SPOTLIGHT ON BAND OF BUILDERS
Fast-growing national charity Band of Builders (BoB) recently appointed Gavin Crane as its first CEO. We catch up with him to find out how BoB completes practical projects to help members of the UK construction industry who are battling illness or injury.
TCF: Tell us about a recent project you’ve done
GC: We’ve just completed our 25th project, where half a dozen of our volunteers from across the UK put in a new wet room for a family in Plymouth because the wife of a carpenter needs to shower twice a day to help relieve the pain of her hypermobility, connective tissue disease and arteriosclerosis symptoms. The project took a week and the beneficiary Audra was eligible because she is an immediate family member of a tradesperson.
She was signposted to BoB after seeing news stories about other projects we had completed to help tradespeople and their families who are facing challenging situations and require help.
TCF: What kind of projects has BoB carried out?
GC: Our projects vary: from building an extension for a wheelchair user who needed the ground floor of their home completely remodelling to fixing the roof for a 93-year-old former brickie who was no longer able to make repairs to the home he built for his family.
I’ve been involved with BoB since the second project in 2017, and what never ceases to amaze me is the generosity of our BoB community who answer the call to help others. We see it time and again: tradespeople passing up paid work to give their time for free, often for days on end, to help others.
“What never ceases to amaze me is the generosity of our BoB community.”
It’s the projects that we’re becoming known for and the reason BoB was founded in the first place. In 2016, one landscaper’s friend and colleague was diagnosed with terminal cancer, so Addam Smith decided to share his desire to help in the only way he knew how: with an online community, sparking an outpouring of support from fellow tradespeople across the country, who came together to carry out a wide range of improvements to his home.
TCF: What are your plans for the future?
GC: This year, we have set ourselves a target to complete 12 projects, and we’re well on track to do that. We’ve already completed four, two more are about to go live and another half a dozen are in the pipeline.
Looking ahead, the projects will always be the lifeblood of what we do – but we are seeing increased demand for two other avenues of support that we offer. The first is providing grants to support those who work within the UK construction
18 | SPOTLIGHT Gavin Crane
industry who are facing financial hardship. The other is our wellbeing and counselling service.
As well as being eternally grateful to the nearly 50,000-strong BoB community, we must also thank all our partners and patrons who provide materials for projects, provide financial backing and fundraise on our behalf. These include the likes of DeWALT, Jewson, Gibbs & Dandy, V12 Footwear, Talasey, Resideo and Haemmerlin.
TCF: How else do you help construction workers?
GC: Through our first annual Big Brew event last October – where tradespeople were invited to coffee mornings and encouraged to have a chat over a cuppa – we were able to raise funds for a counselling service for two years.
This year, we’re gearing up for an even bigger Big Brew in October, where we aim to smash last year’s numbers in terms of getting even more tradespeople talking because, as we all know, this could be the thing that helps a tradesperson who is in crisis and needs help.
TCF: How can readers of Tomorrow’s Contract Floors get involved?
GC: Anyone reading this who wants to find out more about BoB is urged to go to
https://bandofbuilders.org/pages/get- involved, as there are lots of ways to help.
https://bandofbuilders.org/pages/get-involved https://bandofbuilders.org
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