April 10, 2019

We're featured in the 'Ones to Watch' section of the very prestigious Business Quarterly website!! This is a major achievement, as we are there alongside well-established businesses like FoodWorks (formerly Sheffield Junkfood Project) and many other very inspiring (and well-resourced) names from round the country. Next aim is to get on the main list for next year!

April 10, 2019

Tell Sheffield City Council your opinion on this link!

April 07, 2019

We at REACH are hugely excited to announce the launch of our first commissioned build! We will be collaborating with the Ecology Building Society to produce them an energy efficient eco-office. Whilst it is not a house we are optimistic that it will be an exemplar of our ideal, whilst serving to get the ball rolling on other projects.

March 23, 2019

This weekend we were at Eco-Expo, High Storrs. It was fantastic seeing some of you there and the overwhelming support was helpful as ever! 

Massive thanks to one of our younger volunteers Alexander!

December 17, 2018

REACH Homes spent the day with Action Coach UK getting our business plan into shape for that all important first order. This was pretty intense stuff but we came away with a lot of notes about what we need to do and when to deliver our first homes.

December 14, 2018

Congratulations to Andrew Wallace, Ornella Luorio and Kate Simpson for their third seminar on this important issue on Friday. Through these 3 seminars we have explored different construction measures, the barriers companies face to break into the market, supply and local authority perspectives. Really impressed by the vision and commitment of Leeds City Council and the City Region who have a really strong coherent positive vision for the residents of the region. I look forward to the final report. What is innovative is the multi-disciplinary approach at Leeds University, this was a collaboration between the Schools of Sociology and Civil Engineering.

November 21, 2018

Reach recently attended the Rotherham Housing development Summit.  This was an excellent day with good presentations outlining Rotherham's sincere commitment to partnership working and solving  the homelessness crisis our society faces.  Rotherham believes in affordable housing, believes in the transformational nature of a secure house for a key worker or homeless family and is taking steps to achieve this.

Reach wishes them all the best on their journey.

November 08, 2018

We have recently been highly commended for our prototype house, under the "Sustainable New Build Project of the Year" category at the SHIFT Awards. Thanks to all those involved and we are moving up!

November 01, 2018

Our second container arrived today to become a travelling demonstrator - aiming for FutureBuild in March!

October 01, 2018

Thanks to the fantastic work of Chris @ Severn Creative we are proud to present a 3d tour of our show home!

September 24, 2018

Jon will be presenting at St Wilfrid’s Place - First Year Anniversary Celebration. In discussion with BBC’s Paulette Edwards. Accommodating Change: bringing fresh thinking to tackling homelessness.

To mark the occasion of the First Anniversary of St Wilfrid's Place, our £2 million residential unit, we are hosting a public event to provide an information platform to help 

people understand and learn more about what charities and UK organisations are doing to provide housing solutions for homeless and vulnerable adults.

Hosted by BBC radio’s Paulette Edwards, over the course of the evening we will learn more about how four organisations provide alternative housing solutions.

The event aims to provide a friendly non-political platform for discussion and learning new points of view.

September 15, 2018

What's tIt’s been a while since our last one but we just found out REACH has been shortlisted for the prestigious national SHIFT Awards - Best Sustainable Building Initiative! Ceremony in London on 8th Nov!

September 06, 2018

Thank you Key Fund and Social Investment Business for the £7200 grant to get us investment-ready! That was confirmed yesterday lunchtime and at 10am today I agreed a feasibility report with Matt and Gaynor at Modularize in Liverpool to plan out the factory and production process. It’s all coming on top now people!!!

March 15, 2018

Thursday March 15th saw 100 delegates gather at St Mary's Centre on Bramall Lane for our first National Conference. 

With keynotes from John Healey, the Shadow Housing Minister and Rob Pearson of the newly-reformed Homes England agency, the tone was set for an amazing day of inputs from our other guests.

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With the event being live-tweeted by our media partner 24Housing, excellent catering and a very enthusiastic crowd, the day was filled with academic, practical and policy debate, loads of cogent questions and a strong message to Homes England on the real meaning of affordability and the need to make decisions based on local conditions and with local input.

December 12, 2017

All that Awards stuff - well, all over now, just left polishing our trophies!! 

Social Enterprise Yorks & Humber Social Entrepreneur of the Year in November, plus a runner-up in the Start-Up category. 

Then last Thursday we walked away not only with the Innovation Award we were shortlisted for but the overall trophy - Outstanding Business of the Year! A massive achievement for a firm that as yet hasn't sold diddly squat! We take great heart from this being the affirmation we needed from above that we are on the right track and that now we will start to open some doors! 

November 01, 2017

We're also shortlisted for the Innovation Award, sponsored by Lupton Fawcett, at this year's Sheffield Business Awards. I suppose the excitement will wear off one day, but for now - YAY!!!!!  

November 01, 2017

We've been nominated for not one but two awards at this year's SEYH Awards, and they're at Burton Street Foundation, just down the road!

