Posted 05/05/2022

The Beech Community Hub gets a makeover

Swan’s community hub, The Beech, located on our Beechwood Village development in Basildon, has been transformed, thanks to the work of Swan’s Customer Involvement and Community Development (CICD) team.

Working with local artist, Ash Fields, from Our Tiny Windows, The Beech exterior has been given a complete makeover, with the windows now displaying some magnificent, eye-catching murals.

The project, which involved Swan customers, local residents and business owners, local community groups and members of the CICD team, has not only added some much-needed colour to the community hub, but it has created a space that is representative of the local community.

Community Development Project Officer, Will Oldham, who worked closely with artist Ash Fields on the project said:

“The Beech Community Hub is a clean, white space that was screaming out for a splash of colour. The work of Ash Fields is well known throughout Essex and complemented our vision for this project. The energy that Ash brings to his work was apparent from the very first meeting.

“The idea was to include real life members of the community on the windows, as well as words that describe what ‘community’ means to each individual.”

In order to create the murals, members of the Beechwood and Craylands community attended a photoshoot with Ash, which also allowed him to ask questions to get a sense of them as individuals, enabling him to really showcase their personalities in the artwork.

Will added: “By using real people, this gave the project a much greater depth.. It was important for us to represent the diverse community we have at Beechwood and on the Craylands Estate; the cross section of members who came forward for this project reflects this so well.”