Vita Partners is Asia-Pacific’s largest pan-regional pure-play life science, innovation and R&D real estate platform, backed Australian headquartered multinational real estate company Lendlease and leading US private equity growth investor Warburg Pincus. The platform focuses on investing, acquiring, developing, constructing, managing, and operating real estate projects in fast-growing life sciences, innovation and R&D real estate markets in Asia-Pacific. The company operates within two main segments – a high-barrier-to-entry life sciences project construction management business and a specialized investment management business. Since the 2000s, the project construction management business has worked on over 200 projects in Asia-Pacific for more than 100 blue-chip life sciences and pharmaceutical companies, with many repeat clients. The investment management business currently manages ~SGD 2 billion of AUM on behalf of institutional investors, with strong aspirations for growth within the region.
Responsibilities
Cost Planning & Estimation
- Lead the Function: Drive and manage the overall cost planning function for the business.
- Lifecycle Estimates: Prepare, develop, and maintain robust cost plans across all project stages, including order-of-magnitude estimates, elemental cost plans, pre-tender budgets based on user requirements/design specifications, and post-contract cost reports.
- Tender Pricing: Generate accurate, well-substantiated cost estimates for commercial tenders, budget costing exercises, and tender proceedings across a broad range of life sciences and pharmaceutical project types.
- Commercial Benchmarking: Perform rigorous cost evaluations and benchmarking to validate contractor and subcontractor pricing, ensuring value for money and alignment with market rates.
- Procurement Support: Support the strategic appointment of contractors through thorough analysis of tender submissions, bid comparisons, and negotiation support. Advise on procurement strategies, contractual arrangements, and suggest tenderers alongside potential pre-qualification criteria.
Contract Administration & Cost Control
- Works Administration: Administer works in progress, ensuring strict compliance with engineering specifications, drawings, and contract documents.
- Financial Tracking: Develop construction-stage elemental cost plans, prepare project cash flow forecasts, and provide approximate estimates of future cost increases or variations.
- Progress Valuations: Value monthly work progress, assess construction compliance, and recommend appropriate interim payments for contractors and subcontractors.
- Reporting & Analytics: Provide ongoing commercial advice, monthly financial statements, and cost-to-complete analyses to maintain effective cost control during construction. Submit final cost statements and detailed cost analysis under the contract.
- Accounts & Closeout: Prepare interim and final statements of accounts, warranties, bonds, and collateral documentation. Settle final accounts with contractors/subcontractors and certify final payments.
- Dispute Resolution: Assist the project management team in dispute resolution, claims analysis, and arbitration/litigation support.
Design Change Management & Variation Control
- Change Evaluation: Lead the cost management of design development. Accurately identify, evaluate, and price design changes from initial concept and tender drawings through to final construction issue documents.
- Variation Governance: Maintain a structured variation register and ensure all scope changes or variations are captured, assessed, valued, and reported to the project management and client teams in a timely, transparent manner, accounting for material or labour fluctuations.
- Scope Optimisation: Provide proactive commercial advice during design development to minimise scope creep and optimise cost outcomes without compromising project quality or GMP compliance requirements.
Research, Analysis & Benchmarking
- Database Management: Conduct in-depth market research and analysis to develop, maintain, and continuously improve internal cost databases, unit rate libraries, and elemental cost benchmarks relevant to life sciences and pharmaceutical construction.
- Data Integration: Analyse survey data, engineering drawings, specifications, procurement records, and historical project data to inform and substantiate cost estimates.
- Commercial Intelligence: Provide cost intelligence insights to support business development, feasibility studies, and client advisory engagements.
Commercial Strategy & Value Engineering
- Value Engineering: Recommend, develop, and evaluate alternative cost options and value engineering opportunities across design, procurement, and construction phases. Balance cost reduction against technical and regulatory requirements.
- Tendering Strategy: Contribute to the development and implementation of commercial strategies for tendering, procurement, and contract award. This includes packaging strategies and market engagement plans.
- Risk Mitigation: Support risk identification and quantification, providing commercial input to project risk registers, risk management plans, and contingency strategies.
Reporting, Governance & Compliance
- Regulatory Compliance: Ensure all cost planning and administration activities comply with Vita's internal commercial governance frameworks, client requirements, and applicable regulatory standards for GMP-regulated facilities.
- Continuous Improvement: Provide input into the continuous improvement of Vita's commercial policies, processes, templates, and best-practice guidelines across the PCM division.
- Audit Trails: Maintain thorough and auditable records of all commercial decisions, assumptions, correspondence, and approvals throughout the project lifecycle.
Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration
- Trusted Advisor: Build and maintain productive working relationships with clients, contractors, subcontractors, design consultants, and internal project teams, serving as a trusted commercial advisor throughout the project lifecycle.
- Consultant Management: Coordinate directly with external cost consultants and specialist advisors, managing deliverable quality, consistency, and alignment with Vita's commercial standards.
- Commercial Representation: Represent Vita's commercial interests in client-facing meetings, design reviews, tender interviews, and post-contract negotiations with professionalism and authority.
- Mentorship: Provide coaching, mentoring, and technical guidance to junior commercial team members, fostering a high-performance, knowledge-sharing culture within the PCM commercial function.
Knowledge, Skills & Experience
Educational & Professional Qualifications
- Degree: Degree-qualified in Quantity Surveying, Civil or Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
- Professional Accreditation: Membership of, or active progress towards, a recognised professional body such as RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), AIQS (Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors), or equivalent is strongly preferred.
- Postgraduate Education: Postgraduate qualifications in Construction Management, Project Management, or Engineering Economics are advantageous.
Work Experience
- 8 to 12 years of substantive, post-graduation experience in construction cost planning and estimation, with demonstrated progression in seniority and scope of responsibility. Candidates with relevant experience and advanced commercial leadership capability will be considered at the Cost Planning Manager (CPM) level.
- Proven experience independently managing cost planning across complex, multi-disciplinary, large-scale construction or fit-out projects from feasibility through to practical completion.
- Experience within the life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or advanced manufacturing sectors is highly regarded. Candidates with GMP-regulated project exposure will be prioritized.
- Demonstrated proficiency in EPCM project delivery methodologies, including involvement across engineering, procurement, and construction management phases.
Technical Knowledge & Skills
- Construction Economics: Advanced knowledge of construction cost planning principles, elemental cost analysis, and construction economics as applied to complex industrial and specialized facilities.
- Multi-Disciplinary Engineering: Sound understanding of engineering disciplines relevant to life sciences projects, including mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP), process, civil, structural, and architectural works.
- Regulatory Knowledge: Familiarity with GMP regulatory frameworks and the implications for design, specification, procurement, and construction cost within cleanroom and pharmaceutical manufacturing environments.
- Document Interpretation: Demonstrated ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, specifications, schedules, and contract documentation across multiple design disciplines.
- Industry Software: Working proficiency with industry-standard estimating and cost management software and tools.
