Paul Higgins

I am extremely proud and privileged to be Head of Estates for the Stowe Valley Multi Academy Trust. Taking the Estates lead for 3 Secondary and 6 Primary Schools in Warwickshire, overseeing two complete new school builds from the ground up to their completion, with a 3rd new build due to be signed off in early 2023. In my most previous role I was an Estates & Facilities Manager for the Princethorpe Foundation, managing an Estates Department consisting of 22 multi-faceted and diverse team members across 3 independent school sites. Responsible for compliance, housekeeping, events, grounds, lets, maintenance, PPM’s, porterage and security, whilst also overseeing our contract cleaners and contract catering bought-in services. Monitoring and identifying key pinch points within the workings of a school environment, restructuring and reshaping the team by offering operational support and increasing productivity, delivering a flexible, seamless and unobtrusive service to support the Foundations time sensitive daily academic timetable. Responsible for managing the budgetary control over the Estates Departments OPEX and CAPEX annual spend. Working closely with and supporting the Foundations Health & Safety Manager on compliance and health & safety matters. Previously a Maintenance Manager for a 4 star country house hotel, possessing great leadership and strong communication skills. I pride myself on my meticulous attention to detail and charged both myself and my well drilled team with fulfilling maintenance tasks correctly the first time and to an exacting standard. I developed a wealth of knowledge in this role, far reaching from PPM, budgetary controls, health & safety, fire safety, statutory compliance, through to people development and management. These were the building blocks for where I am professionally and the high level I operate at. I have developed a healthy interest in the fabric of buildings and their upkeep. This spans back 16 years to when I renovated my first property, followed by a further 4 properties thereafter, all undertaken in addition to and alongside running my own print management business at the same time. On a personal level I am very customer facing, engaging and like to lead by example, supporting and building relationships with my team from in front of the desk, sleeves rolled up on the shop floor, as opposed to from behind a desk. I am able to maintain a positive and calm outlook at all times, no matter how time sensitive or pressurised a situation I am presented with.