Unsworth Sugden Group

Andrew and John - toadless!

Leading housebuilder David Wilson Homes East Midlands has marked the presence of some special neighbours at the company’s Parker’s Place development in Mountsorrel by installing unique house plaques especially produced by local craftsmen.

David Wilson Homes is keen to ensure that development at Parker’s Place is sympathetic to its surroundings and has given careful consideration to the adjacent pond, home toad population of common toads (or their proper name is ‘Bufo Bufo’).

David Wilson Homes’ planning and technical team worked in conjunction with Charnwood Borough Council and Ecological Consultants, to implement innovative engineering and design measures allowing both development at Parker’s Place and habitat protection to go hand in hand.

A specially designed drainage system which prevents the toads from getting trapped in gullies has been installed as part of the development. Small gaps have been added in fences which allow the toads to pass through the residents’ gardens easily.

John Deakin, Planning Manager at David Wilson East Midlands comments: “It’s our core philosophy to take into consideration the habitats that may be disturbed when developing a new residential scheme. We go to great lengths to ensure we have suitable measures in place to protect wildlife both during and after the construction phase”

We sent photographer Toby Savage down, along with the Planning Manager at David Wilson Homes, John Deakin and Assistant Ecologist Andrew Burrows, to catch a glimpse at the residents, but alas, naturally, the toads were shy and wouldn’t play ball. As the old adage goes “Never work with children or animals”, I suppose…

One of the toad plaques

Client, David Wilson East Midlands, has got into the team spirit in time for the new season by sponsoring a rugby club local to its The Chestnuts development in Syston. A pitch-side advertising banner promoting the development now has pride of place on the sidelines at Syston Rugby Club in view of all spectators for the entire season.

Last month I was lucky enough to join client David Wilson East Midlands and around 300 homebuyers to celebrate the launch of Newton Park, a new homes development located on the former site of RAF Newton in Nottinghamshire. David Wilson and it’s development partner Bellway, paid homage to the history of the site by hosting an aviation themed event and invited local residents to come along and celebrate the unveiling of four brand new showhomes.

The PR team worked hard to arrange the day’s events, ensuring the day was a success. The event started with a ribbon cutting ceremony when Group Captain CB ‘Sid’ Adcock BA RAF (Retd), who was the last station commander to serve at RAF Newton, officially marked the new showhomes as open. Subsequent highlights throughout the day included an RAF Newton heritage display by local author Tim O’Brien, music from Nottingham Jazz and the complimentary hog roast. And no aviation themed launch event would be complete without a fly over and air display by an actual RAF Chipmonk.

Captain Sid Adcock opening the showhome with Sales Adviser Carol

The children of Barrow-upon-Soar had something to keep them entertained over the Easter holidays after client David Wilson East Midlands opened a brand new playground in the village.

The Mayor of Charnwood, Councillor Jill Vincent, visited the site which is located at David Wilsons Meadow Grange development, to test the equipment for herself and give it the civic seal of approval.

The playground was given a big thumbs up by both the children, who were the first to try out the state of the art equipment and the Mayor. Crowds of eager youngsters witnessed the official launch as the Mayor and David Wilson Sales Director Philip Lacey, cut a ribbon to officially mark the play area as open.

The unveiling was also attended by representatives from Charnwood Borough Council and Barrow-upon-Soar parish council who have worked in close conjunction with the housebuilder to develop a scheme that would not only enhance the community of Meadow Grange, but the surrounding village too.

There were lots of happy dogs at the East Midlands Dog Rescue last week, after client David Wilson East Midlands donated £200 worth of dog food to the centre.

The charity has recently opened up a new shop in Barwell, near David Wilson’s Haswell Meadows development on The Common, so they sent Wellington, their own friendly golden retriever along to deliver the food to the waiting dogs.

Both the greyhounds and the smaller breeds were well looked after, with a mix of specialist dry food and tins of ‘Cesar’, which were all gratefully received.

Wellington and his new friends at the Rescue Centre

Visitors to Fosse Park in Leicester last weekend may have noticed a familiar golden face as they went about their shopping - Wellington, the David Wilson Homes golden retriever!

The PR team had a full-size mascot costume of Wellington created, complete with David Wilson-branded collar and hard hat, for client David Wilson East Midlands. 

Wellington will now be making appearances at promotional events at its developments of brand new homes and elsewhere across the East Midlands over the coming months.

PR Snap Shot of the Month - September 2009

Five site managers from client David Wilson East Midlands recently received Quality Awards as part of the NHBC Pride in the Job Awards 2009, for excellence in on-site management, during a special presentation day with their colleagues at The Walkers Stadium in Leicester. Congratulations to (from l-r) Alex Coltman, Ian Bentley, Gary Tebbatt, Peter Seditas and Henry Patecki. 

For many PR professionals having to explain what you do for a living can be somewhat of a challenge. This is usually because people mistakenly think that the Ab Fab world of Eddie and Patsy reflects the real life of a PRO.

Well we’d like to put the record straight! The reality is that someone working in PR is more likely to be the one buying, delivering and then pouring the champagne than they are drinking it!!! This is something that one of our PR team proved recently at an official launch in Nottingham for client David Wilson East Midlands. The event make the local press the very next morning, take a look here.

Well done Bethan!

The Earl Shilton stone coffin, found at client David Wilson East Midlands’ The Lanterns development, has been laid to rest at its permenant home at The Battle of Bosworth Heritage Centre.  On Friday 30th January Managing Director of David Wilson East Midlands, John Reddington was joined by the Chairman of Leicestershire County Council Tony Kershaw to offically unveil the coffin, which is now on display to the public at the Heritage Centre. 

John Reddington (front) and Tony Kershaw (back)

The event was reported in the Leicester Mercury, the Messenger, the Hinckley Times and the Heartland Evening News as well as on ITV Central News, take a look by clicking on the link below.

itv-central-east-010209-1816

Take a look at The One Show clip from the David Wilson East Midlands excavation of a medieval tomb in Earl Shilton - broadcast Monday 17th November 2008.The One Show 17.11.08