The team travelled with charity Habitat for Humanity, to Pelican Park, Cape Town, to help build houses as part of the city’s biggest, and first fully integrated, housing project.

The 3,200 housing development is the largest in the Western Cape, where families from different income levels will be living together in the one settlement.

The team was made up of employees from different council departments including social work, communications and community resources.

Gail McMillan, a graphic designer with the council who went on the trip, said: “We were involved in all sorts of building tasks. We mixed mortar, moving bricks and other building materials, bagging and pointing and generally helping the professional builders with whatever they needed.

“We were working alongside lots of other volunteers from around the UK as well as Habitat for Humanity team leaders and professional builders. We initially worked on a block of four houses but we finished that ahead of target and managed to make a start on another block of four.

“We got to meet the future homeowners as well as people who had already moved in to other houses built by other teams and it was great to see the huge difference we were making to families’ lives.” Almost nine million South Africans live in inadequate housing, often in overcrowded shacks pieced together with cardboard, corrugated iron, scraps of wood and plastic.

The group visited the township of Langa before starting the build, and they met children from the Happy Feet Youth Project, which provides a safe after school environment for children.

Gail added: “The best bit of the build was feeling like you were really helping people and there was a great camaraderie with everyone else on site because everyone was really committed to working hard and getting as much done on the build as we could. Everyone was in great spirits and we had great fun and laughed lots despite our aching muscles!

“It was very a very humbling and rewarding experience. I’d love to do more volunteering, both locally and internationally, and if I got the chance I’d do it all again.” Team Renfrewshire’s trip was part of Renfrewshire Council’s Employee Volunteering Scheme.