A resourceful construction company working on a secure children’s home in Leeds has used its time and people to build a new pond facility for local primary school children nearby.

BAM Construction – the contractor behind Leeds Arena and the restoration of the City varieties – came to the aid of Alwoodley Primary School whose grounds now offer pupils a retreat for wildlife with the development of a new pond.




The School is close to the new Adel Beck Secure Children’s Home, which BAM has just completed.


When BAM’s team and its sub-contractors heard that the school pupils would benefit from the new addition to the playground, they were keen to help out. It got together with Construction Yorkshire which was helping the company and its subcontractors on the Adel Beck site in achieving targets for employment and skills.
Construction Yorkshire also introduced BAM to Renewal Construction, which specialises in projects that offer optimum opportunities for local community involvement. They gave opportunities to two young, local, unemployed trainees to gain valuable work experience on the project. In return for their hard work, Renewal Construction provided them with health & safety training, enabling them to enhance their CVs.

“The combined in-kind value of the new pond development is around £12,000 which a school can ill-afford. For us, it is about using the opportunity when we build in an area to act responsibly, and use our time to give something back. We leave behind a high quality building, but we want to do more than that, and leave some goodwill behind too. It’s been a proper team effort with our partners and the kids have something that looks great and which they can learn from.”

Anthony Heaton

Sustainability Advisor