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00:00To know that this is happening and to know that people are really behind it and giving us the support
00:07is just incredible. I'm finding it ever so slightly emotional.
00:18Ground has been broken, foundations have been laid and walls are being built.
00:24Building work is ongoing at the site of a home being built by The Independent and Refuge,
00:30a home that will house survivors of domestic abuse for years to come.
00:35And, with the generosity of The Independent's readers, this will not be the only house built,
00:41with plans in place for a second.
00:44We went to the site to meet some of the key players who've made this incredible project possible.
00:50How exciting to feel that we can see progress being made.
00:54We've got something literally concrete and literally going to be here forever.
00:59It's quite simply life-changing.
01:01Victims of domestic abuse who manage to get the absolute guts to escape and reach out for help,
01:09they need to be cocooned, they need to feel safe and they need to feel like, you know,
01:15they are in a place where they can start to call it home and start to recover.
01:19And this just feels like it's going to get there. It's incredible.
01:28People are in dire, dire need when they reach out to us for this sort of help.
01:34They are in fear of their lives.
01:36And not only that, it will have taken them almost certainly five years plus to even understand and recognise
01:45that the dynamic that they're in is abusive, much less reach out for help.
01:49And that's the context of someone coming into this home.
01:53And so the contrast for them is going to be, for them, actually very overwhelming.
01:59When a family comes into our services, you know, we work really hard to ensure that they get given those little things that really matter.
02:07And it is those little things that turns it from being a sterile place to being a home.
02:16So I was introduced to the chair of Refuge and they outlined their aspirations in terms of providing housing for a survivor of domestic abuse.
02:28We thought it was an extremely worthwhile cause that we were anxious to support through our foundation.
02:34And we're very proud that we're in the process of providing a quality home with all the sort of additional security features.
02:43Can you tell us a little bit about what this house is going to look like when it's finished and what it will provide for the people who are going to be here?
02:49It's very much a sort of standard two bedroom house.
02:52I say it will have extra security because of the circumstances, but it will be sort of fully fitted.
03:01And we think it'll be, you know, very comfortable.
03:03We very much hope that the survivor who's accommodated here is really happy and is able to build a stable family life from this new base.
03:13And we're really proud at Persimmon to be associated with this wonderful initiative and long may it continue, Julie.
03:24So for anybody that's donated to this campaign, whether you've bought one brick or whether you've bought a hundred bricks,
03:30what you are doing is building something for the long term.
03:35This isn't a donation that, you know, in five years time, you can think, well, I made that donation.
03:40I'm not totally sure what happened to it.
03:42You are building a home.
03:43You are building hope.
03:44And it's a permanent thing.
03:46You can't put a price on it.
03:47Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
03:49It is like the phoenix, isn't it?
03:51Coming out of the ground.
03:52And, you know, it typifies what our survivors do to get to reach out for help.
03:58We will continue to build hope.
03:59We will never give up.
04:01Thank you for supporting our Brick by Brick campaign.
04:04It's a simple message.
04:06Be a brick.
04:07Buy a brick.
04:08Help us to create enough funds to build a house, a sanctuary for victims of domestic abuse.
04:16Thank you for helping the independence campaign.