Design Manager - Architectural & Facades - High Containment Laboratories

Design Manager – Architectural & Facades – High Containment Laboratories

Fitzrovia, Central London | £900M Flagship National Biosecurity Centre

Are you ready to contribute to one of the UK's most significant life sciences projects and help shape the future of national biosecurity?

Laing O'Rourke is delivering the National Biosecurity Centre, a £900m state-of-the-art facility that will enhance the UK's capability in disease prevention and research. We are seeking an experienced Design Manager to lead the coordination of Architectural and Façade design packages, ensuring excellence across design, safety, and technical delivery.

About the Role

• Manage and coordinate the Architectural and Façade design packages from early design stages through to construction and handover.
• Ensure all design information meets project, regulatory, and performance requirements, with a focus on buildability, quality, and safety.
• Collaborate with architects, consultants, and specialist façade contractors to deliver fully integrated design solutions on one of the UK's most complex facilities.
• Support the delivery of design assurance, change management, and statutory compliance across all work stages.
• Champion innovation, sustainability, and technical excellence within the design process.
• Provide clear communication and technical coordination between internal teams and external stakeholders.

What We're Looking For

• Proven experience as a Design Manager in the Architectural and Façade discipline.
• Healthcare, animal health, high-containment laboratories, and life sciences project experience – essential.
• Strong understanding of design coordination across multiple disciplines within technically demanding environments.
• Degree-qualified in Architecture, Engineering, or a related construction discipline (Chartered status desirable).
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Proactive, delivery-focused professional with a commitment to achieving the highest standards of quality and compliance.

Why Join Us?

At Laing O'Rourke, we push the boundaries of construction. Innovation, technical excellence, and sustainability are at the heart of everything we do. We create buildings and infrastructure that make a lasting positive impact on communities and the environment.

We also take care of our people! Our competitive package includes:

• Base salary + car/travel allowance
• Access to PMI
• Enhanced pension and parental leave schemes
• Life, dental, and critical illness insurance
• Income protection
• 33 days' holiday (including bank holidays!)
• Professional development opportunities

About us:
We are an international engineering and construction company delivering state-of-the-art infrastructure and buildings projects for clients in the UK, Middle East and Australia.

Certainty, reliability, quality – this is what our clients want. And at Laing O'Rourke, we have more than 150 years of experience delivering it. Laing O'Rourke's story is one of energy, passion, ambition, people and teamwork. We harness the power of our experience, stretching back over a century and a half to deliver certainty for our clients.

As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we would like to enable access to candidates with long term conditions and disabilities through the ‘Offer an interview scheme'. This supports applicants that meet the essential criteria by offering an interview for the advertised position. Please let us know prior to interview what adjustments are required as well as discussing how we can support you in the workplace.

We want to ensure our recruitment process is accessible to all. If you need the application form in an alternative format or you would like to know more about our recruitment process, please email resourcingteam@laingorourke.com

CVs only tell part of the story – let's have a chat! I'm Gabbie Bristow, Talent Acquisition Advisor, and I would love to hear from you: gbristow@laingorourke.com.

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