Irvine Bay – new life for town and for trainees

An innovative regeneration scheme has breathed new life into the town of Kilwinning – and given six people from the Irvine Bay area a fresh start in life.

A £2.75 million regeneration scheme for the town centre funded by Irvine Bay Regeneration Company included an agreement with main contractors Land Engineering that comprehensive training would be provided for six local people.

All six have now completed their training programmes – so successfully that the company is offering ALL of them permanent jobs.

The success of the scheme has met with praise at the highest level, with Scottish Housing and Communities Minister Alex Neil saying: “I am very pleased that the trainees I met in Kilwinning earlier this year have now been given full-time positions – this is excellent news for them.

“Regeneration is about more than bricks and mortar. It’s about providing communities with new opportunities and improving the quality of life for everyone who lives or works there.

“That’s why, over three years, the Scottish Government is investing over £654 million in a range of innovative regeneration projects across Scotland.

“Irvine Bay Regeneration Company is benefiting from £6 million to improve the attractiveness of Irvine Bay as a place to live, work and invest and it is great to hear of more and more real life examples of the difference this is making on the ground.

“This is all part of our economic recovery plan to ensure that Scotland gets through the economic downturn in the strongest possible position.”

The regeneration company is charged with revitalising the Irvine Bay area of North Ayrshire, and includes projects underway and planned in the five towns of Kilwinning, Irvine, Ardrossan, Saltcoats, and Stevenston.

The Kilwinning Main Street work is designed to deliver improvements to the retail, commercial and pedestrian streetscape, to improve access and to increase safety through enhanced lighting.

The training work for the trainees was designed to allow them to gain vocational qualifications in civil engineering services.

Irvine Bay chief executive Patrick Wiggins said: “The work we are doing has to be rounded in its approach. While we obviously have a focus on enhancing and renewing the physical and built environment of the area to increase the prosperity of the area, we also believe it is vital to ensure local people benefit whenever possible – either through a better environment, through business opportunities, or through the ability to improve their skills and employability.”

Stuart Dillett, Construction Director, Land Engineering said “Land Engineering is delighted to provide sustainable employment for our trainees involved at Kilwinning. Through the support of delivery capital projects, like Kilwinning, we are genuinely able to support the growth and development of local employment providing sustainable economic benefits to both the individuals involved and their wider community. This is an excellent example of a partnership approach to sustainable regeneration.”

The trainees are:

David Bacon age 22 from Ardrossan
Euan Hume age 21 from Kilwinning
Mark O’Neill from Saltcoats
Robert Watson age 21 from Ardrossan
Craig Paterson age 27 from Kilwinning
Daniel Sloss age 26 from Stevenston

Six further trainees will be taken on in January 2010 at the start of the phase II works.