Site Development
Our Board of Trustees held a Strategy Day on the 10th March 2021 to give clear direction in terms of our 2022/2025 Business Plan against a background of continued sustainable growth for our charity over the last few years. With the continued support of Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) a number of strategic options were carefully considered and a variant, best described as a ‘protect and grow’ option, was agreed.
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In summary, this means that we will continue to deliver our existing services at our Main Road Nursery ‘hub’ site but offer significant growth in terms of the number of young people we can comfortably support by extending our lease onto adjacent land owned by Heathrow Airport.
This continuous development will be the focus of our attention for 2021 on the clear understanding that the quality of provision would be maintained and that the safe and welcoming learning environment we have worked hard to create is not compromised in any way .
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As HAL also have no plans for their site at Prince’s Lakes, they have confirmed they are happy to work with us to agree progress to the next level of development. We are keen to draw up an incremental development plan, initially as a potential location for a suitable social enterprise and for corporate employee / community group volunteering, before considering the pros and cons of total or partial relocation of our existing education and training services at our current location to Prince’s Lakes.
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So over the next few months, we are focusing our energies on expanding current provision by moving back our existing boundary fence to encompass an additional 3500m2 of growing space, 200m2 of land for a new hydroponic glasshouse enterprise with Urban Harvest and an additional 500m2 of recreational space for the physical and mental well-being of our learners.
This project will also allow us to reconfigure the layout within our existing curtilage allowing the building of three new teaching kitchens, expanded functional skills provision and new sensory rooms. As a result we will now be able to offer spaces for 64 young people aged 16-25 with Education, Health and Care Plans from the start of the 2022/23 academic year.
The project is progressing well with all portacabins' now delivered, the glasshouse is complete and the fence lines in place. We are now working on converting our barn into a recreational hub for our learners where we hope to expand our Enrichment Programme for our young people.
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A huge thank you to HSS for all letting us use their equipment and to Colnbrook Logistics Centre for allowing us to bid on their equipment. Both of these companies have saved us a lot of funds that we have been able to put towards other items we vitally needed.
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