It's amazing what team work can do, as leading social housing and maintenance repairs provider, Mears, has demonstrated with its latest collaborative community project - to rejuvenate a tired communal garden in a sheltered housing estate.
The project, which was awarded £5,000 by Birmingham City Council and Yardley Housing Liaison Board thanks to the perseverance of Miss Astrid Evans, has received additional support from Mears with a volunteer team of six from the Birmingham branch donating their time, skill and tools to bring the area back into use.
"It's a great project to get involved in," explains David Cartwright, Customer & Community Manager, Mears Birmingham. "The residents have worked tirelessly to get the funding and it's great that we are able to make a small contribution to making their vision for the area a reality by providing the labour free of charge."
The project has been broken into two phases. The first, which has now been completed, was to completely clear the area, plant new shrubs in the boards and re-pot planters. The second, due to begin in the New Year, will include building raised beds and planting.
"It is quite a large project, but one that will bring the entire community together," continues David. "Even now there is a real excitement about the place at the prospect of having the garden ready to use in the spring." Miss Evans passed away in October and it is sad that she was not able to see her endeavours come to fruition, but the Mears team have said that they would like to donate a tribute, perhaps a seat for the garden or plaque, in her memory.
"Astrid was a remarkable lady and all her hard work towards this project will mean that this garden will always be a lovely reminder of her."
ENDS
About Mears Mears Group is the leading social housing repairs and maintenance provider in the UK and has a growing presence in the domiciliary care market (delivered through Careforce). In addition, Mears has a strong presence in mechanical and engineering through Haydon. The company employs more than 5000 people to maintain, repair and upgrade people's homes and conduct work to improve the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people in the UK. Mears focuses on the provision of social housing within the community sector and carries out more than 3,000 repairs each day to 500,000 houses nationwide. It provides domiciliary care to over 13,000 people per year. With a forward order book of over £1billion, Mears has secured long-term contracts with Local Authorities and Registered Social Housing Landlords. Issued on behalf of Mears Group by Montpellier PR. For further editorial information please contact: Philip Hick, email: phil@montpelliergroup.com or Lisa Pringle, email: lisa@montpelliergroup.comMontpellier PRTel: 01242 262 977