Community Projects
Community News 2023
Chichester housebuilder volunteers 'dig in' to help Westhampnett Community Hall
By Sam Pole
Original article: https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/people/chichester-housebuilder-volunteers-dig-in-to-help-westhampnett-community-hall-3972718
Housebuilder Barratt Homes provided volunteer support to help with building work at Westhampnett Community Hall. The housebuilder sent in its contractors to help the village hall last month, and landscaper, Jake Smith from JS Landscapes, took a team over again on Saturday, December 10 to make the final updates.
The group of volunteers planted trees, secured picnic tables and benches, made wooden planters, and generally tidied up the area.
Set in the heart of Westhampnett, the contemporary Community Hall provides a setting for community activities and events.
Housebuilder Barratt Homes provided volunteer support to help with building work at Westhampnett Community Hall.
The parish council, which looks after the space, was keen to provide an outside area to match the hall’s elegant interior and was thrilled to receive the developer’s support.
Claire McLeish, Chair of the Parish Council, said: “It has been a real pleasure to welcome Barratt’s team of volunteers to our village hall. This is an important place for the local community to get together for meetings and celebrations and it’s wonderful to see that the exterior is now looking its best.
“On behalf of everyone, I would like to thank Barratt for their amazing support. We couldn’t have got all this work done without them.”
Anthony Dimmick, Barratt Homes Community Liaison Manager said: “We want to support organisations in the communities where we are building new homes, and Westhampnett Community Hall provides an excellent facility for the local area. It’s been great to see the work all come together here.”
Westhampnett Community Hall is situated on Hadrian Drive in the village and is available for all activities, including exercise classes, weddings, christenings, and private birthday parties.
Community News 2021-2022 |
Charity donations in 2022
Our largest single donation of £100,000 was awarded to Magic Breakfast. Magic Breakfast work with over 1,000 Primary, Secondary and ASL/Special Educational Needs schools, offering breakfasts to over 200,000 children each school day. With at least 1.7 million children in the UK at risk of starting the day too hungry to learn every day, the Magic Breakfast’s partner schools ensures children receive a nutritious breakfast, fuelling their education, unlocking their potential and offering them a route out of poverty.
The following donations were also made throughout the year:
£60,000 to Action for Kids
£40,000 to Emmaus UK
£30,000 to Missing People
£10,000 to The Wilderness Foundation
£10,000 to Working Chance
Additionally, a total £271,047 was raised by Barratt staff for donation to various charities and communities, including: Southampton Hospital, Hayling Island Lions, Shaftesbury Careers, Sussex Snowdrop Trust, Helping Homeless Veterans, Clear City, RNLI, Lewis Manning Hospital, Above and Beyond Veterans, Macmillan, Saitn Foundation, Mountbatton Hospice, Priscilla Bacon Hospital, Cornerstone Primary School, Epiphany School, Shaftesbury Primary School, Blind Veterans, No Limits, Christmas Shoebox Donation, Hamptons Trust, Julia’s House, Stonepillow, Abby’s Heroes, Samaritans and Save the Children.
Besides funding, Barratt staff also donated their time in the form of 63 volunteer days spent doing activities such as beach cleans, painting and mending fences and installing furniture for various local projects.
Golden Bricks
Barratt Homes’ Golden Bricks team this year raised an impressive £164,550 total, including match funding from the Barratt Foundation, for The Prince’s Trust who provide life-changing career and mentorship opportunities, for young people aged 11-30 around the world. The money was raised through three initiatives: The Barratt Marathon, The Wheel of Fortune, and We Can Build.
The Barratt Marathon challenged colleagues to complete as many marathon equivalents as possible over a three week period. Participants walked, ran, skated and swam to support the marathon, and by the end of the challenge had covered the distance of 680 marathons and raised a total of £54,000.
The Wheel of Fortune was held over four days, and invited employees to enter into a virtual raffle. The team sold over 2,650 tickets, and raised a total £13,400 for the charity. Nine of the suppliers supporting the initiative donated £1,000 towards prizes.
