Fire and Security firm Black Box has donated its time and expertise to Children in Need as part of its nine day DIYSOS Big Build to help Blackburn’s young homeless youngsters who engage with Nightsafe.
Nightsafe is a local homeless charity based in Blackburn providing holistic services to homeless young people aged 16 to 24 in the Blackburn and Darwen borough. Nightsafe has four projects offering a variety of housing options and services to young people.
The current Nightsafe accommodation centre offers immediate access for young people who have nowhere else to go. They can stay for up to 9 nights whilst alternative accommodation is found for them and they are linked into networks and services. The emergency Night shelter is open from 5pm to 10.00 am the next day, but they are now desperate for a new accommodation centre to help Blackburn’s young homeless.
The project which started this week is renovating the local church, St Silas, which has kindly agreed to lease its Centre to Nightsafe, to develop accommodation for vulnerable young people of Blackburn and the surrounding area.
BBC Children in Need have been supporting Nightsafe with funding for a number of years to support homeless and vulnerable young people under the age of 18, by helping to increase their life skills and engaging them in education and employment to encourage stability in their lives.
DIY SOS is aiming to complete the conversion of the building for Nightsafe, at no cost to the church, local community or the charity. The entire renovation will be funded by donations of product and kind volunteers offering their time, all managed by the experienced BBC TV, DIY SOS team.
David Barnes, Managing Director of Black Box Security said: “We are thrilled to be involved in such a worthwhile cause which will deliver real help to those in need locally. Our team are on site to install the intruder alarm, door access, video intercom, CCTV and fire alarm systems to ensure that once the build is complete, it is safe and protected for all who use it.
“A huge thanks goes to our team who are working around the clock to stick to the tight timings associated with the Big Build and also to our suppliers who have donated the hardware and kit to make this possible.”
Black Box has been protecting people and property across the UK for over 40 years and works with residential, public sector and commercial clients across all aspects of fire and security.
Since it started in 1990 Nightsafe has:
· helped 14,500 young people
· given 42,257 nights off the street
· provided 145,000 meals
· had 785 dedicated volunteers
www.blackburn-nightsafe.org.uk
Massive thanks to our suppliers who have helped with the supply of kit for this job:
Fire Alarm – Electro Detectors Ltd
CCTV and Video Intercom equipment – HIK VISION
CCTV ancillaries – Dynamic
Intruder Alarm equipment – HKC
Access Control equipment – Paxton
Access Control ancillaries – ICS
Access Control – Conven IT
