bdht, Bromsgrove’s largest provider of affordable housing, has launched an internet café for its residents at one of its sheltered living schemes in Sidemoor, Bromsgrove.

The new facility at Crabtree Court officially opened on Thursday 10th December 2015 and came about following consultations with residents as part of bdht’s commitment to improving services.

bdht was able to allocate funds in line with its digital inclusion strategy to get the facility up and running. Its aim is to help improve residents’ IT skills and make using computers easier to enable them to reduce their monthly bills.

Its Sheltered Living Team has worked tirelessly to renovate an area of disused office space and create the facility, which is now home to three PCs, donated by the housing provider’s IT team, and kitchen area.

The facility has also received generous donations from partners including materials from Travis Perkins, a reduced price kitchen from Benchmarks, décor from Halls CNR Ltd, flooring from Saunders and Sons and lighting from Rexcel Senate.

The café is initially being manned by a team of volunteer residents and is accessible to all of bdht’s sheltered scheme residents. It includes a fully functioning kitchen where residents can help themselves to tea, coffee and other refreshments, and are simply asked to make a small, voluntary contribution so that supplies can be replenished.

Ashlea Green, Sheltered Living Services Manager, said: “We’re really pleased to have been able to convert a disused space into something that residents can really utilise. It serves as a meeting place, somewhere for them to congregate to have a coffee and also to improve their IT skills and promote digital inclusion at the same time.”

For more information about bdht, please visit www.bdht.co.uk.