Work is being carried out in order to create Scotland’s first homeless village at West Shore Road in the Granton district of Edinburgh. The work on this project is underway and the independent plant hire company, Jarvie Plant is currently playing a crucial role in the early stages of this development.

The innovative project was thought up by Josh Littlejohn, who is the co-founder of Social Bite, a social enterprise sandwich shop located in Edinburgh that employs homeless people. The settlement, when finished, will include 10 eco-friendly, purpose built ‘nest houses’ that have been created in order to offer a safe living environment for up to 20 homeless people each year.

Each resident will be able to stay in the newly created community for 12 to 18 months and over the course of their stay they will be able to access a range of other support networks such as counselling and employment advice. As a part of the ongoing construction work on this project, Jarvie Plant has delivered to the site a 3 tonne excavator, 24’ accommodation unit and 20’ safe store and an island welfare unit.

The company has become involved in this social enterprise project after the independent plant hire company delivered a furnished 12’ static accommodation unit to Social Bite’s Sleep in the Park event which took place in Princes Street Gardens. The company has said that they are happy to lend their support to Sleep in the Parks event as well as help to put equipment on the site is Granton that will be essential to the ground works taking place and in time meet important welfare needs.

Homelessness in Scotland is seen as a terrible affliction on the nation and it is great to see people coming together in order to create projects that will make a real difference. Social Bite is making significant strides in order to combat this issue and the creation of such a forward thinking development will play a vital role in the cycle solution for homelessness of housing and employment, both of which will be offered through Social Bite services.