An amazing example of what can be achieved through flexible working! Stuart Lacey is an Architectural Technologist at our Harrogate Studio. Outside of work he is a proud ‘Dance Dad’, highly skilled at creating any complex bun or plait. His daughter, Olivia (Liv) has been training with the Lisa Marie Performing Arts School since she was three, almost ten years ago, taking classes in ballet, tap, modern, acro, and lyrical. Alongside this, she auditioned to be part of the ballet programme at Project Resurgence in 2023, having consistently kept her spot since then, she is now progressing to their Senior Associate Programme.

In October 2024, Liv received some incredibly exciting news, Project Resurgence would be auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent. This marked the start of intensive rehearsals every Saturday and throughout the week – which required the help of Dance Dad Stuart.

On January 7^th, Project Resurgence performed a beautiful modern ballet number at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, with all 35 dancers, aged 7-23, competing to a professional standard, earning them 4 Yes’s from the judges!

Stuart expressed that the flexibility GSSArchitecture gave him meant he was able to take Liv to the dance studio as and when was required, travelling during work times and testing the efficiency of the WIFI at the dance studio! Without this, Liv’s BGT dream would not have been possible.

We first had the opportunity to support Liv in 2022, when we assisted the Lisa Marie Performing Arts School through much needed sponsorship, so they could attend the Dance World Cup Finals. It is a pleasure to be able to continue supporting her dance career and show how our commitment to investing in people goes beyond work, looking at the many ways that we can support staff through every goal and achievement!