RICS and Highways England are uniting to help tackle youth homelessness with an exclusive one-off auction prize.
Highways England is offering an exclusive look behind their scenes, to find out what it takes to operate, maintain and improve our motorways and major A roads. The unique experience and one-off prize is being auctioned to the highest bidder in aid of an anti-homelessness fundraising campaign known as Pledge150, launched by RICS in partnership with property industry charity, LandAid.
The auction, which is now live, is set to end on 14 September, and has a minimum bid of £150.00. The winner, and highest bidder will get to ride out with a Highways England traffic officer and experience first-hand what it’s like to deal with real time incidents and delays. They will also be given a tour of the West Midlands Regional Control Centre as well as a tour of the National Traffic Operations Centre which is the hub of the network, dealing with national incidents.
The winner will be announced on 18 September, and all proceeds will go towards Pledge150, which aims to unite those working in the region’s property sectors to help deliver 150 bed spaces for young people at risk of homelessness.
To-date, the region’s property professionals, including architects, contractors, developers and surveyors, have raised funds for Pledge150 to support new housing projects – led by local charities St Basils and Hope into Action – through a wide programme of fundraising activities including corporate dinners and awards, an Ultimate Wipeout challenge as well as bake sales and quiz nights.
As part of the campaign, property professionals in the region have also been providing pro bono property advice and skills to help local charities bring housing projects for the young homeless to life.
Victoria Hampson, RICS Regional Director (North & Midlands) commented: “Every year over 80,000 young people find themselves homeless, our Pledge150 campaign hopes to change this by giving more young people a safe place to call home. All monies raised go to charities here in the West Midlands as fundraising will support new projects by St Basils and Hope into Action.
“We are very grateful to Highways England for offering such a fantastic auction prize, and first of its kind opportunity which will give one lucky person an insight into how our roads work and may even allow them to find out more about future improvements to our roadworks.”
This opportunity has been donated as a charity online auction lot and is only available to the highest bidder. All proceeds will go directly to LandAid who will support St Basils and Hope into Action with monies raised. All bids should be emailed to westmidlands@rics.org.
For more information on the RICS Pledge150 campaign – including fundraisers in your area – visit: www.rics.org/150 or follow the initiative on Twitter using the hashtag #Pledge150
