Environmental and Planning Manager

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Environmental and Planning (Process) Manager, Navan Line - Capital Investments Role Purpose

The Environmental and Planning (Process) Manager will play a pivotal role in the delivery of the Navan Rail Line project by leading the preparation, coordination, and delivery of the planning and environmental consent requirements. This is a senior project technical and coordination role suited to a candidate with a demonstrable track record in delivering statutory applications for major linear transport infrastructure projects in Ireland.

Key Responsibilities

• Take full ownership of the RO Application for the Navan Rail Line, from inception through submission
• Liaise and coordinate with the multi-disciplinary consultants and their discipline leads to ensure the timely delivery of high-quality, legally robust documentation.
• Lead the coordination and delivery of all statutory planning and environmental deliverables, including: Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR), Appropriate Assessment (AA) Screening and Natura Impact Statement (NIS), All other supporting planning and environmental reports
• Ensure full compliance with Irish and EU planning and environmental legislation and relevant national guidance
• Provide expert technical input to the RO process, including input into project design, data collection strategies, and coordination of impact assessments.
• Manage and support the work of the environmental team from the MDC and sub-consultants, ensuring consistency and technical quality across all deliverables.
• Co ordinate the implementation of the programme sustainability strategy across all phases of the programme and track and report on key ESG metrics to internal and external stakeholders.
• Act as a key liaison with statutory bodies and stakeholders, local authorities, and others as required.
• Represent the company in meetings and public consultation events, ensuring strong communication of environmental and planning matters.
• Chair and facilitate coordination meetings between consultants, contractors, and third parties.
• Provide regular and concise updates relating to the development of the RO application to the Programme Manager, Director of Development and Design, and Director of Capital Investments on programme status, risks, and mitigation actions.
• Monitor progress of the RO workstreams against programme and proactively identify and resolve issues with the MDC or other delivery partners.
• Provide environmental and sustainability progress reports and updates to internal environmental and sustainability committees.
• Establish and maintain robust tracking and reporting tools for EIA and RO deliverables.
• Lead the internal quality assurance and legal review process, coordinating input from legal advisors, technical reviewers, and internal governance bodies.
• Ensure that all outputs are auditable, of high quality, and capable of withstanding legal and regulatory scrutiny.
• Demonstrate strong understanding of construction methods, enabling meaningful input into environmental risk assessments and construction phase mitigation.

Competences

• Collaborative, and ability to liaise with contractors, consultants and third parties.
• Commercial awareness.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent management and negotiation skills
• Sharp attention to detail coupled with the ability to maintain strategic focus.
• Proactive, self directed approach with the ability to act on own initiative.

Qualifications and Experience Essential

• A degree in Environmental Science, Planning, Engineering or a closely related field (postgraduate qualification desirable).
• Minimum 7+ years' experience in the delivery of EIARs for major infrastructure projects, with a focus on linear transport schemes (preferably rail).
• Proven experience in the preparation and coordination of Railway Order or equivalent statutory applications in Ireland.
• Comprehensive understanding of Irish and EU environmental and planning legislation.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills, including experience working with statutory and regulatory bodies.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, motivate, and collaborate across multi-disciplinary project teams.

Desirable

• A working knowledge of Railway projects.
• Understanding of Project Management Procedures.
• Experience working within a multi-disciplinary team.
• Coaching and mentoring skills.
• Presentation skills.