Spectrum on site: the former pupil’s firm power-washed graffiti and undertook other repair works – all for no fee
Pupils at the world-famous BRIT School in Selhurst returned for the start of their new academic year this week to find the place having undergone a bit of a facelift.
A former pupil at the school, Lucian Ivan, had returned over the summer holidays to carry out repair, cleaning and maintenance services for the school through his business, Spectrum Specialist Support. The work carried out is reckoned to be valued at £40,000. But Ivan did it all for nothing, giving back to the school that he loves.
Doing the right thing: former BRIT pupil Lucian Ivan
“It’s easy to feel frustrated when wider systems leave gaps in something as fundamental as education,” Ivan said.
“But we still have a choice about how we respond. It’s not just about waiting for big top-down changes. When we see gaps, we still have the right to take things into our own hands when something is not right.
“I believe that if someone or something has helped you get to where you are, it is your duty and responsibility to give back when you are able to do so.
“The BRIT School helped me, and now I can involve my company and use what we do every day to help the school.
“This summer, that is exactly what Spectrum has done.”
Last month, Spectrum’s team carried out a programme of external repair, cleaning and preventative maintenance across the BRIT School’s main building and annex, including cleaning sections of the façade, removing graffiti, replacing defective flashing on flat-roof areas, repairing damaged render, installing snow guards and securing external metal window grilles.
“The works are intended to ensure the most urgent and important things that need doing are addressed and to make sure the school is looking its best,” a spokesperson for Spectrum said.
Spectrum carried out the works without the need for scaffolding, but using the firm’s rope-access, pole-system and mobile-platform system.
“Our students deserve spaces that look and feel as inspiring as the work they create inside them. Tackling complex roof repairs, facade cleaning and window safety maintenance on a campus of our size requires serious specialist skill that is both logistically and financially demanding,” said the BRIT School’s Louise Cooper.
“Having Spectrum take care of this entirely pro bono frees up vital resources to focus on teaching. For Lucian to bring his own business’s expertise back to his old school — saving us significant time, disruption, and cost — is both deeply moving and incredibly generous.
Clean start: a worker from Spectrum sprucing up the building
“We are immensely grateful to Lucian and the Spectrum team for giving us such a brilliant start to the new academic year,”
Ivan said: “The BRIT School gave me confidence, support and opportunity, and it continues to give that start to young people today. I genuinely do not believe I would have had the confidence or the support to build the life and business I have today without it.
“It is why giving back now feels like a responsibility rather than simply a gesture.
“I want our contribution to point people back towards the school, what it makes possible and why it is worth supporting.
“Giving back could mean mentoring a student, offering work experience, sharing contacts, volunteering professional skills, providing equipment, making a small donation or simply helping the school reach the right people.
“The amount is not the point. The point is choosing to do something when you can.”
The BRIT School is a state school, opened in 1991, which provides specialist creative education to more than 1,400 pupils. It has been judged “Outstanding” in all areas – including conventional academic subjects – at its last Ofsted inspection.
The school reckons it needs to raise more than £2.5million annually to bridge the gap between core state funding and the cost of delivering its industry-level arts training.
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If Croydon’s failed mayor wasn’t spending the council’s limited funds on himself and an expanding handful of overpaid local government gravy train freeloaders, Piss-Poor Perry should be getting Spectrum to restore a bit of pride in Croydon’s tatty architectural heritage.
Hopefully, Spectrum used Carlton Plastics wide range of products to fix up the Brit School. Since Perry’s company accounts are already overdue and last year showed zero money in the bank…Perry needs every penny for his company
Not quite. Carlton Building Plastics’ accounts for the calendar and accounting year 2025 are due by 31 December 2026.
It is however true to say that the 2024 figures show zero cash in bank, down £87k from 2023. That, and the use of an overdraft to manage cash flow, shows the company’s financial health is declining. The drop in net assets reinforces this concern.
Under Jason Perry, the firm his father founded is underperforming relative to the average company in the industrial sector of the wholesale of wood, construction materials, and sanitary equipment. Piss-poor is as good as managing his own business as he is our borough
I understand his motives for giving back but I’m pretty sure the music business which has drawn so much talent from the school can afford to pay for maintenance.