Ibstock Brick has donated thousands of bricks to Midlands Air Ambulance Charity to help facilitate the build of its new airbase and headquarters facility on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border.
The donation, which signifies a third of the total amount of bricks needed to build the new facility in the Cosford area, includes 30,000 Cooksbridge Yellow Clamp Stock clay bricks – a frogged, sandfaced-textured product manufactured at our factory in Chailey, East Sussex.
Ibstock’s Cooksbridge Yellow Clamp brick suits a range of masonry situations – it features a high thermal mass and low conductivity and when incorporated into a building it provides an acoustic insulation. Clay bricks have a long service life, are reusable after initial use, and are highly durable and strong for many builds. Stock bricks improve with age sand, in contrast to other materials, a brick won’t rot, rust, erode or decay.
Four years in the planning, the charity’s new airbase and headquarters facility will complement its existing air ambulance-led service across six Midlands counties to help some of the region’s most critically ill and injured patients. Designed to future-proof the advanced pre-hospital emergency service, the headquarters will include a new environment for crew and charity staff, including main offices, warehousing and storage and space for two aircraft and critical care cars to allow the charity to expand its service in the future. As a recognised ‘Centre of Clinical Excellence’ for pre-hospital emergency medicine, it will also help develop clinical skills and talent.
The improved facilities, combined with its optimum location, will enable rapid despatch and coverage, meaning quicker response times while its research and development space will increase clinical research and facilitate innovation in the years ahead.
Martin Runc, National Contract Sales Manager at Ibstock Brick, said: “Our business is at the heart of building so there couldn’t be a more worthy beneficiary than a charity that provides lifesaving care. It was great to visit the construction site to see first-hand the difference our donation has made, and I’ll follow the progress with interest.”
Hanna Sebright, Chief Executive of Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, added: “We’ve used a proportion of our modest reserves to fund the new airbase. Therefore the brick donation is greatly appreciated and means so much. Our sincere thanks go to the whole team at Ibstock Brick.”
More than 90 per cent of funding for the new airbase and headquarters facility has been obtained via major grants from organisations such as the Department for Health and Social Care and the HELP Appeal. In addition, the charity is undertaking fundraising campaigns for specific areas of the new construction, including a clinical simulation training suite, memory garden and community education zone. The facility is expected to be completed summer 2023.
To find out more about Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s vital, lifesaving work in your local area, visit the Midlands Air Ambulance website and follow the organisation on social media.