to CSA works.
- Undertake daily site walks and field observations focused on:
- Progress
- Quality
- Safety interfaces
- Readiness for follow-on works
- Track key CSA activities and critical path items.
- Coordinate daily with the MEPH PM, contractor teams, OFCI, logistics, utilities and package leads.
- Review planned versus actual progress for critical CSA activities.
- Identify and escalate blockers, access issues, readiness constraints and interface clashes.
- Review contractor short-term plans, sequencing and workface readiness.
- Track RFIs, technical queries and design coordination issues.
- Verify site readiness for follow-on installation or commissioning activities where required.
- Update action trackers, risk logs and issue registers.
- Provide timely communications to stakeholders on urgent issues and required decisions.
Weekly
- Attend Last Planner meetings.
- Produce a weekly CSA progress report covering:
- Current status
- Progress against programme
- Key achievements
- Upcoming activities
- Review look-ahead plans for CSA works, enabling works, envelope activities and readiness milestones.
- Coordinate weekly interface reviews with the MEPH PM, contractors and package leads.
- Review programme performance against the master programme and identify recovery actions where needed.
- Support readiness reviews for:
- Weathertightness
- Fit-out access
- MEPH installation
- Commissioning dependencies
- Provide weekly quality and compliance summaries, including non-conformance close-out status.
- Update weekly risk and issue registers with actions and ownership.
- Review contractor resourcing, sequencing and methodology for upcoming works.
- Report on design and technical assurance matters including RFIs, submittals and unresolved issues.
- Support weekly stakeholder and tenant reporting where CSA input is required.
- Review progress of handover deliverables including as-builts, O&Ms, completion records and defects.
Monthly
- Produce a monthly executive CSA report for the client.
- Provide a monthly dashboard covering:
- Programme
- Risk
- Quality
- Safety interfaces
- Readiness status
- Cost-sensitive delivery issues
- Report on critical CSA milestones including:
- Foundations
- Frame
- Envelope
- Roofing
- Weathertightness
- Drainage
- External works
- Fit-out readiness
- Undertake strategic reviews of progress against key project milestones, campus phasing and handover dates.
- Provide trend analysis of delays, recurring quality issues, risks and interface problems.
- Produce oversight reporting on contractor performance.
- Summarise key client decisions, approvals and actions required.
- Provide updates on planning, permitting, environmental and statutory compliance matters relevant to CSA delivery.
- Lead or support close-out and handover readiness reviews.
- Capture lessons learned, emerging delivery themes and escalation items.
- Prepare governance and steering meeting inputs for senior stakeholders.
Success Measures
Success in this role will be demonstrated through:
- Delivery of CSA works in line with agreed programme milestones
- Achievement of weathertightness and fit-out readiness to support downstream activities
- Effective management of key interfaces across CSA, MEPH, OFCI, utilities and commissioning
- Timely identification and escalation of risks, constraints and technical issues
- Strong standards of quality, compliance and documentation
- Effective support to handover, close-out and operational readiness
Why Join This Project
This is an opportunity to support one of the most significant hyperscale data centre developments in Europe, contributing to a complex and high-profile programme with long-term regional impact.
The role offers exposure to:
- A major mission critical development
- Complex stakeholder and package interfaces
- Large-scale phased delivery
- High-value technical and programme-critical decision-making
- A collaborative client-side project environment
Why Arcadis?
We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.
You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.
Together, we can create a lasting legacy.
Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.
Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe that by working together diverse people with different experiences develop the most innovative ideas. Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of how we improve quality of life and we work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race. A diverse and skilled workforce is essential to our success.
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