Partner Article

HCA Grant Helps Dawsons Cottages’ Charity

The Dawson Cottages’ Charity was founded by John Ingram Dawson in 1951 and is one of a number of Charities for whom George F. White LLP manage property. The Charity itself built a number of homes in the 1950s in Brough and Barnard Castle to provide comfortable accommodation for ladies in the local community, and has been providing such accommodation ever since.

George F. White, in its role as Managing Agents recently succeeded in securing a substantial grant from the Homes & Communities Agency to support the work of the Charity’s Trustees in their continuing efforts to ensure the homes available within the portfolio of property offer the very best in comfort and economy to the residents.

To achieve their objective George F. White engaged the services of John Potter Architect Limited who have considerable experience in the refurbishment of residential property. With the Trustees and George F. White, they developed a scheme of refurbishment and improvement. The work was successfully tendered and then completed in two stages with Residents transferring from their original homes to the newly refurbished properties, which now incorporate energy saving measures including insulation and energy efficient heating. These will reduce the energy bills of the Residents by as much as 80%.

Carolyn Milburn MRICS, Associate at George F. White, responsible for managing the Group’s charity portfolio said: “Securing the Homes & Communities Agency’s Grant has enabled us to deliver these wonderfully energy efficient homes for the benefit of residents and to build upon the hard work of the Trustees over the last sixty years”.

Simon Potter RIBA, Director of John Potter Architect Limited the appointed Architect responsible for the design and execution of the Works added: “The project at Barnard Castle is a wonderful example of the combination of traditional spacious design and modern energy saving technology which allows us, as architects, to deliver energy efficient and comfortable homes throughout the north east of England. Such projects are extremely rewarding for Architects and we would encourage all Trustees to follow the example set by the Trustees at Dawson Cottages. We would always encourage Trustees to appoint experienced Managing Agents such as George F White LLP and an experienced Architect to ensure they obtain the very best solution for their needs. The appointment of an experienced Contractor, such as Blackburn Marshall who undertook the Works will enable Trustees to obtain the best quality of construction”.

The Trustees are currently seeking Residents for three of the homes and Applicants should contact Carolyn Milburn at George F White’s Wolsingham Office to discuss availability. Carolyn can be contacted carolynmilburn@georgefwhite.co.uk or 01388 529563.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by George F White .