Students working towards a BTEC Level 3 in Construction at Bedford College recently took the opportunity to learn the ropes of site safety from construction professionals at Barratt Northampton’s Greenkeepers Mews development at Biddenham Vale, Great Denham.

Aged from 16 to 22, the students were given a tour of Greenkeepers Mews by Site Manager Steve Tofield who was on hand to pass on his experience in the construction industry and especially his know-how when it comes to keeping people safe on-site.

Thanks to Toby Savage for the great photography.

Chrildren in Northamptonshire got festive recently for client, Barratt Northampton’s, design a Christmas card competition.  Pupils at Oakley Vale Primary School in Corby and Upton Meadow Primary School in Northampton put their drawing and painitng skills to the test as they designed a Christmas card that the company would distibute to its residents at its developments in the area. 

Another winner and the Barratt sales adviser with the cards

These were just two of more than a dozen seasonal competitions that the USA PR team managed this year and we’re already getting our thinking caps on for more community projects for Valentine’s Day 2011!

Thanks to Steve Baker for the cute photography!

Think of December and what springs to mind? Christmas? Presents? Turkey? Decorations? Holiday?

What about getting dressed up in a drysuit and surfing in the freezing cold waves of Cornwall?

Because that’s what photographer Toby Savage found himself doing this month in Newquay in the second part of our adventure with Britain’s top surfer ‘Stokesy’ for client Schlüter-Systems. And not content with wading into the Atlantic upto his waist with a waterproof camera, he decided to take a surfboard, made from Schlüter-Kerdi-Board, and have a go himself!

Photographer Toby Savage getting in on the action

More shots and blog entries about this Cornwall visit will appear soon, but for those who need a recap about what we’re doing with ‘Stokesy’ click here.

A brand new, state-of-the-art building, which pushes the boundaries of environmentally friendly design and will be the first of its kind in the Midlands, is being built at the Watermead Business Park in Syston, owned by client Raynsway Properties. 

The £1.5m project is seeing a 6,000 sq ft regional office constructed for Interserve Project Services, one of the world’s foremost support services and construction companies, using the design principles of PassivHaus, a well established German based building standard which reduces energy costs by approximately 90%, compared to traditional build properties both in the residential and commercial markets.

The project is believed to be the first of its kind in the Midlands, with only two other PassivHaus offices completed in the country at present. Build work is expected to take until July 2011 to complete.

The Unsworth Sugden PR team secured the following coverage in this week’s Leicester Mercury business supplement about the project.

A CGI of the new Interserve office at the Watermead Business Park in Syston

Client Schlüter-Systems, the Coalville-based leading UK provider of tile solutions, has recently invested £100,000 in a brand new e-learning academy, the very first free online training facility of its kind in the industry.

As well as targeting the tiling and construction trade press with the story, the PR team also achieved the following great piece in today’s Leicester Mercury business section.

The team is also busy preparing an entry for the Schlüter Online Academy into the ‘Best Innovation’ category at the Tile Association Awards 2011. Keep checking the blog for more information….

The Schlüter Online Academy will help train people up and down the country from the comfort of their PC

Client Westleigh Developments is offering business across the region the chance to win £1,000 for the charity of their choice by playing its festive, online game.

Rather than sending Christmas cards to its suppliers and customers, Whetstone-based property developer Westleigh has again chosen the green option, in line with its GreenHouse environmental commitment and made its season’s greetings via email. Recipients are then invited to log on to play “Christmas Demolition”, a simple game where participants win points and complete levels by demolishing targets.

The game is also available at www.westleigh.co.uk and runs until 10am on Wednesday 22^nd December 2010.

Westleigh's 'Christmas Demolition' game

The latest issue of client Axess 4 All’s ‘Platform’ newsletter is now available following work by the PR team.

Issue 4 features:

• Case studies of recent installations across the country, including the Victoria & Albert museum in London and in the Yorkshire town of Holmfirth, best known as the setting for Last of the Summer Wine.
• News on a new internal sales team at Axess 4 All and a newly designed product.
• Information on a role in a £4.2m regeneration project in Middlesbrough
• General Manager Jason King is this issue’s ‘In the Hot Seat’ candidate
• Plus there’s a selection of wine available to those who enter the Prize Draw

You will shortly be able to see a copy of Platform on the Axess 4 All website. Just visit www.axess4all.com and click on News, where you can download a PDF.

Construction students from Leicester College have visited one of the biggest affordable homes schemes in the city to learn more about timber frame as part of their studies.

Thirteen trainee bricklayers and two lecturers from the college’s Freemens Park campus visited the £15m project on Ross Walk, in the Belgrave area of the city, where 119 new affordable homes are being built by client Westleigh Developments using timber frame construction methods.

The Leicester Mercury featured the visit in this weekend’s property section and obviously loved our photography so much they decided to use the same image not once, not twice but three times in the same supplement!

See for yourself by clicking on this PDF link: leicester-mercury-property-041210-ross-walk-student-site-visit

Westleigh senior site manager Jason Mann with three of the students from Leicester College who visited the Ross Walk scheme

Clients Barratt Mercia and Barratt Northampton picked up three awards between them in this year’s prestigious What House? competition.

Barratt Mercia was awarded a silver prize in the Best Partnership category for it’s Bluebell project in Camp Hill, Nuneaton, whilst Barratt Northampton scooped gold for its Vizion development in Milton Keynes for Best Landcape and a silver for its NU@D2 development in Northampton for Best Sustainable Development.

Barratt’s regional managing director, Richard Brooke attended the glittering ceremony at London’s Gosvenor House Hotel, hosted by Jimmy Carr, to collect the prizes.