Gabalfa Garden Project

Project lead: owen@teamviy.com

VIY are returning to Gabalfa Youth & Community Centre, following our hugely successful and collaborative project to help them create a multi-media studio in 2024. In spring 2025, we’ll be helping them to create a wellbeing garden, to continue the transformation of this site into a space that is truly youth-led.

See our first project come to life here. 

Paddocks Community Centre

We’ve recently been supporting The Paddocks Community Centre on Canvey Island. Working with Castle Point Council through theUK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), we’ve been helping them finish off the £2.3million renovations to this much-loved community centre. At the same time, we’ve been supporting local young people, those who are NEET or at risk of becoming so, to engage in the VIY skills experience and earn hands-on work experience in painting and decorating for this valued community space on a major local infrastructure project.

Our work/approach has been so successful, Castle Point Council have since provided further funding for us to complete more works there over at least two more projects, helping to welcome more local young people to play their part in renovating this much-loved space, building vital skills and employability at the same time.

For further details on Phases 3 and 4, which are ongoing, please contact Project Manager: graham@teamviy.com

Phase 1 and 2 (March 2025) – co-funded by the UKSPF by Castle Point Council, alongside Dulux and Essex Community Foundation

We’ve been helping to complete the wider renovation works by supporting the venue in painting and decorating the wide open public spaces. Our friends at Dulux not only provided funding towards this project, but also gifted their colour services to the venue to build them a colour palette which truly reflected the building and its future ambitions/needs.

15 young people took part on the project, referred from The Children’s Society East, Leaving and Aftercare Team – South Essex, USP College

A young person progresses directly from The Paddocks

A few weeks after this first project, we received a request for further support from one of our learners, Riley, referred to VIY as a NEET young person by The Yellow Door Project. He was inspired by the Next Steps Guide we send out post-project to all learner, which includes further resources to explore the trade & construction industry. 

They told us that the project had given them exactly what they’d been searching for: real-world experience in a field they were passionate about. Despite having a strong interest in Painting & Decorating, they’d never had the chance to gain hands-on experience, until now. With the support and mentorship of skilled tradespeople on-site, they began to build the foundational skills and confidence they needed.

Motivated and energised by their time on the project, Riley took the initiative to explore opportunities in their local area, and we’re proud to share that they’ve now secured a full-time position with a tradesperson in Canvey Island. They’re absolutely thrilled about this next chapter, and we couldn’t be happier for them.

Phase 3

We’ll now be supporting The Paddocks to upgrade their staff kitchen, and look at proposals for a larger industrial kitchen renovation.

Horsell Common

Project contact: graham@teamviy.com

Meridale Youth & Community Centre

Project contact: katie@teamviy.com.

The Marsh Estate – Retrofit

Project contact: matt@teamviy.com

The Marsh Estate – Outdoor

Project contact: matt@teamviy.com

Dovercourt & Harwich Hub

St Ann’s Foodbank

St Edmund’s Hall

Long Buckby Youth Centre

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