Woolenwick School Pupil Parliament give Helston House the green thumbs up!

The Pupil Parliament students from Woolenwick school joined the Leader of the Council and Executive Member for Regeneration, Sharon Taylor OBE, Councillor Jeannette Thomas, Executive Member for Housing and Housing Development and Councillor Michael Downing on a tour of Helston House today (7 July 2022), as this sustainable new build, comprising 29 homes nears completion.

Thanks to SJM, the developers completing the build, the students had an enjoyable experience. The day started with a toolbox talk, ahead of a site tour, where SJM explained about staying safe on site and taught the children more about working in the construction industry.

Throughout the tour, the students learned about the many environmental enhancements that each of the homes contains. This includes the use of electric heating, triple glazing, added thermal building insulation and Photovoltaic panels to harness the suns energy

They asked a number of questions and learned lots about the positive impacts that each of these different aspects contributes to saving our world. They all got involved in a drawing exercise that will be used to welcome new tenants to their homes when they move in.

Councillor Sharon Taylor OBE also presented the students with a build your own solar night light home kit as a parting gift thanking them for joining us on site today.

Councillor Jeannette Thomas, Executive Member for Housing and Housing Development, said: “It really is fantastic to be able to offer the students of the Woolenwick Pupil Parliament the opportunity to have a look around the building that they initially designed the hoarding for last year.

“It was a fun-filled, educational visit where the students learnt about sustainable building, its positive impact and the health and safety that is needed on construction sites too.”

Councillor Sharon Taylor OBE, Leader of the Council and Executive Member for Regeneration, said: “The environment and our world is a very important topic for the children, especially given the fact that we are all working hard to reverse the negative impact and damage that has been done in the past. It’s great to see the green technology that is being installed and how this contributes to saving our planet.

“It was interesting to see the children interact, they enjoyed the activity and had a great day, you never know, we may see some of them working in the construction industry in the future! For me, it was fantastic to see how this development has progressed into high-quality, sustainable homes that will be lived in by the people of Stevenage.”