Brian Dudley – Site Manager

What is the difference between a caretaker and a site manager?

There is a higher level of responsibility in the site manager role. Along with hands-on maintenance, security and managing the cleaning team, as Site Manager, I am responsible for partnerships with contractors, record keeping and compliance.

How did you get into it?

Worked for a company for 26 years as a process engineer and then in production planning before being made redundant.

The skills I’d learnt in my previous roles such as supervising, training, improving production, reporting, and ensuring health and safety protocol is followed were transferrable to the role of a site manager.

What does it take to be a successful site manager?

A Site Manager must be reliable, flexible, an independent thinker and have the ability to use their initiative to identify and solve problems.  

What do you enjoy about the role?

I enjoy working with children, making sure they learn in the best possible environment. It is extremely rewarding to know my role makes a genuine difference. I also enjoy the variety of my role – from general maintenance to delivering training and mentoring apprentices.

Each school is different and presents its challenges, I’ve worked in a school which needed a lot of care and work to bring it up to standard. It was my job to put ‘the heart back into the school’. I’ve also worked in a brand-new school with no systems for compliance or contractors.