High Street, Glynneath

High Street, Glynneath

The Lottery-funded Community Legacy Project supports people from a wide range of backgrounds to improve their health and wellbeing, build confidence, learn new skills, achieve qualifications, and make positive life improvements through the renovation of empty properties in our local communities.

Property

During 2019, the Cii purchased a 3-bed mid-terraced property on the High Street of Glynneath. The property had stood empty for nearly 3 years and had fallen into a sorry state of disrepair. It needed full renovation to bring it back up to a suitable and habitable standard.

Participants

During the course of the project, we supported 25 local people to build their confidence and self-esteem and learn new skills through the renovation activities. The participants ranged in age from 16 to 70 and had varying backgrounds and challenging life circumstances. However, they all had similar reasons for joining the project, including building confidence, meeting new people, establishing work routines and accessing support could allow them to progress.

Project partners

We were supported by a wide range of local, regional and national partners and organisations during the lifecycle of the community regeneration. These included such bodies as the Welsh Government, who provided support through their NEST Scheme; JCP Neath, Communities4Work and Calan DVS who referred participants into the project; Acorn Recruitment who supported the employment journey of our participants; and TSW Training and the Glynneath Training Centre who supported our participants to achieve accredited qualifications.

Project activities

Led by our team of Multi-Skill Construction Tutors, the project participants were led through the property renovation and developed practical skills in a wide range of trade areas, including plastering, tiling, carpentry, painting & decorating, kitchen/bathroom fitting and everything else associated with a renovation.

They were also supported to achieve the Level 3 Emergency First Aid in the Workplace qualification, CITB Health & Safety Awareness and were supported to pass the CSCS test.

Project completion

Taking into consideration a few COVID-19-induced hiatuses, the project was completed in 6 months and the property was sold and returned to the housing market. The income from the property was then reinvested to purchase the next empty property.

Further information

If you would like further information in relation to our community work, please get in touch through our Contact Page or email us at: info@the-cii.org.

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