Most people might look to ease off in the years leading up to retirement, but not Peter Jackson, Estates Manager at The King's School, who was desperate to nail the biggest job of his life.

Retiring at the end of August, Peter, who lives in Macclesfield, has worked in a Californian ski resort, at BBC Broadcasting House and for Macclesfield Borough Council as a Facilities Manager, but nothing matched managing the relocation of two schools into one during the Covid crisis.

As King's left behind their former twin sites at Cumberland Street and Fence Avenue, to move into the new £60 million site on Alderley Road, someone had to plan and execute the relocation. Peter, who in his spare time is a highly talented mathematical abstract painter, interweaving complex and ornate pattern work, was given the job.

"Frankly, I don't know how we did it, but I'd always promised I would do that job before I retired. I wasn't going to leave my old school in the lurch. I think there must have been 5,000 packing crates from the two schools all boxed up by my team of four caretakers and two maintenance people and then there were hundreds and hundreds of deliveries from suppliers to the new school to be arranged and unloaded."

"After that, we all had to learn all about the new 80-acre campus, the facilities, their lay out and how to operate all the modern technology that goes into buildings like these and naturally the snagging work, which with a job like this, was simply inevitable." 

"Now we are here it is much easier. The buildings have the very latest facilities and the day-to-day running is far simpler. At the old sites, I often I had to think now just how are we going to repair this without shutting down the whole school." 

A former King's pupil, who left aged 16 in 1976 to complete an electrical engineering apprenticeship at Piggott and Whitfield in Stockport, Peter and his team are responsible for day-to-day operations, such as preparing for assemblies, musical, sporting and other cultural events, parents evenings and social functions, as well as the pre-planned repair and maintenance of all the facilities. 

"You have to know a bit of absolutely everything," he smiled, "I might have trained as an electrical engineer but in my 45 years working life I have learned anything and everything about looking after older and modern buildings." 

Married to Stephanie with two adult children who have now both finished university, Peter wants to travel to Japan with his wife, "I keep 31 bonsai trees," and also develop further his remarkable art work and sculpture. 

"I have loved working for King's and feel immensely proud to have been given the privilege of being a custodian of what is one of Macclesfield's great institutions with a 519-year history. It's been wonderful to work in and around the children. I am not a teacher, but just the pupils’ presence makes you feel you are doing a really worthwhile job."