Charity Begins At Home
The official opening of Windsor Housing’s successful redevelopment at North Road, Stoughton, Guildford will take place on Thursday 15th October 2009. The exciting community regeneration project of ten new affordable homes and a modern resource centre for Headway Surrey, a head injury charity, will be opened by Dad’s Army favourite Bill Pertwee MBE.
Peter Coleman, Windsor Housing’s Chair said, “After such a successful collaborative approach to this project, it is very exciting to be jointly launching the scheme with Headway. It’s a redevelopment that we are really proud of, providing much needed affordable housing in Guildford and offering excellent facilities for an extremely worthy and valuable charity.”
The charity supports people who have suffered head injuries, along with their families and carers, promoting understanding of the implications of head injury and offering encouragement and guidance, working towards rehabilitation back into the community. Chief Executive, Oliver McGeachy, commented, “This is the culmination of a number of years planning and hard work and means a great deal to people in Surrey who have suffered a brain injury. It gives us a secure, custom-built base from which to provide our unique, and vital, range of services.”
As part of Radian, this exciting venture saw a working partnership between Windsor Housing, Headway Surrey and Guildford Borough Council to realise and maximise the site potential. The building programme took less than 12 months, and was completed in May 2009, providing four flats for affordable rent and six, two and three bedroom houses for New Build HomeBuy. This inspiring scheme also includes the provision of fresh new facilities for local charity, Headway Surrey, as well as strengthening collaboration with the local school.
The North Road development includes some exciting innovative elements, with the installation of photovoltaic panels in all houses, the communal areas of the flats and the resource centre, which not only supply renewable energy, but also help keep electricity costs low.
Building contractor, Croudace Homes in Partnership Ltd, ensured each property was finished to a high specification. John Fitzpatrick, site manager from Croudace and golf enthusiast, was so inspired and encouraged by the charity that he nominated Headway Surrey as the ‘Captain’s Charity of the Year’ at his local club, Clandon Regis, helping to raise a substantial amount of money for their continued good work.
A significant community focussed project, the scheme was successful in receiving grant funding from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) towards building the affordable units.
To find out more about Headway Surrey, please visit: http://www.headwaysurrey.org/index.htm
The official opening will take place between 3pm – 4pm on Thursday 15th October.
