Public Authorities across the country are demonstrating the ambition and vision to lead the way in supporting well-designed places that are spatially, socially and environmentally inclusive and sustainable. But one of the biggest barriers many Authorities face is recruiting staff with the right skills and expertise.
We offer placements to public organisations that share our ambitions and can demonstrate a commitment to the programme at a senior level. Watch the video below to see a case study of our impact in Greater Cambridge.
We recruit and select talented, motivated and experienced built environment practitioners - Associates - who want to work for the public good. They bring diverse skills and backgrounds to fixed-term placements into progressive public sector organisations. An Authority submits an Expression of Interest (EOI) for a placement they want Public Practice to recruit for and it's taken from there.
We place Associates in local or city authority, combined authorities, development corporations or publicly-led delivery vehicles, hospitals and other public bodies. Expressions of interest are welcomed from individual Authorities, from groups of more than one Authority and from individual Authorities who wish to apply for more than one role.
There are a number of ways that Public Sector bodies can fund a Public Practice Associate which could include reallocating existing revenue budget. For example, it could be possible to use budgeted funds from a vacant post to create a new position. However, placements can also be funded from outside established core revenue budgets, this could be in the form of increased income, grant funding or from insourcing services previously contracted externally.
We also maintain an ongoing funding tracker that lists other possible sources of placement funding that local authorities are eligible to apply for. You can view this resource here.
We offer a cost-effective route for Authorities to access high-quality built environment and additional expertise. As a not-for-profit our placements are an affordable alternative to recruiting through private agencies and our L&D course helps prepare Associates for working within local government. In addition, if you choose to keep an Associate on beyond the end of their placement we do not charge a retention fee.
If you would like to stay informed about when we will be launching our programme in other regions, sign up to receive an email notification when we open in a new region.
Public Practice offers placements that help build the public sector’s capacity for placemaking – in its broadest sense.
The range of roles covers the full spectrum of built environment expertise, from design to development, data and sustainability. We break this down into nine role types, although in practice roles may bridge a number of categories, or not fit squarely into anyone:
Applications are now open for placement beginning on 1 October 2022 and close 30 May 2022.
Authority Recruitment Process
The first stage of applying to host a placement is by completing an online EOI form. We provide a template word version for you to draft and work with before copying and pasting into the online form when ready.
Successful Authorities will be invited to be assessors on a day-long online assessment centre known as Placement Workshops to meet a selection of the candidates.
Each role will then be considered for matching and those matched meet with their proposed candidates and complete the necessary employment checks before issuing an employment contract to their match.