Howard House Assessment Centre, Isle of Wight

TLJ are proud to be helping a former Newport primary school site become the Isle of Wight’s first dedicated homeless shelter.

Proving that we're not just about multi-million pound, multi-storey residential and student accommodation projects, TLJ have just completed the installation of 17 Infinity model contactless electronic locks for this new Salvation Army facility. The locks come pre-treated with an active antiviral coating to ensure the building is post-Covid friendly.

Keeping a legacy alive

The £860,000 assessment hub scheme in the island's capital has been named Howard House in memory of local man Howard Derham, who tragically died while homeless in 2017. The centre will provide up to 17 guest rooms offering a safe place to stay, take a shower, have a hot drink, wash their clothes and store their belongings. It will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

TLJ's contactless electronic locking system was chosen for its cost-effectiveness and convenience, but mainly because it provides guests with privacy, safety and security during their stay.

Isle of Wight council hopes that Howard House will provide a safe place from which individuals can start to rebuild and live their lives, providing all manner of homeless services together under one roof.

TLJ worked closely with local building contractor Trevor Jones Contracting of Ryde, who led the refurbishment project.

It was like a breath of fresh air being involved in this project on the Isle of Wight. We’re used to large, commercial new-build and refurbishment projects where the number of doors runs into hundreds or sometimes thousands. So not only was the scale here far removed from our regular work, but it was also nice to contribute to this fantastic and incredibly worthy project. We have worked for the Salvation Army on a number of projects in the past and thoroughly support their work in helping those less fortunate.

Joe Martin | TLJ's Chief Operations Officer