Construction students begin work at Tump 53

This week, dedicated  construction students from London South East Colleges’ Holly Hill Construction Campus have begun a project to build a new woodland walk at a former munitions testing site in Thamesmead – helping to preserve it as a beautiful nature reserve for the local community.

Tump 53 dates back to the days when this area was largely uninhabited marshland and is one of the few remaining tumps originally built by the nearby Royal Arsenal to store gunpowder, encircled with blast walls and moats. Since 2013, however, it has been used as a focal point for schools and youth groups to introduce youngsters to natural and environmental issues with the aid of the Wild About Thamesmead Campaign. They were responsible for securing the initial funding for its original transformation.

The students will be working hard to clear away overgrown bramble and collect rubbish and debris that has accumulated over the last few years. The project will then lead to the construction of a new ‘safe’ pathway leading to a children’s play area.

Jack Gower, Outdoor Education Manager for Peabody (Peabody manage the site) is delighted that the College has been able to lend its support and provide skills and labour for the project to get underway this summer. He said: “It’s always encouraging to see young people volunteering to take part in such a worthwhile enterprise like this. I’d really like to thank the students and their tutors for taking time out of their very busy schedules to help out. This is just the beginning of what will surely be a fruitful partnership between Peabody and the College.”

Peabody’s Senior Regeneration Manager, Kate Batchelor, was also quick to praise the students, saying: “The work the students are performing today will form part of a much larger initiative which will benefit locals for many years to come. They will take away valuable on-site working experience as well as a sense of achievement and community engagement. Partnerships such this enable everybody to benefit and contribute to making our environments liveable, stimulating, clean and enchanting.”

Construction Multi Skills Level 1 student Connor Sheppard Coombs has been looking forward to rolling up his sleeves and getting down to work for several weeks now. Taking a short and much deserved break from his work he said: “It’s amazing how much work you can get through when you are working with such a dynamic team as ours. We are all up for this and each member has been specially chosen to take part. I’m very honoured to be amongst them and intend to prove myself and promote my abilities and drive.

“I would like to be a self-employed bricklayer once I have completed all of my training at the College and so far, I’ve learnt many new skills in different building services disciplines on my level 1 course. Next September, I’ll be returning to specialise in brickwork and from there it will be onwards and upwards for me.”