Estates > Central Services

This page describes the Trust's estate management strategy, focusing on sustainability and energy efficiency.

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Estates

The Trust estate comprises of 47 schools and one Central Services site. There are 5 secondary schools and 40 primary schools, one first school and one middle school. The schools are geographically spread across four local authority areas – Durham, Northumberland, Gateshead and Sunderland. We have one remaining primary school in the process of joining the Trust. 

Each of the school buildings vary in age and design with the oldest being over 100 years old and the most recent being built 17 years ago. They all present different challenges with maintenance and repairs, and it is the Estate team’s vision to ensure we provide outstanding facilities to enable every member of our Trust family to deliver outstanding outcomes. Four of our schools have been identified for a complete rebuild as part of the Schools Rebuilding Programme and another two have been earmarked for a rebuild due to the presence of RAAC. 

The Estates team work to ensure that our schools are safe, warm, dry, well maintained and continue to develop them for future generations.   

The key areas of service provision are: 

  • Capital works – working with schools to deliver any changes or enhancements to the buildings. Liaising directly with the Trust appointed professional services provider to plan, design, cost, and oversee the project management of larger capital infrastructure projects. 
  • Assistance with day-to-day repairs and maintenance on school sites. 
  • Management of building/H&S related Trust contracts. 
  • Statutory building compliance – Working with each school to ensure that they are completing mandatory checks and prioritising health and safety within their estate. 
  • Health and safety – Working directly with schools and the Trust appointed H&S consultant to ensure high standards of health and safety in each school. This includes annual Fire Risk Assessment, Emergency Lights and Health and Safety Audits. The Team provides Trust approved policies and risk assessments for the schools to bespoke to their individual school settings. 
  • Ensuring that school condition funds are strategically invested. 

The Estates team comprises of two Estates Cluster Managers, who each support 24 schools within the Trust, overseen by the Director of Estates. All three have a wealth, of experience and knowledge in the education sector as well as the construction industry. 

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