The children’s book, We Can Build, was designed to represent roles in construction through diverse and inclusive characters. 6,000 copies were produced by Zenith Media, with work supported by our internal legal team. The team also enlisted the help of Hannah Joseph, an Illustrator who is a former mentee of The Prince’s Trust. With over 5,000 copies donated to local schools throughout the country, colleagues and friends of the business purchased the remaining copies for their own little ones.
Relay
This year’s Big Barratt Relay Race raised £16,472 and saw staff collectively covering 25,264.96km.
The Southampton division came in at second place, covering 2624.7km and raising £4052. 1st place went to Cambridge, raising £4200 over 2499.46km and third place to Group, raising £4280 over 1785.95km
Pride in the Job
An outstanding 98 Barratt Homes site managers have won NHBC 2022 Pride in the Job Quality Awards 2022, surpassing the previous year and continuing the tradition of receiving more than any other housebuilder for an incredible eighteen consecutive years.
The Pride in the Job Quality Awards recognises site managers who achieve the highest standards in housebuilding across the UK. This is a fantastic achievement, particularly considering that the winners are selected from more than 8,000 site managers working on sites registered with the NHBC, with just 443 individual winners recognised.
This success follows Barratt being awarded the maximum 5 Star rating in the HBF Customer Satisfaction Survey for the thirteenth year in a row. These accolades set us out as industry-leading in build quality, customer satisfaction and health and safety and it’s great to have this recognition for all of our hard work.
Big Yellow Tea Party
A special thank you was received by the Southampton Division in November 2022 from Mountbatton Hampshire after their Go Yellow Tea Party brought in £144.80, raising more than any other bake sale held by the division to date.
Celebrating Key Workers in the Armed Forces
At Barratt, we are incredibly proud of the work we do with the Armed Forces community, from our Armed Forces Transition Programme which helps ex-Armed Forces personnel train to become Site Managers, to our partnerships with veteran support charities, Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI) and the Tommy Club.
To date, we have had more than 100 people join Barratt through our Armed Forces Transition scheme. And to support the Tommy Club, earlier this year we proudly installed full size Women in War figures across our developments for the 77th Victory in Europe Day. These saluting servicewomen aim to highlight both the military efforts and civilian occupations during times of conflict.
We recently launched our new Key Workers Deposit Contribution Scheme which allows every key worker in the country to be entitled to a deposit of £750 for every £25,000 spent, and can receive up to the value of £15,000. We introduced the scheme, which includes those serving in the Armed Forces, to say thank you to key workers for their enormous contribution to the country.
Santa Dash
This year’s Santa Dash saw £2,500 being donated from Barratt Homes to Julia’s House, a children’s hospice serving Dorset and Wiltshere.
The Big Barratt Beach Clean
Barratt David Wilson Homes wish to extend a huge Thank You to every one who took part in our Hayling Island beach clean event on 22nd August 2021. With 30 participants there was a great turn out of local residents and Barratt David Wilson employees, collecting a staggering 35kg of rubbish in two hours. Collected items included fishing hooks, nappies, tyres and even kitchen doors!
In addition to the volunteers' efforts, £1,000 was donated to the Final Straw Foundation, a charity working with business and communities to improve ocean health through projects such as beach cleans, educational outreach, eco-clubs and composting programmes.
Proud to be a Macmillan sponsor
The new Barratt Foundation is sponsoring a Macmillan nurse for the next three years following a recent donation of £180,000 to Macmillan Cancer Support, helping to ensure more people have access to support during cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Macmillan rely on the generosity of individuals and organisations for 98% of their funds. Presently, donations are more important than ever; during 2020 alone 650,000 people with cancer in the UK (22%) experienced disruption to their treatment or care because of the pandemic.
Over the next three years Barratt Developments will work closely with Macmillan to provide workplace training, guidance and resources across the business, to help support employees affected by cancer.
If you would like to talk to someone the Macmillan Support Line number is 0808 808 00 00, 8am – 8pm, available 7 days a week or you can visit https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support to access their support guide.
76th VE Day commemmorated with 300 ‘Tommy’ figures
Barratt Developments has become the first corporate patron of The Tommy Club. As a strong supporter of the country’s armed forces, attracting over 100 veterans into the business through its Armed Forces Transition Programme, Barratt Developments has purchased 300 “Tommy” figures for display in the gardens of its show homes across the country in addition to donated £100,000 to the Tommy Club.
