Charnock Springs ‘Eco-warriors’

Charnock Hall School pupils with members of the Esh team and Gary Wright from YORhub

David Barr

20th November 2025

New pond for Sheffield primary school

Charnock Hall Primary School in Sheffield has benefitted in receiving a donation of £10000, thanks to the generosity of YORhub contractor, Esh and the YOR4Good scheme. The funding developed their new school pond and landscaped surrounding areas, including fencing and pathways. Alongside the donation, Esh delivered their award-winning ‘Get into STEM’ programme to every class in the school – reaching over 280 students.

The new pond, which has been named ‘Charnock Springs’, will bring benefits to the whole school and allow science lessons to become more fun and interactive.

Imogen Lloyd, teacher at Charnock Hall Primary School, added: “The donation has been incredibly beneficial to the school and has allowed our Eco Warriors to set up an ecosystem for us to use in our science lesson. The Eco Warriors really wanted this pond because they thought it was going to make a massive difference to our school.”

During the opening of the pond, the school’s Eco Warriors expressed their delight with the new pond, which they said they aimed to ‘help living animals be safe’ and to ‘increase wildlife at our school’, while allowing them to see how the ecosystem changes through the four seasons of the year.

Pictured with children from the school, are YORhub Framework Manager, Gary Wright. Members of the Esh team: Craig Simpson; Contracts Manager, Joe Shipman; Senior Quantity Surveyor, Rachel Hanlon; Social Value Coordinator, Megan Roberts; Social Value Manager and Teacher; Imogen Lloyd. — Pictured with children at the school pond are YORhub Framework Manager, Gary Wright and members of the Esh team: Contracts Manager, Craig Simpson; Senior Quantity Surveyor, Joe Shipman; Social Value Coordinator, Rachel Hanlon; Social Value Manager, Megan Roberts and Charnock Hall Teacher, Imogen Lloyd.

The Newstead General Housing scheme

The initiative was part of the contractor’s social value commitments on the affordable housing site at Newstead, procured through the YORbuild3 framework, where 77 zero-gas, affordable homes are being constructed on behalf of Sheffield City Council. This is part of an ambitious SCC programme to deliver a programme of additional new council homes by 2029.

Megan Roberts, Social Value Manager at Esh Construction, said: “Collaborating with local partners to create lasting impact is central to Esh’s ethos. The £10,000 donation was made through the YOR4Good Fund and has provided a brand-new fence and the pond area, with associated surfacing works to the pathways.”

Gary Wright, Framework Manager for YORbuild said:

‘It was great to see first-hand the work that Esh have carried out at Charnock Hall Primary Academy. Delivery of Social Value is very important to YORhub and we take great pride in the initiatives that our suppliers undertake throughout the region. In this case, the Framework Team identified an opportunity for Esh to support a local school and they proactively took this on, engaging directly with Charnock Hall Primary to deliver not only an exciting new pond space for the children, but also a significant number of educational classroom sessions, which has been impressive to see.’

Watch the video below as the school ‘Eco-Warriors’ celebrate their new pond.