We're in the Start-up of the Year and Social Entrepreneur of the Year categories, and I'll be joined at the dinner by fellow Directors Natasha Stone and Jonathan Yewdall so let's hope we come home with a prize :-)

October 13, 2017

Late news but we were runners-up in this prestigious award at the 5* Landmark Hotel in London. I was pleased to be joined by Louise Cannon, our Award Manager from Unltd to enjoy a delicious lunch and a full set of successful businesses from across the public and private recycling and waste industries. 

Certificate presented by Gethyn Jones of Wales RUFC - good practice for the future....

October 13, 2017

WINNERS!

Thanks to everyone who voted for us, we were runners-up in the Social Impact category and won the Sustainable Innovation award at the Blue Patch Business Awards at London Design Fair!

Our first (of many!) awards, it was a great event and lovely to meet some of the 500 other ethical British businesses who are Blue Patch's members. 

Better still, we are working on a collaboration to put together a touring container home to take to LDF and other shows next year!  

May 12, 2017

We've been shortlisted for the Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management Awards Best Community Recycling Initiative! 

I'm off down to the 5* Landmark Hotel in London on 18th to meet the other nominees in loads of categories - from Granada Studios to regional authorities and Councils. Our fellow nominees are the National Wood Recycling Project, RePaint National paint recycling and Belfast Council mattress recycling project - heavyweight indeed! Richard Mehmet from the Wood scheme is a bit of an idol of mine from when we we're setting up Strip the Willow so will be good to see him again! Louise Cannon from UnLtd is coming with me as a thank-you for her support (and that of UnLtd) in buying the container and putting us through 12 months of excellent events and workshops. 

April 13, 2017

We've had a busy week with visitors - Rotherham Council Head of Housing and Asst Head of Planning (very impressed), John Mothersole, Chief Exec of Sheff Council (very impressed) two counsellors form MIND who are using the house as a base for sessions and Debbie Matthews from Manor Castle Development Trust. 

Saturday last was also the Spring Fair at Heeley Farm and we had over 100 visitors through, asking lots of questions and signing up left right and centre for the waiting list. 

The flower boxes outside are looking great and I've put lilies and sparaxis in to take over from the daffy when they finally fade. Hope we may have a land deal by the time they are in flower!

February 05, 2017

My pitch to the judges (From UK Steel and Sheffield City Region LEP) went rather well - so well in fact that we won the audience award for best pitch and, while we didn't walk away with the £25,000 top 'prize' we were selected for a £10,000 investment to take REACH through planning and get us into production! 

February 02, 2017

Jon puts his pitching head on again to go in front of the UK Steel Enterprise judges for a chance to win £25,000 of investment in REACH. We are up against 9 other entrepreneurs with a variety of ideas ranging from postal gifts, a new decorative metal, 1-1 video sports coaching and braille learning support.

5 minutes, 10 slides, Dragon's den style tension - should be fun!  

February 01, 2017

Despite the slight inaccuracies it was great to host the Calendar News team and talk to them about the project. Then they went away and edited it to get it on the evening bulletin! 

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2017-01-29/shipping-containers-turned-into-low-cost-homes/

January 29, 2017

300+ people joined us for the official launch of the project and came to have a look round the prototype - we have had visitors from Birmingham, Leeds and Derby and we're starting to cause quite a stir! 

Loads of good questions asked, mostly about mortgages (we're working on it!) and land/planning

 (3 meetings this week!) and a generally great feeling all round! 

February 01, 2017

Christian Unger, from Sheff Uni did a quick interview during the Launch on Sunday - here it is! 

m.youtube.com/watch?v=n_c5ZK…

November 16, 2016

We had entered the Pitchathon competition in July, 48 entries from the whole Yorkshire & Humber region, from which we were selected as one of 10 finalists. 

After a full day workshop in York we had to each submit a video pitch, which was very challenging for someone with no tech skills. We were unlucky not to be selected to pitch live for the £5000 prize, based on judges' qua bout how quickly we would be able to build and return on investment! 

Anyway, well done to Rachel from Myroo who won, and Natalia from Pura Panela who picked up £1000 from the Innovation Showcase which ran alongside Pitchfest. 

Good day out at the races, or it would have been if they'd been running!

October 17, 2016

REACH, along with 3 other projects from the UNLTD ‘Building Futures’ cohort will be at the UK building show at the NEC to showcase our innovative projects and officially launch the Justgiving crowdfunding appeal. Come along and see us at U3/905, right at the side of the main stage in the ‘offsite’ zone.

October 07, 2016

Fresh from the container park, our lovely tangerine 8-ton dream arrived - on the back of a very big lorry! 

September 24, 2016

Jon had just 5 minutes in front of the judges to persuade them to put REACH through into the final 20 from 80 who had got in to the semi-finals. Not bad considering we were in the Grow category - for established businesses - and we were little more than an upstart idea! 

And we did it!! Top 20 out of 5000 who applied!