Launched in 2020, the Tommy Club raises money for the Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI) charity, which has been providing jobs, homes, and mental health support for ex services personnel throughout the worst of the current pandemic.
The term Tommy was coined during WWI when German soldiers would call out to ‘Tommy’ across No Man’s Land if they wanted to speak to a British soldier. The Tommy figure, with head bowed, has become a universal symbol of gratitude and commemoration to all those who have served in the armed forces.
Each garden Tommy is put together by veterans working for the RBLI’s unique social enterprise “Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Company”, which creates more jobs for ex-armed forces personnel and raises crucial funds for the charity.
Barratt Developments brings Nature to Your Doorstep
Barratt Developments has been working in partnership with the RSPB since 2014. Their latest joint project, Nature on Your Doorstep, offers advice and inspiration for people to turn their outdoor spaces (including gardens, balconies and community green spaces) into wildlife havens.
The project follows a marked increase in people seeking to rediscover local nature and make their gardens more wildlife friendly during the pandemic, as evidenced by the 1.7 million requests for advice from the RSPB received in 2020 and a record breaking one million participants in this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch.
Nature on Your Doorstep will give people access to how-to gardening guides, step-by-step videos by RSPB wildlife gardening expert Adrian Thomas, seasonal gardening advice, a monthly newsletter and an online community dedicated to bringing people together to ask questions, seek advice, and share experience.
The project will evolve to host customisable content and conduct research into what drives or prevents people from creating wildlife friendly outside spaces, both privately and at a community shared-spaces level.
To turn your patch into paradise for you and your wildlife, please go to: rspb.org.uk/yourdoorstep.
Fundraising matched for The Oddballs Foundation
Six friends, including Barratt Developments employee Haydn Bula, walked 574 miles around the Portsmouth area over the course of a month to raise funds The Oddballs Foundation, a charity which raises awareness of testicular cancer and how early detection can make it treatable and even curable.
After far exceeding the original 500 mile target, 28-year-old Haydn told his colleagues at Barratt Homes about his achievement, and the company agreed to match the amount to bring the grand total raised for The Oddballs Foundation to £2,118.
Haydn, a sales adviser at the New Quarter development in Bordon, said: ‘The Oddballs Foundation is making a difference to male health around the world, and this support will be of huge benefit. I’m so grateful to Barratt Homes for matching our final donation amount.
Tammy Bishop, sales director at Barratt Homes Southampton Division, said: ‘When we heard that Haydn and his friends were embarking on this trek for charity, we had to help out... Barratt Homes is committed to supporting charities in the region, and to find out that one of our employees was doing the same, is great to hear – massive congratulations to them all.’
#ChooseToChallenge: a diverse workforce for a successful business
Monday 8 March marked International Women’s Day 2021, which this year comes with the theme #ChooseToChallenge, encouraging women to call out gender bias and inequality.
The number of female construction workers has increased steadily over the past 12 years, but the proportion of women in property and construction industries remains low and research by the union for construction workers (GMB) suggests that, at the current rate, women won’t equal men until 2194.
Female employees occupy numerous roles across Barratt Developments, though a majority male workforce is still reflected with 69% men to 31% women. This is well-placed among other major UK developers, however, including Taylor Wimpey (31%), Bellway (29%), and Persimmon (25%).
As an equal opportunities’ employer, the company ensures there are roles for everyone regardless of gender, race or background and works hard to encourage more women to consider careers in construction.
With 20 years of experience in the property industry Krystina Haimes, sales manager at BDW Southampton, reports having always felt supported in her role, saying: “Some may be put off as they think there are long hours and lots of travelling involved. I have a family and I can honestly say this job is so rewarding, with plenty of flexibility when I need it.”
24-year-old marketing executive Lydia Perrin commented positively on the way colleges are encouraging women into the industry, saying: “Where there are more men in a particular role, like in construction, there are more females entering that arena because colleges are doing more to encourage women into those roles... They want to see women represented, so they do all they can to make those roles attractive.”
