- Gatwick announces three-year support for new facility for young people
- Airport supporting “positive change in the Croydon area”
- Exceptional range of inclusive and inspiring activities on offer
LONDON, UK, 2019-Sep-12 — /Travel PR News/ — London Gatwick has become a Founder Patron of Croydon’s newly-opened Legacy Youth Zone – a £6.5 million state-of-the-art facility built especially for young people living in the local community.
Gatwick’s community programme includes a strong focus on inspiring and investing in young people, with projects ongoing across the counties which surround the airport. This new partnership will see the airport donate £25,000 to Legacy per year for the next three years.
Legacy provides support for young people aged 8 to 19 and up to 25 with additional needs. The centre offers over 20 activities every night including sports, arts, music, media, dance, drama and cookery – for just 50p per visit, 7 days a week. Croydon is a short train journey away from the airport, with many Gatwick employees living in and around the area.
Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive Officer at London Gatwick, said: “Gatwick agreed to become a Founder Patron of Legacy Youth Zone in a bid to make a positive change in the Croydon area. We have been inspired by the Legacy Youth Zone’s aims to support young people to live healthier, happier lives which fits perfectly with Gatwick’s determination to inspire and invest in the next generation.”
Nick Sleep, Chair of Legacy Youth Zone said: “We are thrilled to welcome Gatwick Airport to our family of Founder Patrons, with their support the sky really is the limit for local young people. Gatwick Airport’s generous gift to Croydon’s young people will provide thousands of young people with somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to for generations to come.”
Sarah Jones, Member of Parliament for Croydon Central, said: “It’s encouraging to see large businesses like Gatwick making such a positive contribution to their local communities. Legacy is set to become a central part of Croydon’s community and Gatwick’s support will help ensure its ongoing success.”
The new centre is based on the successful OnSide Youth Zones model which brings together the local authority, private sector, voluntary sector and local community in support of young people.
The airport is keen to work with projects that offer inclusive activities, in keeping with its mission to be the UK’s most accessible airport. Legacy staff are trained to tailor activities to ensure everyone can join in and feel welcome – no matter what their individual needs are.
Supporting the future careers of young people is another key area of focus for Gatwick, with the airport running many educational outreach projects and an employability course. Gatwick staff regularly work with children to engage and inspire them in careers at the airport and more broadly in Science, Maths, Engineering and Technology (STEM) and the aim is to amplify this as part of its new role in the Legacy Youth Zone.
NOTES
• Croydon’s Legacy Youth Zone is located on Whitehorse Road in Selhurst and opened on 7 September 2019
• Around 24,000 people work at Gatwick
• Find out about Legacy at www.legacyyouthzone.org
• Find out more about Gatwick’s community activities.
About Gatwick Airport
Gatwick is the UK’s second largest airport. It serves more than 230 destinations in 74 countries for 46 million passengers a year on short and long-haul point-to-point services. Gatwick is also a major economic driver and generates around 85,000 jobs nationally, with 24,000 of these located on the airport.
Since May 2019, a new long-term partnership was formed with VINCI Airports who purchased a 50.01% stake in the airport. This partnership sees Gatwick Airport integrate into the network of VINCI Airports, the leading private airport operator in the world, which manages the development and operation of 46 airports across the globe. Served by around 250 airlines, VINCI Airports’ network handled 240 million passengers in 2018 – including traffic at London Gatwick. VINCI Airports develops, finances, builds and operates airports, leveraging its investment capability, international network and know-how to optimise performance of existing airport infrastructure, facility extensions and new-build construction projects.
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which manages the remaining 49.99% interest in Gatwick, is an independent infrastructure investor that makes equity investments in high quality infrastructure assets in the energy, transport and water/waste sectors. GIP has US$56 billion of Assets under Management. Its 18 portfolio companies operate in over 50 countries with circa 54,000 employees and generate annual revenues of circa US$50 billion.
For more information on VINCI Airports please www.vinci-airports.com and for more information on GIP please visit http://global-infra.com.
Media enquiries to:
GATWICK AIRPORT PRESS OFFICE
+ 44 (0) 1293 505000
gatwickmedia@gatwickairport.com
Source: GATWICK AIRPORT