Apprentice joiners create community street libraries for new housing developments
Apprentice joiners have put the finishing touches to community street libraries they have created for new housing developments being built by Barratt Homes. The initiative is part of leading housebuilder Barratt Homes' commitment to fostering a sense of community within its new developments. The street libraries have been installed at three of its new housing developments, including Blackberry Park near Bristol, Charfield Gardens in South Gloucestershire, and Great Oldbury in Gloucestershire. The street library is a wooden, fully weather-proofed outdoor store with a Perspex door that can hold around 50 books for exchange by residents. It offers people the chance to take part in a simple, free to access, community book-swap. The street libraries have been constructed by young people on Barratt Homes' apprenticeship programme. Barratt Homes' Bristol division takes on six apprentices every year and the joinery apprentices have been busy building the street libraries as part of their level two and three qualifications in carpentry. 24
Apprentice Cezary Poniatowski, 21, from Bristol, started his apprenticeship in 2018 and has been working on the street library for Blackberry Park in Coalpit Heath near Bristol. He says: "I'm in my third year of my apprenticeship at Barratt Homes and I'm getting a great learning experience and high level skills. I have been working on first and second fix jobs such as fitting doors, skirting boards, and roof joists. I'm really lucky because I started my apprenticeship with Carillion, then, when they went into receivership, Barratt Homes took me on and now I have nearly completed my level three qualification in joinery. After that I will be all set to continue my career in construction." Surrounded by countryside, Blackberry Park, near the village of Frampton Cottrell, is a development of more than 200, two, three four and five-bedroom homes, where the first residents moved in last year. Here, the new street library is just one small part of Barratt Homes' approach to creating a thriving community at Blackberry Park. Barratt Homes is making a contribution worth more than £700,000 towards wider community improvements including outdoor sports facilities, allotments and recreational open spaces.