BDW Southampton’s development director, Julian Jones, who has 25 years’ experience in the property industry, says “When I first started out in the industry, women appeared to be restricted to admin roles, sales or finance,” he said. “That is changing throughout the business both locally and nationally and females are now holding key roles in areas like site mangers and commercial staff, that previously would have been considered a male domain... From a personal perspective I have always sought to have a mixed department whether it was in technical or the land/planning function. Women and men approach roles very differently and having female staff can actually be a USP – certainly in my role as they can offer that different outlook and give you an edge over the competition.”
Barratt Developments assists local charity to tackle loneliness
The charity FitzRoy, which supports people with learning disabilities and autism, has received vital support from Barratt and David Wilson Homes during the pandemic. While we’ve all felt the missing charities such as FitzRoy have been tackling the impact of loneliness on more vulnerable individuals.
FitzRoy’s Love4Life project, with bases in Fareham and Basingstoke, helps its members build friendships and relationships in a safe and supportive environment by offering a range of social, sporting and educational activities as well as chaperoned dates and relationship advice.
When lockdown restrictions prevented Love4Life activities from taking place in person, Barratt Developments donated £1,000 to FitzRoy, which assisted them in adapting their services to be delivered online so that members could remain connected throughout the pandemic.
Tammy Bishop, Sales Director at Barratt and David Wilson Homes’ Southampton division, said: “The fact that FitzRoy offer a Love4Life project that helps connect people didn’t only strike a chord with us given the current situation, but we also thought it was a great fit for the month of February.”
Hayley Ostler, Love4Life Coordinator, said: “Love4Life is vital, not just for making friends and widening social circles, but also for people’s mental health. Isolation and loneliness have become even more acute for those living with learning disabilities during the pandemic. We thank Barratt and David Wilson Homes for their generous support as we do our best to reach more people who are currently living a life of lockdown.”
Southampton care home receives £1,000 boost after year of isolation
Barratt Developments has given its support to The Abbeyfield Society with a £1,000 donation from its Community Fund Scheme, which donates £1,000 per month to regional causes.
The Abbeyfield Society provides high-quality living accommodation, supported housing and care at home within the UK and internationally. Throughout the pandemic the charity’s care homes have been particularly impacted, both financially and emotionally, with residents experiencing separation from families at great detriment to their mental wellbeing. Care workers have had to find creative ways to help residents stay connected whilst also staying safe, such as outdoor and screened visits, and visiting ‘hubs’ where residents can talk to their loved ones safely.
Speedwell Court in Southampton is one such purpose-built Abbeyfield care home providing residential and dementia-friendly care services to its residents. Staff have been maximizing the use of their gardens, ensuring that residents are able to enjoy the fresh air outdoors.
Deborah Holmes, Customer Relations Manager at Speedwell Court, said: “We’ve wanted to purchase garden equipment to kit out our new greenhouse and a rotavator that will be used to make an allotment space for our residents. Gardening, and being outside, is widely recognised as a brilliant way to maintain good mental and physical health... We are very grateful to Barratt and David Wilson Homes for this incredible support, and look forward to seeing our residents enjoying their new equipment.”
Tammy Bishop, Sales Director at Barratt and David Wilson Homes’ Southampton Division, said: “It has taken a lot of extra effort for care homes like Speedwell Court to keep their residents safe and occupied during the pandemic, and with restrictions on visits, the isolation must have been extremely difficult for some... It is wonderful that charities like Abbeyfield have gone above and beyond to ensure they can still offer a caring and supportive environment in such a challenging time, and they truly deserve our support.”
£2,000 Lifeline to Hampshire Charities during UK lockdown
Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes donated £ 1,000 each to the Good Neighbors Network and Unity in Test Valley as part of their Community Fund Scheme, which provides ongoing support to local causes that improve the quality of life for people living in the region.
The Good Neighbors Network supports 120 independent volunteer groups in Hampshire. Each group offers daily acts of kindness to their local community, such as transportation, shopping and prescription delivery, all of which were vital during the ongoing pandemic. Good Neighbors volunteers successfully delivered more than 44,000 acts of kindness to individuals throughout lockdown.
