Behind the Scenes at Bancroft’s – Leszek Chudzik, Director of Operations

This summer, the much-anticipated Sixth Form rebuild has been at the forefront of developments at Bancroft’s. Now that the space is ready for pupils to enjoy, we thought it would be a great opportunity to feature the person behind it all—our Director of Operations, Leszek Chudzik.

Les first joined Bancroft’s in January 2019 as a Maintenance Manager. Since then, his role has grown, first to Operations Manager and now to Director of Operations.

Firstly, we asked Les to describe his day to day responsibilities.

“I am responsible for everything from a broken socket or broken handle on the window to major projects like refurbishment or building buildings, and then services like water, gas, electricity, and compliance. Health and Safety, fire grounds, cleaning, and partially catering.”

Les’ career path to Bancroft’s has been an interesting one. Prior to joining us, he worked as a Maintenance Manager at the Royal Institute of British Architects for three and a half years and also worked at the University of Arts.

When asked about the biggest challenge of his role, Les replied, “Working with old buildings and fitting in projects and focusing on improvements, it’s tricky to say the least, so it requires a lot of planning and thinking.”

Despite the challenges, Les finds the positive feedback from staff and pupils to be the most rewarding aspect of his work.

“If people are coming back with positive feedback, that’s reassuring.”

Of course, the biggest project on everyone’s mind is the Sixth Form rebuild.

We were excited to find out the details from Les on all the building works that took place over the summer break. Les explained that the planning began far earlier.

“It looks like it was just a summer project, but from my perspective, the Sixth Form project started in October last year.”

The idea for the rebuild came from feedback received from outgoing students and surveys. The goal? To create a more attractive space for Sixth Formers to work and relax.

“We had consultations on what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. Getting the four contractors actually on board to have a look at the space, to survey the space, to come up with designs—that took a good part of six months.”

Of course, challenges were faced during this process. Les explained that the furniture for the Sixth Form is made in Italy; however, deliveries were delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. “Because of excessive heat this summer, they shut the production for four weeks.”

Despite the challenges, Les believes the Sixth Form rebuild has been a success. “I think we successfully converted the entire catering provision for the Sixth Form.” He also shared that vending machines and panels for hot and cold drinks, which will be accessible 24/7, will soon be added—a helpful feature for pupils staying after school hours to study.

As for what’s next at Bancroft’s? Les kept quiet about future initiatives: “Can’t tell!” he teased. We suggest you keep an eye on our socials for some exciting projects in store!

It was a great opportunity to find out more behind the scenes at Bancroft’s and we would like to thank Les for sparing his time to have an interview with us.