Throughout the first three months of 2024, we’ve been continuing to support local charities and organisations, accommodate work experience placements and engage with the local communities as part of our commitment to providing social value for our clients in the areas where we work. Read on to find out more about what we’ve been up to since our last update.
Dulwich Wood Primary School
We’ve established a long-term relationship with Dulwich Wood Primary School, situated within Kingswood Estate where we’re currently carrying out several major refurbishment projects. Since the start of the project, we have supported their various events and last year we also sponsored their football kits.
We’re now excited to reveal that we are supporting a major project the school is undertaking to build a new outdoor science area. When we met with the school earlier this year to hear about the plans, we knew we wanted to make a significant contribution to help them bring it to fruition, and agreed to donate £8,000.
We also reached out to our subcontractors working on the project, in an effort to raise further funds. Thanks to the generosity of Aereco Ltd, Bronzewood Metalworks, Cablesheer, Grout Electrical, Opus Waterproofing, PJ Mear, System Controls Installation, Token Cleaning, GC Construct and SO Integrations, we are thrilled to have now raised a staggering £17,195 to cover the cost of the science tables. In addition to their donation, SO Integrations have also kindly offered to donate two days of free labour.
We’re delighted to have raised such a significant sum for this project, which will provide long-term value for the school, and create a space to be enjoyed by current and future students for many years to come. Work is due to start at Easter and we’ll be providing regular progress updates on our social media.
CACT Extra Time Hub
We continue to support the Extra Time Hub in Greenwich, making regular donations each quarter to help with the cost of running the project. Our Social Value Manager, Ayesha, also volunteers at the sessions on a regular basis. We look forward to continuing to support this wonderful project that sees over one hundred over 55’s come together each week to enhance their physical and mental health.
Work experience
We continue to offer opportunities for local people to develop careers in the construction industry. In February, we welcomed two students from Shooters Hill Sixth Form College – Malahkie joined our Repairs and Maintenance team on a one-week multi-trade placement, and Riley undertook an electrical placement over two weeks, working on our Sam Manners new build modular project.
In March, we welcomed Kingston University Student, Mohammed, who is beginning a 12-week work placement within our Health and Safety department. This placement is part of our ongoing partnership with Building Pathways and helping to support their Pathways to Construction Management programme. The programme aims to address the lack of ethnic diversity of professionals and managers working in London’s Construction and Built Environment sector and focuses on developing a diverse talent pool of candidates by preparing and supporting them to access higher level apprenticeships into management. We’ll be checking in with Mohammed throughout his placement and look forward to following his progress.
Community engagement
As part of our work with Construction Youth Trust, we attended Ark Walworth Academy in February to speak to students about the various pathways into construction and the many roles available to them. We also have further sessions lined up in April.
We continue to work with Shooters Hill Sixth Form College. We delivered a ‘routes into construction’ presentation to students in February and also attended its careers fair in March. We will be arranging some site visits in the coming weeks to give the students further insight into the industry they are studying.
We are pleased to have recently partnered with Youth Build to support its upcoming YB100 programme for 18-to-25-year-olds within Lewisham. We will be taking part in their panel discussions, supporting employability sessions, and accommodating work experience placements.
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