Karen Jordan, Good Neighbor Network team leader, said: “Most Good Neighbor groups are very dependent on donations and the generous support of their volunteers. During the pandemic, groups saw a drop in funding and also a drop in the number of volunteers due to protection needs. This generous donation means that each group can continue to provide the much needed support directly to the people who need it most.”
Unity oversees the work of various charities and groups in the Test Valley area. The organisation recruited more than 5,000 volunteers and coordinated 70 groups across the region in December 2020 to provide assistance during the ongoing pandemic.
Unity’s Chief Executive Terry Bishop said: “Unity reacted quickly to the Covid pandemic by developing a helpline for people who were isolating or protecting, as well as a callback service for people struggling with their mental health… It means a lot that Barratt and David Wilson Homes recognized the work that organizations like ours are doing, and we are very grateful to have been one of the lucky recipients of the Community Fund. We will be using the fund to keep this helpline open and offer help to those in desperate need. “
Tammy Bishop, Sales Director for Barratt Developments’ Southampton division, said of the donation: “Both Good Neighbors Network and Unity did everything they could to help people across the region during 2020, and I am very grateful that we can give them this well-deserved boost.”
Tablets and stationery donated to Chichester school in need of lockdown support
Barratt Developments has offered support to schools and parents to help with distance learning over lockdown, providing tablets, paper, pens, pencils and other stationery to several local schools.
March C of E School in Chichester received 10 boxes of A4 paper and two Amazon Fire tablets, a package worth around £250.
Rachel Bryan, March C of E School Business Manager, said of the support: “Homeschooling is currently a challenge for families across the country, and without access to a suitable device, this challenge is exemplified tenfold. These items will make a real difference to us at such a critical time and I therefore just wanted to put on record our thanks for the support and generosity during these challenging times for schools. We can’t thank Anthony and the team at Barratt Homes enough for their support.”
Anthony Dimmick, is thrilled that the housebuilder has been able to assist, saying “We are committed to help the communities we develop in, and in such a challenging time, our support is needed more than ever. In a time where the pressure on schools and parents is at an all time high, we are very happy to help where we can.”
Barratt Homes works very closely with a number of community projects and schools in the areas in which they build, so that they can provide support, both physically and financially – something that is invaluable particularly under such circumstances as the current covid crisis.
Hampshire charity The Tantrum Trust receives £1,000 cash donation
The Tantum Trust, based in Bordon, provides financial support to individuals, families and community groups across Hampshire, West Sussex and Surrey. Starting in a waiting room of a local charity with no paid staff, the Charity raised £12,000 in its first three years. Since then, it has granted £1.25 million to those in need.
The charity has struggled financially during covid pandemic as the UK lockdown brought long closures to four of its charity shops, rendering them unable to bring in much needed funding.
Upon hearing of The Tantrum Trust’s predicament, Barratt Developments has stepped up with a £1,000 donation to help the charity continue its vital work.
Sue Nicholson, Charity Manager of The Tatum Trust, has said “We rely heavily on the public donating items and spending in our shops, but the Covid crisis has made it impossible for us to open consistently, leaving us unable to raise vital funds. With Barratt Homes’ help we can continue to offer support to members of our communities that really need it, including those who have struggled because of the pandemic itself.”
Tammy Bishop, Sales Director at Barratt and David Wilson Homes’ Southampton division, added “In such a challenging year for all of us, our local communities have become all the more important. It is wonderful that all the funds raised by The Tatum Trust are fed back into the local area, and I am so grateful that we can give them this well-deserved boost.”
"Dear Antony"
A selection of your feedback letters regarding our Community Involvement
Kate Gunstone, Reception Teacher and PE Leader, Bearwood Primary and Nursery School
"Just a quick note to say thank you for allowing us to create a magical easter. We had 220 children searching for eggs on the field this morning and there was an amazing atmosphere! The winning house happened to be mine and were thrilled with their eggs!
The colouring competition was a huge success too - I have attached the winning entries for you here!
Have an egg-cellent Easter!"
