In the News

We have been working with Building Self Belief on a year 5 and 6 project about the pit disaster as well as learning about life in the Stargate and Crookhill area 200 years ago and about the changes that have taken place in the area since then. The project has included a creative writing competition and we’ve been delighted by the enthusiasm and imagination that our pupils have shown in the poems they have written and the art they have produced. We are grateful to Building Self Belief, Beamish and Brighten Ryton for their support.

We have a long-standing relationship with Building Self Belief and it’s been wonderful to support this heritage project. By finding out more about Stanley’s past and sharing stories with residents, we can strengthen the local community of today as part of our place-shaping approach in the town.

It has been an absolute pleasure to work with the Stanley schools and community on the Celebrating Stanley project. We have all discovered and shared new and exciting stories about the town. I have personal links to Stanley, so this has been a particularly emotional and engaging experience for me, too. There is still a strong community spirit in the town and this is something that must be encouraged and developed.

Steel Street was identified as one of our key social value projects in the area as Building Self Belief has a great track record in delivering community projects and involving residents. Having the centre in the heart of Consett is a great asset and will improve accessibility for residents of the area. It’s fantastic to bring together our local partners to provide more community support to those in need. Karbon owns and manages a high proportion of homes in the Consett and Stanley area, so many of our customers will hopefully benefit from the new facilities. Building Self Belief have transformed many lives throughout our partnership and we are delighted to contribute to the important work they deliver.

The centre means we now have an identity and a consistent presence, putting us at the heart of the community. We’ve been based in Consett since 2018 but not had a facility to bring people together in. Having our own space will save us lots of time planning and means we can deliver more activity to develop intergenerational friendships in a safe, warm place.

I want to educate people in this project about how to help our world to become a greener and healthier place to live. I think I'll be really good at thinking of ideas to help to protect our Earth and I look forward to helping others to get involved.

It’s great to see the enthusiasm here, this is a real community-based charity, and they are bringing positive stuff to the local area. It’s these smaller projects that really matter to people because it’s where they live. It’s fantastic to see something like this right in the heart of Consett, Benfieldside is an area that often gets overlooked, but you can already see the potential of the space as it starts to be cleared.

What a transformation. What was an unloved area is now bright and inviting and at a stage where the students can really experiment with growing their own food and cultivating their own flowers. It will be used as a wellbeing space for the students, as well as an outdoor classroom where a whole variety of students can access and use the space.

Because of Building Self-Belief, we have actually achieved our goal of making the area safe and serviceable. We now have a dedicated area for wildlife, wild stock sowed, and new trees planted to enhance attraction of wildlife. Through Christine and Holly from Building Self-Belief we have now transformed that area to becoming wildlife and Eco friendly, huge thank you from 9H and myself for their unwavering financial and practical support. We love our new garden.