Proud to support great local causes in Holytown!
We’re flying the flag for local North Lanarkshire schools
Taylor Wimpey West Scotland challenged the senior pupils of two local North Lanarkshire primary schools - Holytown and Christ the King - to design a flag to mark the launch of its latest phase of new homes at its Torrance Gardens development in Holytown.
The winning design by primary 7 pupil, Brooke Mckinstray, from Holytown Primary has been produced into a flag that now flies at the entrance to the development to welcome new visitors, existing customers and homeowners alike. Brooke won a £50 cinema voucher, a framed copy of her winning design and the opportunity to visit the development with the eight runners-up to see the flag flying high at the entrance to the development.
The judges also picked four runner-up flag designs from each school to receive prizes of a £15 cinema voucher each and a framed copy of their design.
Children from Primary 6 and 7 at each school rose to the challenge of this fun competition as Laura Alcorn, Head Teacher at Holytown Primary School adds: “Having the opportunity to work with Taylor Wimpey to design a flag to welcome new visitors to their local development in Holytown has been an unusual challenge. I understand the judges found it hard to choose a winner due to the quality of all the designs entered. Brooke’s flag now flies every day, which is a lovely connection between our school and the local Taylor Wimpey development.”
Patricia McBride, Head Teacher at Christ the King Primary School adds: “Being involved in this project has allowed our pupils to demonstrate their creativity whilst having fun, and we are delighted that four of our designs made the shortlist. The children really enjoyed their visit to the development to reveal the winning design and to meet the other finalists.”
Kirsty McGill, Head of Sales for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland said: “We recognise the importance of making sure that we support the communities in which we build our new homes. It has been our pleasure to work with both Holytown and Christ the King Primary Schools on this project to strengthen and extend our links once again with the local community of Holytown.
We are proud to leave a lasting legacy in Holytown
Children from Holytown Primary School in Holytown, Motherwell, have been getting green-fingered by planting 300 spring bulbs in their school garden.
We have donated 300 bulbs as part of our national Proud campaign to show our commitment and pride in leaving a lasting legacy in the communities in which we build.
The planting took place earlier this month and the bulbs are set to grow into a bright, floral tribute in the planters situated around the playground and in the school garden. Lisa Brander, Sales Executive from our Torrance Gardens development, in Holytown, joined in with the planting.
Audrey Ross, Sales and Marketing Director at Taylor Wimpey West Scotland said: “We are proud to be building a new community at our Torrance Gardens development in Holytown, and we want to leave places that both our customers and other local residents will enjoy long after we have finished building.
“We were thrilled to help children from Holytown Primary with the planting and we hope that the bulbs will grow into a lovely display that the children will admire in years to come.”
Karen McLelland, Acting Head Teacher at Holytown Primary School, said: “It is great to see a company like Taylor Wimpey think about the wider community whilst they are building in the local area, and leaving something beautiful behind that will last for years to come. We all loved getting involved in this initiative from Taylor Wimpey, and having the opportunity to help with the planting of the bulbs. We cannot wait to see the results, which we will be able to enjoy every spring.”
Primary School Pupils get a lesson at our Torrance Gardens development in Holytown
Children from a primary school in Holytown have been given an exciting opportunity to see the new homes that are under construction at our Torrance Gardens development as part of their ‘Houses and Homes’ project in school.
Youngsters from the Primary 3 class from Christ the King Primary School explored our development to learn about the construction of a new home; saw various stages of construction and took the opportunity to visit the two show homes.
Our team in Holytown was more than happy to facilitate the visit as Willie Chassels, Assistant Site Manager at Torrance Gardens adds: “We were more than delighted to be able to welcome the children from Christ the King Primary School for an insight into the build process of a Taylor Wimpey home.
“The children have been learning about new homes and how they are built, so this was a really good opportunity for them to learn about some of the process that it takes to build a new home and see some construction activity at the development. We hope that we have also inspired a few of the youngsters to consider the housebuilding industry in the future. “
Whilst the children were at the development, the team took the opportunity to remind the children never to play near a building site and that a school visit was extra-special because normally there are no children allowed near any construction. Never playing near a construction site is a message that we are keen to reinforce to the wider local community – especially ahead of the summer school holiday.
Class teacher Claire Cardle, said: “Our children thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Taylor Wimpey’s Torrance Gardens, asking lots of questions and learning about the building process. They really enjoyed seeing the different stages that it takes to build a new house in real-life, and we know they absolutely loved the show homes.”
Local School Children Get Hand-On As Greener Gardens Project Continues To Grow In North Lanarkshire
As part of our continued commitment to the Greener Gardens project, we have teamed up with Abertay University and Global Professional Services Consultant WSP to offer a learning package which is aimed at Primary 5 children to highlight raingardens, sustainable drainage and the environment.
Pupils from Holytown Primary School in Holytown, North Lanarkshire are the first to benefit from the educational resources with a series of classroom talks and discussions, interactive activities and local show and tell visits in the community to learn more about the concept of Greener Gardens.
The children’s day included a visit to Taylor Wimpey West Scotland’s Torrance Park development in Holytown to see the Torrance Water project features in-situ which includes a natural raingarden, a raised raingarden, water butts and a suds-in-box as well as a visit to the Ravenscraig BRE site.
Torrance Park - Phase 2
As part of our continued commitment to Torrance Park in Holytown, we are delighted to confirm that we are one of the build partners for phase two of the development.
Displayed below is the phase two master plan, alongside our current development at Torrance Park.
For more information about phase 2, please click here.
