17/07/2015

A HULL community centre has received a much needed makeover thanks to a donation from one of the city’s major employers, Crown Paints.

Crown Paints Ron Anderson adds the finishing touches to The Ings Centre watched by (left to right) Iain Bryant (volunteer decorator from Uncycling Unlimited), Elaine Dixon (Crown Paints) and Graham White (Ings Centre Manager).

The Ings Centre, in Savoy Road, which reopened in May received a consignment of more than 50 litres of recycled paint to transform the entire building, following its four year closure.

And this week volunteer painters and staff at The Ings Centre proudly unveiled their handiwork to Crown Paints representatives and celebrated the completion of the centre’s fantastic makeover.

The project is one of ten across the North of England chosen to receive donations of paint as a result of Crown’s Kick Out The Can community partnership programme.

Kick Out The Can collects unwanted paint through Crown Decorating Centres across the UK, recycles the paint and containers at its Darwen headquarters through the social enterprise Nimtech and then distributes it with the help of its partner charity Newground.

Autism Plus, who run The Ings Centre, applied for help in renovating the centre and Crown Paints were delighted to help transform the building.

The Ings Centre is part of the Autism Plus charity that supports adults and young people with autism, learning disabilities and mental health conditions. The centre’s Commercial Manager Graham White said: “After four years of standing empty the centre was badly in need of renovation and without the paint we simply could not have carried out the refurbishment.

“The facelift has made the building as good as new and it’s now a really welcoming space to visit for the whole community. We cannot thank Crown enough for the donation.”

Crown Decorating Centres marketing manager Paula Taylor added: “The amazing refurbishment carried out at The Ings Centre is a perfect example of what can be achieved when businesses and the community work in partnership.

“Over the Easter break all Crown Decorating Centres ran the ‘Kick Out The Can’ initiative, encouraging customers to clear out garages, sheds and cupboards and return unwanted paint to the network of more than 130 stores in the UK.

“We had our most successful year ever with more than 8,600 containers of unwanted paint handed in and then recycled.

“Now it’s great to see that peoples’ unwanted paint has been put to the best possible use, making this fantastic community project a smart and inviting place for years to come.”