A recent home renovation on BBC's flagship programme 'DIY SOS: The Big Build' has been supported by Morgan Sindall Construction.

The national contractor donated both labour and materials as part of the BBC One project, which was broadcast on Wednesday 27 November.

DIY SOS: The Big Build sees presenter Nick Knowles and his team work with local contractors, tradespeople and suppliers to transform the home of a family in difficult circumstances in just nine days.


In September 2018, operatives Roy Duckworth, Matthew Dutton, Danny Cocker, Ian Alcock and aftercare manager Gary Dawson from the firm's Salford office, volunteered their skills to help make life-transforming changes to the home of the Taylor-Mann family, made up of mum and dad Martin and Heather, daughters Scarlett (8) and Penelope (1) and son William (9).

The DIY SOS: The Big Build team came to help the family because, due to the fact that William has severe autism, the family's home was no longer fit for purpose. The nature and severity of William's condition causes him to be extremely hypersensitive to noise, meaning that being in close proximity to his siblings is sometimes too much for him to bear. With the family home's previous configuration not allowing him sufficient space, William – who is non-verbal – was frequently becoming very distressed. In addition, because William finds sleeping extremely difficult he often wakes throughout the night, continually disturbing his sisters.

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William's severe condition also means that he is not aware of danger and was actively attempting to climb through the upstairs windows, despite Martin and Heather's best attempts at securing the handles. He was also frequently turning on the taps in the upstairs bathroom leading to numerous floods in the house. Already facing considerable challenges, the layout and lack of space in the family home was undoubtedly making the Taylor-Mann family's situation much worse. 
However, now, thanks to kind-hearted local contractors volunteering their time, the family's home – and happiness – has been transformed.

An additional downstairs bedroom has been built, along with a social space for the family and a re-vamped kitchen and utility room. In addition, the entire downstairs of the property and garden was 'safe proofed' and a mosaic was installed in the garden – something the Morgan Sindall Construction team worked on alongside the programme's flamboyant designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

Morgan Sindall Construction became involved in the project after proposals manager, Clare Riseley, spotted an appeal for help from the BBC on Twitter.

Discussing the project Claire Riseley, Proposals Manager, Morgan Sindall Construction, said: "We're all big fans of DIY SOS: The Big Build, and also very passionate about making a difference in our local communities. When we heard about this local family needing help, we knew we had to get involved.

"Well-designed buildings can make such a difference to how we live, and we are so pleased that the Taylor-Mann family's lives will be a little easier due to the modifications that we and the rest of the team were able to make to their home. We hope that this is the start of a much more enjoyable way of living for the family."