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Matt Hassall, Head of Estates Central Services for Avanti Schools Trust explains to Sara Bean why a culture change is needed in educational estates management
The Department for Education (DfE) published its Education Estates Strategy in February which set out its 10-year plan of national renewal for schools and colleges in England. The new strategy aims to create an education estate that is: “Safe, suitable, sustainable and sufficiently sized, focused around three strategic pillars: manage the estate, improve and renew the estate, and build and rebuild the estate.”
Unveiling the plans, which include a £38 billion in overall capital investment from 2025-26 to 2029-30, Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said:
“This is about more than buildings – it’s about breaking down barriers to opportunity. Every child deserves to learn in a safe, accessible environment, with the right facilities to meet their needs and help them thrive.”
Phillipson’s comments correspond with those of Matt Hassall, Head of Estates for the multi-academy Avanti Schools Trust who has been writing on LinkedIn about the role of FM and estates management as a critical enabler of educational success rather than a background cost centre. It is a theme he is currently exploring in more depth through a book, due for publication later this year which explores the intersection of culture, leadership, estates, and learning environments.
“Too often”, he explains, “estates teams are positioned as reactive service providers, responding to issues once they become unavoidable. In my experience, when estates are instead embedded as a strategic partner – working collaboratively alongside educational and operational leaders, learning environments genuinely flourish.”
CARETAKER TO CRITICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hassall argues that the traditional image of the caretaker no longer fits the requirements for the modern educational estate. Today’s role is a complex one, including managing HVAC and other mechanical and electrical assets, overseeing contractor frameworks, compliance, asbestos and fire safety, capital planning, sustainability, energy strategy and risk registers. Facilities and estates working within the educational sector are expected to interpret legislation, manage budgets, challenge professionals and make safety-critical decisions daily.
His own first role in education estates, following a diverse career which included construction and health and safety, was as caretaker cover for a primary school trust. He later took on the role of Site Manager, before assuming the Head of Estates role for Avanti School Trust, a group of Hindu designated faith and community schools.
There are 12 Primary and Secondary Avani Schools Trust sites across England, including Harrow, Leicester, Croydon, Redbridge, and Bishop’s Stortford, with a very diverse portfolio, from buildings dating back to the 1600s to modern buildings completed in 2023.
Hassall’s main responsibilities are in leading the entire estate strategy, and as he explains: “No two schools have the same infrastructure or demographic condition. I span compliance, health and safety, asset lifecycle and planning, capital projects, policy and Government Risk Frameworks.
“I’ve been involved in facilities management in previous roles and education is very different. Our goal is to support learning outcomes and when you think about the effect that has on approximately 7,000 pupils, that impact is massive. I’m very clear with my team that is our purpose. We provide the best conditions possible for teaching and learning, as even if you have the best teacher in the world, if they’re in a cold, noisy, poorly lit classroom, then that caps what pupils can achieve.”
MANAGING A SCHOOL ESTATE
While like most FMs, the primary remit for the Trust’s estates team is compliance and safeguarding, one area that differs from other sectors is that of contractor management. Finding contractors that understand the nuances of working in a school and ensuring they can carry out works during the school holidays means managing projects is a lot more complex.
The estates team uses a bank of suppliers and consultants, and regular suppliers must ensure their staff are subject to an enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service which replaced the previous CRB checks) so they’re allowed on site.
Funding is also a huge challenge within the education sector, as Hassall explains: “I’m very aware that every pound we overspend on a project is a pound we’re taking out of the classroom, and sometimes it’s difficult when a school wants something and you must rethink the project, as it’s not viable within the budget.
“But we all want the best for our children and our values across the Trust, whether, estates, marketing, HR, finance, are all aligned on that. This is why we provide clarity and transparency involving all stakeholders at the earliest possible chance and ensure that the school staff know any changes to a project that do have knock on consequences. It’s a balancing act working in education, and it means no two days are the same, there’s always something to do.”
OPERATIONAL TO STRATEGIC
In his posts on LinkedIn Hassall has spelt out succinctly why a culture change is needed in educational estates management; it’s got to shift from a reactive, cost centre-based discipline to one which is aligned with the overall aims and strategy of the organisation.
