About ATG Entertainment
ATG Entertainment, formerly Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), is a major live entertainment organisation that owns and operates theatres, cinemas, conference venues and performance spaces across the UK, the United States and Australia. Its estate ranges from historic theatres to modern venues and the operational support facilities behind them, and the audience experience depends on all of them being well run.
Theatre estates are demanding to manage. Heritage building fabric carries a heavier maintenance burden and more constraints on how work can be carried out, while a live performance schedule leaves limited windows for planned works and little tolerance for reactive failures.
Our work with ATG
ATG asked Maxwell Stephens to recruit an experienced Property Manager to support the operational performance and development of its Northern portfolio.
- Property Manager, Northern portfolio (multiple venues)
Property Manager, Northern portfolio
The brief
The Property Manager acts as the link between central property functions and venue-based engineering and maintenance teams, and provides technical support and reporting to senior leadership. Responsibilities included:
- day-to-day property and facilities operations, with planned and reactive maintenance programmes
- building fabric and engineering infrastructure
- capital works and refurbishment projects
- maintenance budgets, procurement and value for money
- statutory compliance and health and safety
- lease, licence and landlord obligations
- contractor performance, asset management and lifecycle planning
- accurate property records and maintenance data
The challenge
Roles between a central function and site-based teams often fail because they are recruited for one side only: a technically strong candidate who cannot manage upwards, or a commercially fluent one who loses the confidence of venue engineers. The postholder also has to balance immediate operational priorities against long-term property strategy, across a dispersed estate where building failures are visible to audiences straight away.
Our approach
We worked with ATG's leadership team to understand the estate and the objectives behind the appointment, then ran a targeted search through our property and facilities management network rather than a broad advertising campaign. We prioritised multi-site property and facilities experience, heritage and operational buildings, capital projects and lifecycle asset management, building services and engineering, procurement and budget control, and customer-facing environments. Shortlisted candidates were assessed against the estate as it actually operates: property management, capital delivery, compliance, contractor management, budgetary control, data and reporting, stakeholder engagement at venue and central level, and strategic planning.
The outcome
Maxwell Stephens placed an experienced Property Manager with a background in property operations, maintenance management and capital project delivery. They took responsibility for the Northern portfolio, covering building services and maintenance across the Northern venues, capital projects, budgets and procurement, statutory compliance and the wider rollout of CAFM, and became part of ATG's property team, working with venue teams, technical operations and central property functions.
Why it worked
Multi-venue property roles in customer-facing estates reward candidates who understand both the building services and the business they serve. This search defined the role as the link it actually is and weighted heritage experience, capital delivery and commercial control equally, rather than settling for depth in one and hoping for the rest.
If you are recruiting a property, estates or facilities role across a complex, multi-site portfolio, talk to Maxwell Stephens about defining the brief and reaching candidates who can deliver it.
Planning a similar appointment?
If you are recruiting for a similar role, our team can help you define the brief, reach the right candidates and manage the process through to appointment.