Bluebell Nuneaton

Local students benefit form Barratt brick donation

7th February 2011

Leading housebuilder Barratt Mercia is finding the perfect home for unused bricks from its Bluebell site in Nuneaton by donating them to the local Opportunities Centre.

The first delivery of bricks from the recent What House? award winning site has now arrived and will be used by students on the Construction Award Multi Skills Programme (C.A.M.S) in Camp Hill, which has given the area's youngsters an exciting opportunity to lay the foundations to their careers.

Under the partnership any bricks that will not be used in construction at Bluebell are delivered to the centre for the students to use.

Nigel Bond, Centre Manager at the Opportunities Centre, commented "Our trainees use a lot of bricks, which cost a lot for us to provide."

"So it's been fantastic to have so much help from Barratt Mercia, who's donated bricks will not only save us thousands of pounds every year, but will also mean that our students have the opportunity to lay new bricks every time, exactly as they would on site."

"It really is the perfect preparation for them. We all know that Barratt are in the business of building houses, but less people will know that they're helping us to give local students the chance to build careers too.

CAMS is aimed at year 10 students who take the course as an additional curriculum opportunity alongside the traditional GCSEs. The two year course is designed for young people who wish to pursue a career in the construction industry and mixes theory with practice.

The first year of the scheme is classroom based, then in the second year, students don their hard hat and boots and take on work experience at Barratt's Bluebell development in Camp Hill. At the end of the two years, successful students will gain a Foundation Construction Award in Building Craft Occupations.

Andrew Dauncey, Project Director at Barratt Mercia commented, "Our ongoing partnership with CAMS is really important to us, and it's great to see local students learning the same construction skills that we put into practice everyday on our developments.

"We always strive to ensure that our presence in the community is about more than just providing high quality homes for local residents.

"We're delighted to be providing the Opportunities Centre with bricks that do not meet our quality standards, it also makes sense for the environment that these bricks are recycled. The Opportunities Centre does fantastic work for young people throughout the area and we're always open to help in any way we can."

CAMS is delivered by STRIDE which is the trading arm of Leicester based charity SHARP. STRIDE is an award winning social enterprise based in Leicester, providing work experience and training in a real business environment. They provide work experience placements and accredited training opportunities to a variety of people including the long term unemployed, vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals and young people leaving school unsure of the next step to take.

Barratt is currently building a selection of homes at its Bluebell development on Queen Elizabeth Road in Camp Hill. These include two-, three- and four-bedroom houses priced from £124,950. For more information, please contact the sales office on 02476 399 520 open daily from 10am to 5pm.

Alternatively, please call the sales hotline on 0844 811 9988 open seven days a week from 8am to 9pm