Sixty schoolchildren visited a live construction site to see the work that energy and regeneration specialist ENGIE is carrying out on behalf of Sigma Capital Group plc and Sheffield Housing Company (SHC).
Reception students, aged four and five, from Prince Edward Primary School, made the short trip to site to see the development of 256 homes, located off Fitzhurbert Road in the Manor area of Sheffield.
The event was hosted by ENGIE, with Contracts Manager Leigh Nurse giving the children a tour around the perimeter of the site.
ENGIE will build new homes in Manor over two phases; with 163 available for private rent through Sigma’s Simple Life PRS brand (www.simplelifehomes.co.uk); while the final 93 properties on the scheme will be managed by SHC for open market sale.
Leigh said: “At ENGIE, we believe it is really important to inspire the next generation of construction talent to visit our developments, to understand the dangers of construction sites and to ask any questions they might have about the work taking place.
“We would like to thank the children, parents and teachers for visiting the development, and look forward to building on our relationship with the school in the future, along with the rest of the local community.”
Lee Catterall, Project Manager at Sigma, comments: “With a heritage in regeneration, supporting the local community is a value held very highly at Sigma.
“Good local schools is a key factor in our location strategy and we are always looking at ways in which we can support the local community on an on-going basis, so we are really pleased that together with our partner ENGIE, we are able to welcome local schools to our sites.”
John Clephan, Project Director with SHC, added: “It was great that the schoolchildren came to find out about this significant development in their neighbourhood. Alongside building high quality homes for sale, shared ownership and rent, involving and supporting the communities in which we work is also very important and events like this are a fantastic way of doing this.”
Matt Sieczkarek, Headteacher at Prince Edward Primary School, said: “Our youngest children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and brought learning back into the classroom. Their excitement carried on for days. As a school, we are very grateful for the opportunities to make links and forge relationships with ENGIE.”
ENGIE is also building 77 new homes off East Bank Road in Sheffield on behalf of Sigma and SHC, comprised of 58 properties for private rent, and 19 for open market sale. All 333 new homes, worth a collective £43m, will complete in March 2020.
Photo Caption: Left to Right: Leigh Nurse (Contracts Manager at ENGIE), Trevor Smallman (Project Manager at ENGIE), Ashley Watson (Site Manager at ENGIE) and John Clephan (Project Director at SHC) with schoolchildren from Prince Edward Primary School.