Our partners: Factory Youth Zone

Bruntwood has been supporting The Factory Youth Zone for over seven years as its nominated Manchester charity. In order to make our great city regions greater, we work hard to connect, support and aid charitable organisations, to help the growth of local communities.

The Factory Youth Zone provides a unique, safe place for young people, giving them access to sport and creative activities, with almost 1,000 young people visiting the centre each week. The vision of the youth zone is to provide young people with opportunities to make constructive use of their leisure time, raise their aspirations and choose a positive, independent lifestyle.

At Bruntwood, we believe in giving people the opportunity to develop to be their best self, and recognise that people will need to grow their skills throughout their lifetime. Through our support at the youth zone we are proud to contribute to the upskilling and educating young people from Manchester and help them into employment.

Richard Marsh, CEO of The Factory Youth Zone said: “Positive changes in and for young people aged 8 – 19 (up to 25 with additional needs), remains at the heart of all that we do. Over the past 12 months we have continued our work to extend the city’s growing prosperity to young people in North Manchester.”

The visions of both the Factory Youth Zone and Bruntwood also align in our desire to create opportunities for social mobility. We believe that children from all areas and backgrounds should have access to the same experiences and knowledge sharing about life skills and the world of work. At Bruntwood, this is something that is reflected in the way we aim to inspire and educate young people about working in the property industry, and aim to improve opportunities for social mobility and the diversity of our future workforce.

The Factory Youth Zone is located on Rochdale Road in Manchester, in an area ranked 2nd lowest in England for the effect of long term deprivation on children. Before openings its doors in 2011, many young people in the surrounding area had nowhere to go, often turning to crime or antisocial behaviour as an answer.

The Factory Youth Zone offers structured evening sessions and programs. These include a mentoring programme which provides weekly one-to-one support to all members; employability support into work through a tailored 6 - 8 week programme and the list goes on. As well as supporting the youth zone financially through our Manchester fundraising events we also actively support these sessions by providing advice at employability workshops and acting as mentors.

“The support from Bruntwood, which I am consistently overwhelmed by, continues to be vital as we work to strengthen the employment skills of young people and raise their aspirations in order for them to play a greater future role in Manchester’s economy,” Richard explains.

Following a site visit in 2017 the youth zone also had a list of requirements to approve the appearance of the centre. Bruntwood’s painting team attended and provided over 40 hours of their time to decorate the toilets, corridors, staircases and gym.

“To have worked with Bruntwood over the past seven years, and to continue to do so is a privilege. Bruntwood employees and the organisation donate so much more than money – they give their time, experience and unfaltering support including that which facilitates organisational growth,” said Richard.

As of the end of 2017, Bruntwood is proud to have raised £265,000 for the charity.