environmental sessions from believe housing for local children

Children have given the wildlife in their school grounds a helping hand as part of a construction week led by believe housing.

The not-for-profit County Durham-based housing association held a series of activities for more than 230 pupils at Catchgate Primary School, near Stanley.

Youngsters got to build homes for bugs, plant fruit trees in the school grounds and discover why trees are important habitats for wildlife, for cleaning our air and providing food.

They heard how believe housing is retrofitting hundreds of properties to make them greener and building sustainable homes for the future.

And they learnt about energy efficiency, different building materials, modular construction and the housing association’s work to protect the environment and improve biodiversity.

believe housing worked with partners ENGIE, Corehaus, SunAmp, Vailant and Sykes to deliver the fun-packed week of activities.

Andrea Baxter, Environmental Manager at believe housing, said: “As one of the largest housing associations in the north east, with 18,000 homes, we recognise the impact we can have on the environment and are taking significant steps to reduce our carbon footprint.

“One of our objectives is to support the community with environmental initiatives and projects to improve their neighbourhoods.

“So, we were delighted to be welcomed into Catchgate Primary School recently to share our work with pupils and help them give the wildlife on their school grounds a boost.

“We had some wonderful discussions about how we can all help look after the environment and are sure some of those messages will make it home to the grown-ups.

“We are grateful to all our partners for helping us to deliver a week full of fun activities and were really impressed by the children’s enthusiasm and wonderful creations.”

To find out more about believe housing’s green agenda, please visit:  www.believehousing.co.uk/in-your-neighbourhood/green-plan/