Primary school students inspire show home on new development in Essex

Competition winners from a local primary school attended the opening of Persimmon’s exciting new show home at St Michael's Place, Colchester.

61 students from St Michael's Primary School and Nursery took part in a competition designed by our Essex  region, to draw what a home means to them. The winner, Sam in Year 5, will have his drawing framed and placed inside the show home for all visitors to see.

The new show home will be located on site allowing buyers to get a flavour of what their new home with Persimmon might look like. The development at St Michael's Place offers a range of new two, three and four-bedroom homes.

As part of the scheme and our commitment to Colchester, we will invest over £1m into the local community. This includes £400,000 towards parks and recreation and £360,000 for community facilities such as St Cedd’s Community Hall and Shrub End Social Centre. Additionally, over £200,000 will be invested into local schools and almost £100,000 into health services. The development will also see 46 homes transferred to a Housing Association partner for shared ownership or below market rent.

Speaking on the new show room and competition, Sales Director Louise Trail said "I’d like to thank each of the school children who took part in our competition. All entries were worthy winners but Sam’s framed drawing really embodied what a home meant to us. It also reflected our close relationship with the local community. 

“We’re delighted to open our show home to the public which will allow potential buyers to see the benefits of buying a Persimmon home. We’re proud to be a 5 star housebuilder, proud to provide high quality homes for people and very proud of our new development at St. Michael’s place.”

St Michael's Primary School and Nursery Headteacher, Gail Morgan said “The children really enjoyed creating their art work with regards to what a home means to them.  It has given the children a great opportunity to link with St Michael's Place - a new community on the school's doorstep.  The children are very excited to meet future children who will be living on the development and hopefully attending St Michael's Primary.”

We have also provided each child who took part in the competition with a copy of our CONES book, which is written by children’s author Chris Madeley and illustrated by Emily Vaughan. Additional copies have also been donated to St Michael’s school library.

The CONES book provides an interesting and accessible guide for children as to how new homes and communities are built, while also helping to inspire the next generation of planners, builders and engineers.