“It feels like the education sector backed itself into a corner in terms of building management and facilities management, and it almost needs a kickstart to push itself out.”
“At Avanti, we were slowly making the switch here from reactive to strategic and the book is about the change in that role. It’s not a caretaker turning up with a huge set of keys and a coffee mug to open the building.
It’s all about forward planning he adds, for instance if the boilers are ageing but are still functioning, what happens if they break down in the winter, what impact does that have? By replacing them earlier there is no impact on teaching and learning.
Hassall has not only been working hard to shift perceptions and culture within his own Trust but has been working with the Queen Street Group of around 50 educational Trust leaders who meet to share peer support between Multi Academy Trusts with similar values to enhance their effectiveness. Part of that aim is to look at how the Group can help the wider educational estates sector.
“The difficulty is,” he says, “if you’re a small independent school, publicly and local authority maintained, how do you know that your Caretaker, your site staff, are doing what they should be doing and can do what they should be doing? The Queen Street Group are at the very early stages of understanding that problem and working towards coming up with solutions.
“It’s about networking. It’s about collaboration. It’s about helping other schools and using what we’ve learned as a trust to help other trusts to develop.”
PLACE OF LEARNING
One of the most compelling aspects of Hassall’s book proposal is that of the schools being more than physical buildings but spaces where learning takes place, environments that shape behaviour, wellbeing, attendance, staff morale and pupils’ sense of safety and belonging.
“The unfortunate thing at many schools across the sector, is that for some of the pupils, school is the only place they’ll come for warmth and for a hot meal,” he says.
The need to support children with more complex educational needs has also grown. Another recent Government announcement was regarding changes to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, as part of the White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving . This will include high-quality adaptive teaching, calm environments, and early help when needed.
There has been a shift over the last few years to the inclusion of SEND pupils within mainstream schools which logistically, can present a challenge for estates. Currently, a shrinking birth rate has meant some schools have extra spaces that can be renovated but in the longer terms Hassall notes it demands some thoughts on what these safe spaces should look like and how to maximise and optimise the use of these spaces.
He says: “It’s a balance between hitting our fundamental safeguarding obligations and making the classrooms feel homely, comfortable, and places which ensure pupils want to be there.
“We, as a Trust, are looking at how we can optimise inclusion. We’ve been working as part of a Senior Leader Group to understand what goes on in our classrooms. Our CEO, Dr James Biddulph has allowed our estates team to spend the day in a classroom and observe lessons, observe children with high level SEND needs and see what that looks like on the ground. And it’s really shifted my thinking in terms of, ‘how can I support these teachers, how can I support this provision, and how can I support these pupils?’”
FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL ESTATES
Hassall’s hopes that the approach to school estates management can move from a reactive, fix it as you go approach, to a strategic investment in educational success have been raised with the release of Government’s estates’ strategy. As a member of the Queen Street Group, he’s also sat down with Lindsay Harris, Deputy Director, Education Estates Strategy & Policy, Department for Education to discuss the Government’s new strategy going forward.
He says: “We can now see funding 10 years in advance, which is huge for schools in terms of planning. A lot of what I’ve been saying on LinkedIn, and a lot of the theories that underpin the book were reflected in the new Department for Education estate strategy.
He believes measuring success goes beyond meeting frameworks such as the Department for Education’s Good Estate Management for Schools (GEMS), as the overarching ambition should be to provide nurturing learning spaces for future generations.
Within Avanti, he reveals one strong indicator that the culture change is working is the fact that the staff levels have remained stable over the past three years, which is unusual in this sector.
“We know in education, the salary and the remuneration is one of the lowest in facilities management as it is public money and we can’t pay huge bonuses. To have people stay and engage with change is positive.
“We’ve also written a quality assurance framework that aligns with the DfE management standards, along with the regulatory compliance. We use this because we’re so geographically spread out. I can now use staff from one school to go to another site to work on the quality assurance, which sparks conversations.
“These successes may be difficult to measure, but when I see an increase in emails that I’m CC’d into between two premises officers talking about how best to fix a problem. For me, that’s a measurement of success.”
REFERENCES
www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-estates-strategy
