Construction charity Band of Builders (BoB) has announced the overwhelming support its Big Brew campaign has received from merchants including Jewson and Gibbs & Dandy.
The campaign, which RCI highlighted last month, encourages the sector to discuss and shed light on the mental health crisis, and has seen more than 130 Big Brew events take place across the UK this October.
Moreover, the figure is closer to 200 when counting events that have been hosted by national partners made up of manufacturers and suppliers including Resideo, DEWALT and Talasey.
Astonished by the level of support, Peter Cape, Big Brew lead at BoB, said: “The amount of support for the Big Brew initiative has been incredible, with merchants leading in the way in helping to shine a light on the scale of mental health crisis in the construction industry.
“Not only does it highlight the level of demand in the construction industry to have an outlet for recognising the issue, but we have also been amazed at the willingness of firms and individuals to get behind it.
“What has been fascinating is the groundswell of support from small SME and owner-operator businesses that are at the coalface of construction. That’s where the likes of Jewson and Gibbs & Dandy must be applauded for facilitating events that can offer a genuine opportunity to tradespeople to go to a familiar location, meet up with other local contractors and potentially break the ice on mental health.”
The Big Brew runs throughout October and will also help raise funds to provide a range of mental health support services aimed at members of the UK construction industry.
Although BoB has now sold out of Big Brew packs, donations can still be made to fund support services that will include:
- Funding dedicated industry mental health support lines.
- The provision of interim counselling services to support members of the UK construction industry.
- The provision of counselling support for BoB beneficiaries and volunteers.
- The provision of 300 free mental health awareness course places for small and medium-sized businesses and the self-employed. BoB will also work with the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity and partners on the Beacons campaign, which aims to increase the provision of, and access to, regional peer support groups.
>> You can read more about mental health in the industry here.
