A group of underwriters from Ark Bermuda picked up paintbrushes to help turn a former church rectory in Sandys into a residential treatment centre.

The team took part in a project that will result in the transformation of the old St James’s Church rectory — Bridge House — into a facility for community-based housing, programmes and support for people with mental-health challenges.

A supervisor for Habitat for Humanity of Bermuda, which embarked on the enterprise in partnership with the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute and the Anglican Church of Bermuda, said: “Underwriters make some of the best painters. They love precision.”

Work at the treatment centre is nearing completion and a spokeswoman for Habitat said the charity was "very grateful“ for the help to paint bedrooms.

The facility will allow patients to move out of the MWI institutional setting and into a purpose-designed home environment, with around-the-clock treatment and support from the Bermuda Hospitals Board.

Sheelagh Cooper, the chairwoman of Habitat for Humanity of Bermuda, said: “Bermuda is moving into the 21st century towards purpose-designed, smaller, community-based residences for psychiatric patients.

“Large institutions are a thing of the past.

“This would not have been possible financially without the help of corporations like Ark Bermuda, who have also given so generously of their time.

“More than 150 corporate volunteers have contributed to this project.”

Companies who would like to take part in the charity’s corporate volunteer programme can e-mail habitat.bermuda@gmail.com to enrol.