Greener Garden Project aims to grow in North Lanarkshire
Part of an innovative project that will provide free water butts to 80 new homes
As Scotland sees 2016 as the opportunity to focus on Innovation, Architecture and Design, we have been working in partnership with the Scottish Government, Central Scotland Green Network Trust and academia on an innovative ’Greener Gardens’ project - that looks at how gardens of new homes can be used to contribute to green infrastructure, biodiversity and storm water management.
The project features a number of strands - all designed to encourage the development of sustainable places – including installation of demonstration raingardens, academic research, provision of water butts as part of the package for new homeowners, and raising awareness by promoting the benefits of raingardens both to homeowners and the wider house building industry.
Whilst the research takes place, to encourage homeowners to get involved and to highlight the importance that Greener Gardens will play in the future, Taylor Wimpey West Scotland, Scottish Government and CSGNT have joined forces to provide and install a free 200 litre water butt to the first 80 new homes at the Torrance Park development. These will act as a visible reminder to residents about the need to be more aware of water use and how little changes can have a big impact on the environment.
Cabinet Minister for Local Government and Housing Kevin Stewart visited the development to find out more about the project from the partners involved, and met some of the primary three children from Holytown Primary who will be learning more about raingardens, sustainable drainage and the environment.
Family Fun Day at Torrance Park
Our family fun day at Torrance Park was great fun with loads to do for our visitors. Our magician, clown, face-painters, balloon modeller and large garden games kept loads of families amused as we enjoyed some rare North Lanarkshire sunshine – the perfect showcase for ideal family living. However the real stars of the show were our own Handy Andy and Millie Mortar who made their Scottish debut and were an instant hit.
Our slap band donation reflects our support for walk to school month!
Children from Holytown Primary and Nursery aim to be seen on their walk to school.
We are helping to shine a light on the importance of leaving the car at home and walking to school this autumn, and we’re supporting Walk to School Month, which takes place every October and encourages parents to walk their children to school instead of travelling by car.
We have provided 150 slap bands to encourage primary one and two pupils at Holytown Primary in Holytown to walk to school – and help keep them safe on the journey. It is part of a campaign that will see us provide more than 12,000 slap bands to children across the country.
Audrey Ross, Regional Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland, says: “We are committed to supporting the communities in which we build our high-quality new homes, which is why we are working in partnership with Holytown Primary in Holytown as part of Walk to School Month.
“We understand that family life can be busy, but walking to school is one of the easiest ways for children to increase their level of physical activity and get fit. We hope our contribution will help inspire families to swap the car for a safe walk to school instead.”
Fiona Carson, depute head teacher at Holytwon Primary, says: “We encourage the children to walk to school to promote a healthier lifestyle and to reduce traffic outside the school. We are very grateful to Taylor Wimpey for this generous donation which will help us to raise awareness among pupils and parents alike of how important it is to be seen by road users when walking.”
Walk to School Month is an annual nationwide campaign that promotes the benefits of walking to school, which results in healthier young people and less traffic on the roads.
We Lead the Way in Business at Brannock High School in North Lanarkshire
As part of our ongoing commitment to the local communities of North Lanarkshire, we were delighted to make a key contribution to this year’s business awareness programme for senior year pupils at Brannock High School near Motherwell with a presentation and interactive workshop led by members of our regional business team from Paisley.
With several developments of new homes being built across the local area, including Torrance Park in Holytown, Taylor Wimpey is keen to connect with local schools and communities on a number of levels and to play their role within the communities in which it builds.
Stephen Andrew, Associate Technical Director comments: “We really enjoyed having the opportunity to share our experience of the housebuilding industry as part of this year’s business awareness course at Brannock High School.
“As well as a general overview of the house building industry and how it works, we created an interactive session for the students to take a closer look at the various disciplines within our business model and we hope this will help them to apply the theory they learn this year to the real business world.”
Jack Drummond, Commercial Director adds: “I hope that our session has helped the students to develop their understanding of the wider business world and how they can play a future role in it. We’re always looking for fresh talent to join our industry and sessions like this give us the opportunity to remind students of the wealth of possibilities that are available if you consider a career in house building.”
Clive Gibb, Faculty Head for Technologies at Brannock High School adds: “We were delighted to welcome the team from Taylor Wimpey into our school for what was a very informative session, as part of a full day of learning about the business of house building. This was a great opportunity for our students to consider how business really works and the decisions that companies like Taylor Wimpey make on a daily basis.
“Having relationships like this with the business community helps us to keep our teaching relevant and interesting for our students, and I’d like to thank the team from Taylor Wimpey for their input.”
We give a lesson in safety to Holytown Primary
As work begins on the construction of our Torrance Park development in Holytown, members of the team gave the local children of Holytown Primary School some reminders about health and safety.
We are keen to promote the dangers associated with playing near any construction site and raise awareness of the children’s need to be extra vigilant as the construction of the first phase of 131 new homes at Torrance Park in Holytown is now in full swing.
Being proactive with local schools has proven an effective deterrent in the past as Brian Henderson, Production Manager explains: “Health and safety in and around our construction areas is of vital importance to us, and taking this type of proactive approach with local schools allows us to reinforce just how important it is for children to stay away from building sites.
“Our lesson plan is delivered by our Health & Safety consultants and allows us to promote a very important message in a fun and interactive way. Having the chance to chat to the children in school serves as the perfect reminder for the children that building sites are not playgrounds!”
Lynne Brennan is head teacher for Holytown Primary School: “I was delighted to welcome Taylor Wimpey into our school to highlight the dangers associated with children playing near any construction site. Given their development of new homes is fairly close to our school, and we will have a significant amount of construction work in the local area for some time, this proactive engagement with our children is very important.
“It’s great that Taylor Wimpey understands the importance of our children’s safety, and has created such an interactive and proactive approach to appeal to our pupils.”