Education in building for Darley children

This week, pupils from Darley Dale Primary School were treated to a special Health and Safety presentation by Idris Jones, contracts manager for building firm William Davis Ltd.

It is perfect timing too, as their school is currently undergoing a redevelopment project with the Loughborough-based contractor, working on behalf of Dales Housing and Derbyshire County Council.

The children, aged between 4 and 11-years-old who all attend the popular primary school,

Idris said: “Health and Safety on site is a very serious subject and it’s amazing how many people are totally unaware of the dangers.

“I think it’s great to be able to inform youngsters about all aspects of construction from an early age, especially with this development going on around them. Who knows it might inspire some of them to come into the business; schemes like this demonstrate what a fascinating industry it is.”

The project, which is the second William Davis has undertaken on behalf of Dales Housing, involves an extension to the existing school, including three new classrooms plus the renovation and conversion of a Grade II listed building the children will be vacating to move into their new classrooms. The conversion will provide seven properties for sale, together with 15 affordable homes being built in the grounds of the old school.

As part of the presentation, the schoolchildren were given the opportunity to design a poster to demonstrate the dangers on site. Seven posters, one from each year group will be chosen, enlarged and displayed outside the site while construction work is ongoing.

Darley Dale Primary School head teacher, Peter Hughes commented: “This was a valuable learning experience for our children especially with the construction work underway on our doorstep. The children really enjoyed the presentation and have since generated some fantastic posters consolidating the key messages.”

Completion of the whole scheme is targeted for Autumn 2015.