Pictured above: Jephson tenants Dorothy Stapleton (left) and Maisie Cussen help Jephson Midlands Director Sue Rowley (right) to build the wall of glass bricks at Jephson's new office in Brierley Hill

Students from Dudley College created a unique piece of art to welcome Jephson Homes Housing Association to its new office in Brierley Hill.

The sculpture, which was made of more than 70 individually crafted glass bricks to reflect the area's heritage, was unveiled at the official opening of Jephson's new Black Country regional office in Narrowboat Way on Tuesday 7th June.

Around 50 representatives from Jephson's partner organisations including local authorities, solicitors, contractors, local councillors and Board members attended the event to take a look around the new office.

Jephson Midlands Director Sue Rowley said: "This is an exciting time for Jephson in the Black Country and we wanted our partners to be able to take a look at our new office and meet our staff who are the ambassadors of the excellent work we do.

"We are committed to working together with our partners to build more affordable new homes in the region and to ensuring people across the Black Country have neighbourhoods that are attractive, pleasant places to live. We can only do this by working together and we are delighted that places such as Dudley College share that vision." 

The colourful bricks were designed to reflect the world-famous glass-making heritage of Brierley Hill. They were made at the college's Broadway campus and staff and tenants from Jephson went along to help mould them with the help of glass-making tutors.

Dorothy Stapleton (85), who lives at Jephson's Housing for Older People scheme in Brailsford Drive, Smethwick, said: "I've lived there for the last 23 years and have always lived in Smethwick and I love it. Jephson has always been good to me and I was thrilled to be asked to come and see the new office. I went to the college too while the bricks were being made and made one myself, it was a fantastic day."

The bricks were arranged to form a wall which was on display in the atrium of the new office during the opening ceremony.

Guests were then given the chance to add a brick to the wall, representing Jephson's commitment to building relationships with partners and the ability to move forward by working together.

Bob Chapman, Director of Learning at Dudley College, said: "We were delighted to be able to give students the opportunity to create this piece of art for Jephson and are excited about working in partnership with them in the future for the benefit of the local community."

Jephson's head office is based in Leamington Spa, but there are also regional offices in West Yorkshire, Milton Keynes, Swindon, Bristol, Leamington Spa and the Black Country.

The Black Country team previously worked from an office in King Street, Dudley, but moved to the new office, which was formerly home to the Express & Star newspaper, at the end of last year.

More than 50 staff work at the regional office to oversee Jephson's services to the 2600 properties it manages across the Black Country.