After lots of toing and froing with councils, kitchen planners our Community Challenge 2011 has finally come together! With the wrap up get together at the revamped flat on Tuesday 24 January 2012.
Over the last few months we have, with the help of local trades people, made over a community flat in the Ferrriers and Sandilands area of Aberdeen. The flat is run by the Fersands and Fountain Community Project that provides vital free services to children, young people and families.
During the October holidays - once we got all the stuff out of the flat into storage – thanks to Mike Duthie at FlexiStore – the youngsters stripped the flat. After stripping at least SEVEN layers of wallpaper as you can imagine the walls underneath were not in the best state of repair.
A SOS post on the Trades Advisor website (and some calls by Darren of Trades Advisor) we got a plasterer in over the weekend, and with some help from a couple of the youngsters the work was completed.
However, things never quite go according to plan do they! The joiner we had lined up to rip out and replace the kitchen sent us a text in early November to let us know that he could no longer assist due to other work commitments. SOS Traders Advisor again and thanks to Darren and Arthur of A & D Joiners the kitchen has been ripped out and the new kitchen fitted and looking really good!
John Matthews our plumber arrived at the beginning of the week to replace the old boiler and fit two new sinks.
Andy Milne from AB-ELEC sorted out electrics in the flat.
The kids have repainted the flat with battered tins of paint from B&Q being put to good use. During the project the kids have developed a real sense of ownership for their flat during this process and their hard work is visible to all.
This project has been a great example of working together with local people and businesses to make a real difference in a local community. Working with local businesses, including Aberdeen Airport, John Lewis, Howden’s, Flexistore, Contract Furnishing, Trades Advisor and all the trades has been a great experience in project management and facilitation and with their help we have managed to make our small budget go a long way.
More and more at Enterprise we are working with local people to develop entrepreneurs who have a social, community and environmental conscience, we believe that entrepreneurship is also about giving something back by becoming a part of a community and making a positive change.
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