Director of Estates and member of the University Executive
John has been at Cranfield University since 2008, originally employed as the Head of Estates and Site Services, before being promoted to his present role as Director of Estates in September 2011.
He is responsible for the University’s Estates Department, a major support service for the University, responsible for the management, development and maintenance of the University’s buildings, infrastructure and land.
The Estates Department operational area covers a range of activities including buildings and infrastructure maintenance, capital developments, property, estate, utilities and environmental management. Estates also provides central support services such as health and safety, security, sport, telephones, post, and transport, as well as monitoring and identifying the use of space throughout the University.
The University estate comprises approximately 150,000m2 of floor space within 289 buildings on an area of land of 230 hectares and includes a range of buildings from offices, shops, laboratories, hangars and hotels to houses, flats and student halls of residence.
John has worked in a university environment since 2001. At the University of York he was Director of Estates Services, while at the University of Durham he was Assistant Director (Projects and Engineering) and Senior Project Manager. Prior to this, he worked for ICI Eutech as Project Manager/Building Engineer, having started his career in an architectural practice.
He has over 25 years’ experience working in the construction industry and nearly 13 years within the higher education sector, in particular estates and project management, along with several years working in industry in the areas of project management, building engineering, design and architecture.
John is a member of the Chartered Institute of Building and attained his Master's in Business Administration in 2003 from the University of Durham.
