The Developer Academy in Sheffield has created a new app to help those struggling with the cost of living to stay warm over the winter.
The Warm and Safe app maps easy-to-find facilities that have shelter, heating and seating, plus that are free to enter for members of the public.
Alyzande Renard, a Coach & Mentor at The Developer Academy, and Bradley Ashton, a Developer Academy Alumni created the app, which will be free to download from Friday.
“Like many people, the cost of heating my home during the winter months is a real concern right now. The idea of ‘Warm Rooms’ has been mentioned recently by Martin Lewis and a number of local councils. However, these are all local initiatives, and we wanted to make sure as many people as possible are able to stay warm this winter by creating a UK-wide map of easy-to-find safe, and warm spaces,” said Renard.
“We’ve been working on the app in our spare time for a while now, and to see it come to life is fantastic. The hope is that it takes off in the coming weeks and helps provide those struggling with the cost of living a safety net of warmth during the cold months.”
It currently maps facilities across Sheffield and will be shared with other UK councils to allow them to input their data to help more people across the country.
“I’m immensely proud of Alyzande and Bradley for coming up with and making this app,” said Ben Atha from The Developer Academy, who oversaw their progression through their courses at the Academy.
“The Developer Academy is a huge believer in using our skills to help others, whether through training them for a new career or creating apps or websites. Everyone at the Academy is extremely excited to see this app take off in the coming weeks and help as many people as possible.”
Based in Sheffield, the Developer Academy aims to take beginners with no prior coding experience to become a “job-ready software engineers or data scientists” through a flexible learning program.
