Military charity Building Heroes starts property maintenance firm in Portsmouth to give work to veterans

Does your garden need a spruce up? Or do you have shelf that needs putting up?

These are just some of the things a military charity is hoping their new handyman service will provide – with the added bonus of helping keep veterans in work.

A property maintenance company, called Building Heroes Property Services, is launching on Monday in Portsmouth and Colchester.

It has been set up by charity Building Heroes, which was set up by Tom McLoughlin and Brendan Williams five years ago with the aim of tackling unemployment among veterans.

It currently runs training centres in Cheshire, Devon, East Midlands, Essex, Hampshire, Somerset, Tees Valley, West Sussex and Wiltshire.

At these centres, more than 1,000 veterans have graduated with new construction skills, with 400 graduating in the last academic year.

Now they hope to put these skills to further good use, and have set up the property maintenance firm as a way to provide further employment, and raise money to put back into their centres.

Brendan said: ‘When you open your door, you want to know you can trust the person walking through it.

‘All our skilled tradespeople are military veterans; it goes without saying they are people you can rely on.

‘Arriving on time. Putting you at ease. Solving problems, whatever it takes. You can be safe in the knowledge they will do the very best job, whilst also giving you the opportunity to recognise the commitments they have made for their country.

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‘When you use one of our people, to fix your tap, plaster your wall, or re-decorate your house, you are giving something back to those who were prepared to risk the ultimate sacrifice, their lives, to keep us safe.

‘And by doing so, you are also helping us continue to train up more veterans, giving them a clear pathway to a second career, and a future for them and their families.’

Tom said that as well as employing veterans, their call centres are all staffed by military spouses, who also sometimes struggle to find work due to the transient nature of their partner’s postings.

Tom added: ‘We are looking for lifelines here. We know that it is a precarious time to launch a business but we believe that it is worth taking the risk.

‘We hope that by getting work coming in, this will bring money in for veterans and their families who really need it.’

For more go to buildingheroes.org.uk or call 0330 390 0940.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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