Weston Coyney-based trainee painter and decorator named regional Personal Achiever of the Year

Affordable housing and regeneration specialist Lovell has named Jason Prime, who is working for the company on the Weston Heights regeneration at Weston Coyney, as its Personal Achiever of the Year in the Midlands.

The 32-year-old from Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, is working on the large-scale regeneration programme which The Compendium Group – a development company set up by Lovell and The Riverside Group – is carrying out at the Coalville estate.

Jason, an ex-offender, is working at Weston Heights through the Reconstruction Staffordshire training project. He has a year-long training placement with Lovell and is working towards an NVQ Level 2 qualification in Painting and Decorating. “I’d done a painting and decorating course at Featherstone Prison and was one of about fifty or sixty people interviewed for a training placement,” he says. “Four days after coming out of prison, I started work at Weston Heights. I do three weeks on site and then go to Stoke College for a week. It’s turned my life around.”


Jason was nominated for the award – which was presented at a ceremony at Kingsbury in Warwickshire – by his training mentor, Lovell craft training supervisor John Gamsby. “I’ve been amazed at Jason’s progress,” says John. “He has an excellent attitude and is a really hard worker. We have all been impressed by what he has achieved.”

Compendium regeneration officer Wendy Lister adds: “Providing new jobs and training positions is an important part of the Weston Heights regeneration programme and it is great to see Jason making the most of this training opportunity with Lovell.”

Compendium is delivering a £55 million regeneration programme commissioned by RENEW North Staffordshire at Weston Coyney. The company is building 283 new homes for rent, shared ownership and sale as well as refurbishing existing houses, creating new community facilities and undertaking a range of other regeneration initiatives.