Worth School - Maintenance Manager

Worth School - Maintenance Manager

MAINTENANCE MANAGER CANDIDATE INFORMATION PACK

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WELCOME FROM THE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

DEAR CANDIDATE,

I am delighted that you have shown an interest in this new role which is being set up at a pivotal moment for our organisation. Worth is a unique place that provides first-rate education alongside 1500 years of Benedictine tradition. Our values provide a firm foundation for all we do at Worth, humility, silence, worship, community, stewardship and service. The Worth Abbey estate is spread over 500 acres of beautiful Sussex countryside and is varied in its architectural and operational uses. It includes listed 19th century buildings which are now used as boarding houses and reception rooms, a 20th century listed church building and our newest building, a £6.25m Sixth Form Centre and Library. It also consists of school buildings, religious buildings, farm buildings and domestic buildings while the grounds include ornamental lawns, a small golf course, woodland and extensive playing fields. Reporting to the Estates Bursar, you will manage the maintenance team and contractors to manage proactive maintenance works are carried out on time and in budget as well as ensuring a high level of compliance is adhered to. You will also be expected to work with the Estates Bursar with developing and implementing the estates strategy and daily services of the site. This is a hugely exciting time to be joining Worth; the school has recently had a £50m masterplan largely approved by the local planners and is now moving into delivering some capital projects. The Abbey is working to develop its masterplan. We are committed to sustainability at Worth and have recently implemented a £2.3m biomass energy centre for our heating and hot water and are looking to develop our electricity generation options on site, in addition you will play an active role in supporting the sustainability agenda. To succeed you will need to be a focused and driven maintenance manager, who has the ability to work within a high foot fall environment and able to work flexibly with the Monastic community, non-executive governors and advisers, and the school leadership team.

I very much look forward to welcoming you to Worth

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OVERVIEW

Since 1933 the Worth Abbey site has been home to a community of Roman Catholic monks who follow the Rule of St Benedict. Their regular worship provides the heartbeat to life at Worth and their commitment to ‘welcome the stranger with the love of Christ’ has made the Abbey a place that attracts people from far and wide. The site is also home to a wide range of activities that have their roots in the work of the monastic community, including an independent school, Worth parish, a retreat centre, social action at home and abroad, a farm and livery, and a lettings/facilities hire programme.

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The Worth estate comprises some 500 acres of beautiful countryside between London and Brighton, and just 15 minutes from Gatwick Airport. It is set on a ridge of the High Weald with stunning views towards the South Downs. The variety of buildings and grounds is impressive, being based around the original Victorian mansion that now houses some offices and boys’ boarding houses. In terms of building stock, there is everything from a state-of-the- art Sixth Form Centre to a Victorian barn that was converted into the arts centre, as wel as staff accommodation. The Abbey Church lies physically and metaphorically at the heart of the campus and is a Grade 2 listed building, designed by Francis Pollen.

The grounds also include:

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Eight-hole golf course Floodlit astropitch Tennis/netball courts

9 rugby pitches

3 cricket pitches (and two cricket pavilions)

Forest school area

Woods

Quiet garden with pond

Small pinetum

Monks’ graveyard Large public car park

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Livery stables

WILDLIFE The natural blessings of the Worth site include its wildlife. There are a range of birds including Canada geese, kits and a goshawk that are regular visitors, a herd of deer and other toads, frogs and the like. There are also various protections in specific places for bats and dormice.

ABBEY/MONASTIC COMMUNITY Worth Abbey is a community of some 20 Roman Catholic

Benedictine monks, dedicated to truly seeking God and following the guidance of the Rule of St Benedict. Monks seek to live out the Gospel not as isolated individuals (modern individualism is foreign to Benedict’s way of thinking), but as members of a community.

SITE DEVELOPMENTS A new-build facility, the Spencer building, was opened at the start of the Summer Term 2022. The building offers a new school library, Sixth Form Centre with classrooms and offices for staff as well as a student common room, and a large multi-purpose space. The building has been made possible by a generous gift from alumnus Baron Spencer of Alresford. A new Biomass plant which provides heat and hot water to the School went live in October last year. Not only has it given good, reliable heating and plenty of hot water, it has also meant that we haven’t used a single drop of heating oil over the winter. Major projects for Summer 2022 include work on the Church roof and the transformation of the top floor of the teaching block classrooms and new IT Suite. There is also a range of maintenance work underway around the site. Longer term, next on the list for School development will be a new sports complex and then a new STEM centre. 6

ECO WORTH

Worth is pushing forward with its eco credentials. Concern for the environment is spurred on by pupil enthusiasm; the Head Boy and Head Girl lead the Common Home Committee which is a group of pupils and staff who explore and put forward practical solutions. Recent years have seen the introduction of better recycling, a reduction of single use plastic and ongoing discussions regarding the source and impact of our food.

