Lending a hand on our doorstep

We’re always keen to support organisations making a difference in our community. So this spring it was our pleasure to work with an important charity located in the same town as our HQ in Exmouth, southwest England. 

The Deaf Academy had been awarded a “generous” donation from the Swire Charitable Trust and we offered a significant discount to design a wooden hexagonal outside classroom and cover the building work, headed up by one of our project managers, within five days.  

Supporting the Academy in this way meant that the charity could achieve more at a lower cost, allowing for a new climbing castle structure and shed to be built as well. 

The classroom includes a wheelchair ramp and has circular seating to support children and staff who lip-read and use British Sign Language. It was popular from the get-go; as well as providing an educational and social space for pupils, it’s a haven during rainy break times. 

The Academy provides education and residential care for 70 deaf children and young people, aged nine to 25 years old, many of whom have additional needs. 

We are now planning a further collaboration with the Academy to create a new Forest School in the school grounds. 

Rich Acca, Splash Project Manager who led the build, said:

“Most of the time we’re hundreds of miles from home delivering projects for our business partners’ communities, so it was great to get stuck in and support a local charity in our own community.”