Member Article

Grŵp Cynefin’s HWB Dinbych comes home with prestigious UK Housing Awards 2015

Grŵp Cynefin housing association is delighted to bring home to Wales a UK award for their innovative community facility, HWB Dinbych.

In a glittering awards ceremony in London, 700 people involved in the UK housing industry saw Grŵp Cynefin’s Community Development Manager, Mair Edwards receive the award on behalf of the staff and the partners involved with Hwb Dinbych. The award was presented to her by comedian and TV personality Sandi Toksvig.

Winning the ‘Outstanding Development of the Year Award’ in the 2015 UK Housing Awards, representatives from John McCall Architects, Anwyl Construction and the Denbigh Youth Project joined Grŵp Cynefin in receiving the award on behalf of the project partners at the ceremony.

HWB Dinbych, a £2.2m project is the first development of its kind and provides a number of educational and recreational facilities to people of all ages from Denbigh community and the surrounding area.

The awards recognise outstanding work by housing organisations to improve the lives of people in their communities. The event was organised by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and Inside Housing magazine.

Now in their 19th year, this year’s awards attracted more than 250 entries from all over the UK.

Walis George, Grŵp Cynefin’s Chief executive said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive this award in recognition of the hard work of everyone involved in this innovative project. Grŵp Cynefin staff have worked tirelessly over a number of years to bring this project to fruition, with support and drive from our partner agencies, Denbighshire County Council (youth, housing and supporting People teams), Grŵp Llandrillo Menai and Denbigh Youth Project.

“Funding from the Big Lottery Fund, the Welsh Government, Cyfenter and the Garfield Weston Trust gave us the opportunity to bring much needed support to local people in the area, in addition to local employment during the building of this project. Long term employment has also been secured now the project is up and running. Hwb Dinbych showcases what Grŵp Cynefin in partnership can achieve - practical hands on support within local communities that offer more than just housing needs. We are delighted that this UK award recognise this community commitment.”

The community space at Hwb Dinbych features four teaching rooms, a music studio, workshop space, IT room, teaching kitchen and a multi-purpose room that can host a variety of activities including youth clubs, meetings and craft courses.

Mair Edwards, Community Development manager for Grŵp Cynefin, said: “It was a great experience to attend the awards ceremony, and see for ourselves how stiff the competition across the whole of the UK, really was. When Hwb Dinbych’s name was announced as the winner for the category, there were screams of delight! It is indeed, testament to a huge team effort and we are honoured to come home with this award.”

The Welsh Government’s Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty met with Denbigh residents earlier this year to see the new development for herself. Lesley Griffiths AM visited the Hwb which opened last year and said:

“It is an excellent example of the housing sector working with partner organisations and the local community to create a facility which is making a real difference to the Denbigh area.”

The Minister met many local people who have already been using the facility and heard how one young mum has been inspired to start her own small business enterprise as a result of the help and support she has received at the HWB.

Grŵp Cynefin manages nearly 4,500 affordable homes across North Wales, provides a range of community services for people in need and also delivers a number of community regeneration projects.

For more information on HWB Dinbych, contact centre manager Ann Davies on 0300 111 2122 or follow @HWB_Dinbych on Twitter.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Harris .