SCHOOL Worth is known for offering education with heart and soul. We are a friendly school with academic ambition, increasingly over-subscribed to join our community of 640 boys and girls aged from 11 to 18. Worth offers GCSE/iGCSE, pre-IB in Year 11, A Levels or IB in Sixth Form, all taught by inspirational teachers. Pastoral care is outstanding and the co-curricular programme is packed with over 132 activities on offer. The School welcomes pupils of all faiths and none.

SCHOOL ETHOS

The School has six values which we live by:

Community – choose community

Humility – celebrate others

Stewardship – leave it better than you found it

Silence – listen more than you talk

Worship – have an attitude of gratitude

Service – serve your heart out

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HISTORY In the early 1930s, Abbot John Chapman of St Gregory’s, Downside in Somerset, was looking for more adequate buildings to which to move his Junior schools. Some 30 locations were examined before deciding on a large country house called Paddockhurst. The house was formerly owned by the late Lord Cowdray who had died in 1927. The monks established a prep school in 1933. During the WWII the School evacuated to Somerset and the Worth Estate was taken over by Canadian troops. For the latter stages of the War, Worth Abbey was a significant location for intelligence gathering and planning ahead of the Normandy landings as the Allied Forces sought a conclusion to the conflict. In April 1944 the 8th Corps, under the command of General Sir Richard O’Connor, was moved from its headquarters in Yorkshire to Sussex to plan for the invasion of D-Day, which took place on 6th June 1944. It was during this time that both Montgomery and Eisenhower visited Worth. In 1957 Worth Abbey became independent from Downside and two years later in 1959 the Senior School was founded. In the 1990s Worth became the first English Benedictine school to take both boarding and day pupils, and the important transition to co- education began in 2008, with the first boarding and day girls accepted into the Sixth Form. Girls were welcomed into the lower years in 2010 and by September 2012 the School was fully co-educational in all years. The School has had a lay head since 2002 with the Abbot being President of the Board of Governors. Selected members of the monastic community also serve as Governors or as House Chaplains.

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JOB DESCRIPTION

MAINTENANCE MANAGER ROLE SUMMARY Reports to: Estates Bursar Direct Reports : Three carpenters, electrician, plumber, general labourer (one of the team will be the team leader, one will be an apprentice).

The principal roles of the Maintenance Manager are:

• Manage the team and contractors in ensuring that a programme of compliance checks and proactive maintenance work in line with the service level agreement and financial constraints. • Manage the team and contractors in ensuring that repairs following damage/wear and tear occurs in line with the service level agreement and financial constraints. • Support the Estates Bursar in developing and implementing a strategy for improving the built estate in line with the priorities and financial constraints of the School and Abbey.

RESPONSIBILITIES STRATEGY

• Support the Estate Bursar in producing and keeping up to date an estate strategy. • Agree an appropriate SLA for the Maintenance function with customers, and make recommendations for improvement. • Ensure that an appropriate Fire Safety Policy is in place.

LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT

• Manage the work of the maintenance team and contractors to ensure that buildings remain compliant with relevant legislation, that a programme of proactive maintenance is implemented and that reactive repairs are undertaken in a timely manner. • Report on performance of the team against the agreed SLA. • Work closely with the Commercial and Hospitality Bursar to minimise the impact of maintenance and improvement activities on the charitable and commercial use of the site. • Work with the Household Team to ensure that soft furnishings are appropriately cleaned and repaired.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Where directed by the Estates Bursar, manage and lead projects reporting on delivery to the Estates Bursar, Assurance Director, COO, Governors Resources Committee and Buildings Advisory Group.

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FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

• Work with the Purchasing Manager to ensure that an appropriate list of preferred suppliers and contractors is in place at all times. • Manage the day-to-day maintenance budget and any improvement budgets delegated to you by the Estates Bursar.

COMPLIANCE

• Be the Fire Safety Officer for Worth School and Abbey • Be responsible for safeguarding compliance by the maintenance team and contractors. • Champion health and safety across the maintenance team and contractors. • At all times work closely with the Assurance Director to ensure that activities are in-line with the group’s risk appetite and that a central >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14

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