Paul joined SDBE in December 2016 as the Buildings and Capital Programmes Manager. He has previously worked in construction project management for both Brent (2006-2009) and Richmond councils (2011-2016), most recently working on the latter council’s school expansion & maintenance programs. Paul has a Post Graduate Diploma in Information Management and in 2013 gained a BTEC Advanced Level 3 in Construction. Prior to becoming a project manager, Paul trained as a librarian and worked for twelve years in a number of sectors; including property consultancy, higher education, and early years.

Paul’s principal role at SDBE is to support schools in the management of the educational estate (land and buildings) in their care. He works closely with headteachers, governors and their building consultants. He also works closely with our partners in national and local Government, including the DfE, ESFA and Church of England Education Office and with other funding bodies, such as BEIS, Salix and Sports England.

The SDBE is also responsible for the Voluntary Controlled School Condition Allocation (VA-SCA) for the capital maintenance of many of our schools. Paul advises and assists the SDBE’s VA-SCA committee on the spending of this capital grant and oversees a multi-million-pound annual school capital maintenance programme.

Paul oversees the Board’s investment portfolio of buildings, which is rented to a mixture of commercial and residential tenants. Lastly, Paul provides advice and training for headteachers and governors on the essential aspects of educational estates management.

He has a particular interest in climate justice, supporting schools to achieve a balance between the carbon emitted into the atmosphere, and the carbon removed; e.g., helping schools reduce their carbon footprint to “net-zero”. Paul was a governor of two community primary schools in Harrow for seven years and Chair of Governors of Pinner Park Junior school for three years.