Rachel Bryan, School Business Manager, The March Church of England Primary School
"We had a wonderful display of hats today! Nearly every child took part and they all paraded around the playground for the whole school to admire and applaud. It’s such a shame that you couldn’t be with us for something like this!
Attached is a photo of the winners – two from each class, all holding their Amazon vouchers kindly donated by Barratts. We used the Asda voucher to buy a cream egg for every child in school so that no one went home empty handed today!."
Kate Gunstone, Pupil Premium Leader, Bearwood Primary C of E School
"I wanted to email to extend my massive thanks for your generosity in supplying all the things we need for an amazing new loose parts area in our early years base. I showed the children the resources this morning and they were really excited. I can’t wait to get the unit build and the resources into use.
I am so grateful for the support Barratt give us as a school and our continued relationship"
Kate Gunstone, Pupil Premium Leader, Bearwood Primary C of E School
"Just wanted to say a MASSIVE thank you for the stationary and the Kindles that you have provided us with today. This will significantly help our vulnerable learners at home during this time and enable them to access learning more readily. As a school, we are incredibly grateful for the ongoing support provided by Barratt Homes."
Bransgore School
"The local Community Liaison Officer for Barratt Homes contacted us this term and has provided the following for school; 100 high-vis jackets (for children and staff when out of school on trips – hopefully we can use these sometime soon!), gardening resources and also money towards our outdoor environment. We are very grateful to them for providing this.
We have also been provided with 120 sapling Christmas trees by Barratt homes. These are brilliant for sustainability and a fantastic gardening project for small children. We have decided to give each family in Foundation/Key Stage 1 one of these saplings to look after and plant in their garden. We look forward to seeing photos of their progress!
Barratt homes have also given us some Amazon vouchers which we would like to use as prizes for a competition. For this competition we would like our children to think about what their wishes would be for 2021."
Rachel Bryan, School Business Manager, The March Church of England Primary School
"I am writing to thank you for all you have done for us as a school over the last academic year. The support has been incredible and without Barratt Homes we would not be in such a positive position now.
The support has ranged from helping practically to create our peace garden, to high-vis jackets and bags to keep our children safe. From sourcing sheds (replacing our old leaking ones that were damaging equipment) to helping us secure our site following storm damage (we lost an entire boundary fence, which was replaced within hours by temporary fencing, and then permanently replaced in a matter of days). In addition, there has been help with the supply of tea and coffee for our community events, vouchers to incentivise children, and culminating in the loan of an apprentice, John, who was on site with us last week working in our Peace Garden area. John was an incredibly hard worker and an absolute pleasure to have with us for the day!
None of this would have happened without the hard work and unswerving support of your Community Liaison Manager, Mr Anthony Dimmick. Anthony has worked with us from the outset when your site started developing. He has been amazing at arranging all the things mentioned above and so much more. In fact, it’s really not just the practical support (as much as that is greatly appreciated), but much more about the sense that someone is working with you and supporting your school community, as the neighbourhood develops and takes shape around us. Anthony has been in to see us many times and takes time to understand the pressures we are under, and how Barratts can work with us to ensure a very positive working relationship for both sides. Having a dedicated single point of contact has made a real difference and it’s so good to know that a large housing developer such as yourselves invests in neighbourhood and community relationships in this way.
With very many thanks for the team at the March School."
Kate Gunstone, Pupil Premium Leader, Bearwood Primary and Nursery School
"I just wanted to email to say thank you for another brilliant year of support. I am so grateful for the way you have helped us over the year. You organising pizzas, photos and ice creams for our leaving year 6 children made a very special day for them. I love the way we have established a relationship with Barratt over the last few years.
I hope you have a lovely summer and look forward to working out what’s next for Bearwood and Barratt."
Alan Mak, Member of Parliament for Havant
"I am writing to thank you for taking part in the Havant Jobs, Apprenticeships and Careers Fair 2020. Given the tough wider context and the COVID-19 backdrop, the event was success and that would not have been possible without the support and advice offered by exhibitors such as yourself. Thank you for coming to take part despite the tough backdrop.
