The student accommodation development project on Friargate has gone purple to help support cancer awareness.
AdvertisementThe crane of the £18 million project by Portergate Developments has joined Pancreatic Cancer UK’s Purple Light for Hope Campaign.
The idea of supporting the charity came from a conversation between Portergate’s chairman and the former site’s owner Donald Bamber.
Anthony Jackson, chairman of Portergate Developments, said: “Donald and I both wanted to support this initiative and by allowing our Friargate development to be one of the many prominent sites across the UK to ‘go purple’ in November we feel we can help Preston play its part.
“Our focus as a company has always been to involve the local community in our projects and if we can help raise awareness of an important condition that affects many people’s lives then we will do it.”
The city of Preston can now see a violet beacon of light 45 metres skywards to symbolise the lives of loved ones dealing with pancreatic cancer. The crane has been lit up by Eric Wright Construction.
Stephen Harding, site manager from Eric Wright Construction, added: “We are delighted to be supporting Pancreatic Cancer UK’s Purple Lights for Hope campaign.
“We hope that by lighting up the crane at Friargate in purple we are going some way to help put a spotlight on pancreatic cancer and to highlight a disease that many people still know so very little about.”
Figures from Pancreatic Cancer UK show that around four per cent of people diagnosed with the disease survive five years or more – a statistic which hasn’t changed in 40 years.