A Shrewsbury church has entered the new year with a new look, thanks to students from City of Wolverhampton College and a little bit of help from us!
We provided materials and construction advice to the students – who are on a Prince’s Trust Team programme run by the college – to help them build a ramp to give access for disabled people to the Riversway Elim Church in Lancaster Road.
We also supplied slabs, bricks, paint and general building materials to help the group renovate and repaint the entrances, resurface and refill flower beds, and rebuild a wall at the back of the church.
Our Quantity Surveyor Simon Beadman and site manager Tony Martin advised and supervised the group, who carried out their community project just before Christmas.
The Team programme in Shrewsbury is for unemployed young people aged between 16 and 25 and helps them gain teamwork, communication and employability skills.
It is the second project that we have supported in the past year. Last summer, we worked with a previous Prince’s Trust team to build a landing area for the emergency services and a 20m path for improved wheelchair access to Hartlands care home in Shrewsbury.
Managing Director Steven Owen said: “We were very happy to donate material that was left over from our construction sites for the work to the church and Simon and Tony provided their expertise to help the group plan and carry out the refurbishments.
“As a local business we are keen to support all kind of community projects and this scheme not only supported the Prince’s Trust but gave much improved facilities to the church.
“We hope it might have inspired some of the young people to follow a career in construction in the future as we are always looking to source our skilled workers in the communities where we are working.”
Delano Shirley, Prince’s Trust Team Leader for Shrewsbury, said: “Thanks to the ongoing support of Pave Aways our students have learned vital skills in planning and executing an entire project that has, in turn, benefitted the community.
“We are very grateful for its goodwill and allowing us to deliver this element of our programme in Shrewsbury.”