Amber Foundation Surrey
About the project
This is our fourth renovation project with Amber Foundation to-date – a wonderful charity who support young people at risk of homelessness.
Our partnership with Amber is a win-win for spaces and skills – not only have we renovated parts of the buildings young people live in temporarily to help them rebuild healthier lives across three of their sites, those same young people also volunteer with us on other external community projects to gain skills, experience and confidence.
- 100+ young people volunteering with Amber across 20+ VIY projects
- 3 of 4 Amber residential centres renovated by VIY – with this our second at their place in Surrey
- Multiple City & Guilds accreditations gained by Amber volunteers on each project
This is also our first project in partnership with the Shanly Foundation, who wish to have a positive impact on young people and their local communities in which they operate.
Phase 1 – November 2023
We transformed a large piece of overgrown, disused land to create a more useable outdoor area and learning spaces, including building and painting all new brightly coloured seating and furniture and jetwashing their paved areas. We then also replaced old, dishevelled structures with new and converted some disused outdoor buildings into brand new health, wellbeing and therapy spaces, including an external glow-up to make them more inviting and homely.
Phase 2 – April 2024
We then returned to design and fit completely new roofing across three stables, which were dilapidated and covered with holes, turning previously unusable spaces into rooms for learning, IT, 1:1s and art. We then boarded out and redecorated a fourth room, for the team to use for further learning and training for the young people supported by Amber. The new roofing was funded by the Wooden Spoon Charity.
The impact across the whole project:
- Transforming both their outdoor and damaged indoor spaces, creating brand new spaces for teamwork and personal development that wouldn’t have existed otherwise
- 33 unique young people supported by Amber trained in construction skills, helping to improve their environment they call home
- 35 City & Guilds trade skills accreditations gained in Carpentry, Health & Safety and Painting & Decorating
- Following his VIY experience on Phase 1, Tyler has since successfully progressed away from Amber, gaining his CSCS card and gaining a job in roofing!
- Kieran (pictured right) has also successfully moved away from Amber and is studying Biology with the Open University
- Patrick and Jamie, aged 25 and 24, were coached as Peer Mentors on the project, leading their own groups of peers on sections of the work and sharing their skills they’ve bolstered with VIY
- Introduced Clarion Housing as an employability partner for future collaborative work and entry into the industry for some Amber learners, alongside support from VIY’s Progressions team
Take a look at our impact so far elsewhere with Amber Foundation:
Boosting wellbeing at Trowbridge
Creating inspiring spaces in Devon
Success story: helping Angel take his next steps
Helping young people like Vanessa to build a brighter future
