Baz Ashmawy will help transform six homes for Ukrainian refugees in a DIY SOS special, which will air later this year.
Kingston College in Mitchelstown, North Cork, is a community of 31 small terraced houses
which are grouped around a large square with a chapel as its central focus.
The houses are in trust to three Church of Ireland Bishops, and one of these is Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross Dr Paul Colton.
It was he and diocesan secretary Billy Skuse who, having watched the plight of the Ukrainian people and their current exodus due to the Russian invasion of their country, decided to put out an appeal to try and raise money to do up some of the vacant buildings to house refugees and their families.
The support they received was beyond expectations, but they needed the help of Baz Ashmawy and his DIYSOS team to turn it around quickly and to draw on the existing support that they have received from trades, suppliers and volunteers from within the community of Cork and beyond.
Six houses, six gardens and a communal garden for good measure, made this by far their biggest build yet, and by turning it all around in this short time, they provided temporary
housing for six very needy families from the Ukrainian community.
Volunteers from all nationalities came together to help these families, and the community garden itself provided further opportunity for local integration as our garden designer Diarmuid Gavin was well qualified to turn it into a legacy space that will benefit the town and the community for many, many years to come.
