Diocese of York / Schools & Young People / Schools and Education / School Buildings / Looking after your school buildings

The main areas of building-related advice and support available from the Board of Education are as follows:

The Legal Framework of Building Ownership
Maintaining and Improving the Building
Insurance (VA schools only)
Lettings and use of Premises
Financial Administration of Church Schools and Charity Law

While most of the advice and support will be via telephone or e-mail, site visits or attendance at governing body meetings can also be arranged where required.

Total Property Management

As a member of DBE Services we are now able to offer a fully developed and proven property management scheme to our schools. The level of service available provides schools with the option to opt out of the Local Authority’s maintenance service, as the scheme provides emergency cover as well as regular maintenance and advice on development projects. The basic elements of the scheme are as follows:

The setting up and management of all service contracts for the school buildings as required by legislation and Health and Safety requirements, including regular tendering of contracts to ensure best value.
Professional support and advice on all building related issues, provided by consultants with detailed knowledge of your school.
24 hour, 365 day contact point for emergency repairs, with guaranteed response times relative to the nature of the emergency, at pre agreed competitively tendered rates.
An out of hours monitoring system for intruder alarms together with a key holder service as required.
Setting up and monitoring of school ‘Log Book’ to include the recording of all servicing details, the school asbestos register, statutory reports.
School retains funding and expenditure is only made once it has been authorised by the school.

The flexibility inherent on the scheme allows schools to retain the services of any firm currently providing services, as these firms will have the opportunity to link in with the consortium as consultants.

TPM ensures that school Governors and Headteachers have a single point of contact for all building related issues, no matter how large or small. Day to day issues can be planned in to larger capital projects to avoid unnecessary cost associated with non-responsive revenue repairs. This in turn enables Governors and Headteachers to undertake more robust financial planning of their building allocations and therefore maximise the funds available to them.

There's more on TPM here.