We had around 500 visitors, many of whom had very positive comments which reflected on you as exhibitors. With plans to repeat the fair in future years, if you have any further feedback that you wish to share with me, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Nominations for this years Havant Small Business and Community Awards are now open. Please visit my website to access the nomination form, where you can vote for your favourite small local businesses in 12 different categories. www.alanmak.org.uk/SBA
I look forward to seeing you at the Havant Jobs, Apprenticeships and Careers Fair 2021. We will be in touch later in the year."
Wendy, Bearwood Primary School, Poole
"The visit on Monday was fantastic! The parents that accompanied us were very impressed by it all and all said how you guys made such an effort. The children have been buzzing about all that they saw and have been drawing pictures and writing about the diggers. It really was a lovely trip so thanks again to all involved!"
David Gleave, Economic Development Officer, Test Valley Borough Council
"I am more than happy to provide a testimonial acknowledging the great work that you personally and Barratt Homes/David Wilson Homes does in terms of engaging with local people, supporting local schools, supporting local contractors and generally being a shining example of the delivery of employment and skills plans under the CITB National Skills Academy.
In fact it was your Ganger Farm scheme in Romsey which I used to apply, on behalf of Test Valley Borough Council, to become a NSA under the CITB framework. Only yesterday I advised our TVBC Planners that your employment and skills plan was the model that another very large national housebuilder should be using!
I know from personal experience working with you over years how conscientious you are in ensuring young people - and especially those with greater needs – get a fair chance at work experience which so often leads to permanent employment and massive positive changes for the individual.
In praising you D I am also praising your manager as well as your employer because without their support and recognition of the value of what you are delivering these achievements could not happen."
Kate Gunstone, Pupil Premium Leader, Bearwood Primary and Nursery School
"Just wanted to wish you a very merry Christmas and send massive thanks for all you and Barratt have done for Bearwood Primary and Nursery School. We have thoroughly enjoyed our joint projects this year, particularly the building site visit with the Early Years base. It was so effective in engaging our parent community and we can’t wait to revisit and see the developments in the new year.
I feel the last couple of years of partnership working have really established a brilliant working relationship and look forward to planning our next projects for 2020.
Have a lovely break and look forward to catching up early in the new year."
Steve Gilder, Manager, Future Skills Centre
"I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank you, Barratt Homes and specifically the site team at the New Quarter development and Harry Poulter, for your continued collective support with regards to work experience. It provides a unique opportunity for full time FSC students to work alongside a C&J apprentice on an actual construction site.
I’d also like to thank you for always being someone that I can rely on with additional support during FSC activities such as Open Events and student engagement.
I hope to continue working alongside you in 2020.
Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year."
Mrs Nicky Metcalfe
"We would just like to take the opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and thank you for all you and Barratt/Wilson homes have done for the March CE Primary this year.
As you know this part of Chichester is going through huge developments at the moment and therefore close working relationships with developers such as yourselves has been crucial to our school and the local community. The rapport and the ease of accessibility has made such a difference and it has been good to have a name and a face to be able to speak to when needed.
In a world when everything is driven by commercial success it is heartening to know that the big development companies such as yourselves still maintain the personal touch to local communities and schools. Thank you."
RE: "Barratts team up with Borderlands to fix up school fence"
Rachel Bryan, School Bursar, The March Church of England Primary School
"Thank you Mark, and all at borderland fencing!
I can’t tell you how much this is appreciated! With school budgets as they are, with constant competing demands on resources, having help and support for issues like this is a real life-saver!
Thank you so much – and please do get in touch if you’d like a photo shoot or similar on the back of this."
Rachel & Nicky
"Good morning Anthony,
Just a little email to say a massive THANK YOU for sorting out our fence.
It was such a lovely surprise to see it had all been sorted over the weekend, making our site secure in that corner of the grounds.
Thank you for making it happen – it’s really appreciated!"
Kate Gunstone, Pupil Premium and Attendance Leader, Bearwood Primary and Nursery School
"Just wanted to say a massive thank you for a wonderful lunch at Pizza Hut today. It was a fantastic celebration of the hard work School Council have done this year towards the Environment Award Platinum Level. The children loved meeting Billy again and the goodies you left with them went down a storm!!!"
