MP opens new club house for Ashmole’s older residents

Older residents living on the Ashmole estate in Oval celebrated as MP Kate Hoey officially opened their new sheltered club house. The club house was dramatically revamped as part of the large-scale regeneration project Metropolitan is carrying out on the estate.

The club house has been a meeting point for older residents for a number of years and has enabled them to participate in a number of social activities, however, the building was old and in desperate need of a revamp.

Owen Thompson, Managing Director of Metropolitan Clapham Park said: "Metropolitan, together with our construction partner Rydon, carried out a major revamp of the club house and we involved residents every step of the way to ensure the new facility met their needs. Today we have reached a key milestone in the regeneration work we are doing on the Ashmole estate and we are delighted to see the new club house officially opened by MP Kate Hoey."

The new club house includes dedicated rooms for hairdressing and computing, a spacious and modern kitchen, which was partly funded by £10,000 worth of Big Lottery money, and a specially designed landscaped garden which the residents will be able to maintain themselves.

MP Kate Hoey said: "Today is a real tangible example of the work Metropolitan is doing to make improvements to the community and Rydon has done a great job of building something that residents can feel proud of."

Ted Moore, Chair of the Ashmole Regeneration Board and Senior Citizens Club, said: "Thanks to Metropolitan and Rydon for giving us a bigger building with much better facilities. We look forward to inviting the community in and also starting a gardening club."

Rydon has also been helping local unemployed people back into work through a site-based construction training programme called Live Train. Trainees on the course supported the work on the clubhouse and a number have since been employed full-time to continue working on the refurbishment to the estate.

Jeff Henton, Managing Director of Rydon Maintenance added: "This project represents part of a multi-million pound investment by Metropolitan to create modern, warm and much more energy efficient homes for the future. We are very proud to play a role in its delivery and also to have the opportunity to invest in the future of local people through the Live Train programme, which has helped a group of unemployed people gain the trade skills and experience necessary to secure employment here on the Ashmole Estate or locally through our supply chain partners."

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