Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Sections
  • Topics
Features
Sections
Features
Interviews
Case Studies
Workplace services

Academic exercise

Open-access content Tuesday 1st July 2014 — updated 4.00pm, Tuesday 26th May 2020
Petchey Academy 2

Six years after we first profiled London's Petchey Academy, FM Alan Gilbert is still in the role of FM - and he's not the only Gilbert on site, as Martin Read reports.


19 June 2014

Facilities management at the Petchey Academy in Hackney, London, carries a strong familial thread.


FM Alan Gilbert was in charge at the start of the academy's life six years ago and has been in charge there ever since. Brother Les is now assistant FM, while Les's son Luke recently left to take up a post as assistant FM at a local school. Alan's son Lewis is taking an apprenticeship in FM and has a placement at the academy. It's truly a case of keeping FM in the family.

The story hinges on Alan's relationship with the students and the huge efforts the FM department makes to cater for what is a diverse spread of ethnicity. Alan and his team deck out the academy's main atrium to celebrate various religious festivals. They are not asked to do this but choose to because they believe this leads to a multidisciplinary culture at the academy.

Gilbert's involvement includes specifying and procuring equipment, including the recent investment for the installation of 500 Craftsman lockers to Alan's specification. The lockers needed to be as unobtrusive as possible and to be essentially vandal-proof with hinges recessed and locks presented flush to door surfaces to make unauthorised entry extremely difficult. 

Carillion originally had the contract to maintain the air handling units, fire alarms, and other equipment. But that activity was recently brought in-house, with maintenance contracts for local contractors maintained by Gilbert.

But Gilbert's specification for lockers is only part of a management and maintenance culture that fosters student loyalty to the Petchey brand, which embodies high values of behaviour and respect for staff and peers.

And then there are the 'other' Gilberts. Brother Les now takes on more of the day-to-day operational activity, including managing the cleaning team, to allow Alan to take on some of the more strategic work, dealing with contractors and academy staff. Then there's Lewis and Luke - Alan and Les's sons respectively. Both are already following in their fathers' footsteps.

Petchey Academy 3


Lewis Gilbert says: "While still at school here at the academy I worked a few half-term facilities jobs part-time, doing a bit of gardening and plumbing. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to do an apprenticeship in FM (which he is doing through the Westminster Kingsway College - he hopes to complete the apprenticeship within the next year).

"I'd like to stay on here," continues Lewis, "and then hopefully go into FM elsewhere."

"And there's another family tie," says father Alan. "Les's son Luke also came here three years ago in a similar position. He was only 19 at the time. I put both Les and Luke on an NVQ Level 3 apprenticeship pilot at Westminster Kingsway and both passed."

Since then, Luke has gone on to take up an FM position at another local school, gained an IOSH accreditation and is enjoying his early years in the profession. As for Lewis, says Alan: "The plan is for him to gain all of the knowledge that Les and I have accumulated here."

When FM World first visited to profile the Petchey Academy in 2008, it only catered for pupils in years seven, eight and nine. But since 2012 the academy has catered for children from seven through to 18 years of age. 

When the sixth form was first introduced, the area designated for its use was quickly deemed unsuitable so the site of an undercover car park was used for a new building developed exclusively for the sixth form. 

"The new building has allowed our sixth form to develop a separate identity to the main building," says Alan Gilbert. "It has a separate entrance so students can come and go separately from pupils in other age groups, and it allows them to study privately."

The academy also recently opened its new entrance hall, an extension of the original building. The hall projects a more secure and professional presence for students and visitors.

"FM is not all about nuts and bolts. For us it is about making connections with our students as well. They're our core. And for them we like to go beyond our remit."

Indeed, the Gilberts' work for their students extends way beyond the typical cleaning, security and maintenance activity. "We like to ensure that there's a sense of occasion," says Alan. "Last year, our Christmas theme took three months of planning. We based it on The Snowman, and hung up more than 2,000 snowballs with snowflakes and Christmas lights, together with a huge snowman that our department created. It took us 16 hours to put up over a weekend. But the impact it had on staff and students was worth all the effort."

Things have certainly changed. "In our first year we just had a tree," says Alan. "Next year they're going to wrap up and suspend me from the ceiling," jokes Les.

The Gilberts are always trying to come up with new themes, and are currently embracing the World Cup. "We'll be doing something for Eid in November," says Alan.  

Petchey Academy case study: BIFM members can read FM World's original case study at tinyurl.com/petcheyacademy

Also filed in
Topics
Features
Content
Features
Interviews
Case Studies
Workplace services

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Head of Property & Facilities

London (Central)
Up to £54,000 + Generous Benefits & Opportunities
Reference
59383

Head of Building Performance & Environment

London (Central)
Up to £70,000 + Great opportunities
Reference
59382

Facilities Manager

London (Central)
Circa £50,000 per annum depending on experience
Reference
59380
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2023 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