As we approach the last few months of 2024, it’s time to take a look at the social value we’ve undertaken over the last three months. We continue to work with organisations to provide employment and training opportunities for local people, as well as working closely with local groups and charities on projects providing a long-term positive impact on the communities we are working within.
Work experience placements
In July and August, we were pleased to welcome three work experience candidates as part of our ongoing partnership with Construction Youth Trust, Abdullahi joined us for a placement in our health and safety department, Raez worked with our Quantity Surveying team and Brianna worked in our HR department.
This year, we have been working with YouthBuild to support its YB100 programme, which prepares young people for a career in the construction industry. In August, we offered two work experience placements to Youth Build partners, Kieran and Mark, who joined us for a week in our multi-trade department. We continue to work with YouthBuild to support the next YB100 programme and we look forward to welcoming more of their partners into the business.
A special thanks goes out to our staff in HR, repairs and maintenance, commercial and health and safety, for helping us to facilitate these placements. We’re looking forward to continuing to inspire the next generation of construction workers by welcoming even more young people for work experience placements in October.
Local donations
Since July, we have made multiple donations and agreed several sponsorships with community organisations as part of our work providing social value across our projects.
In August, we donated £2,000 towards this year’s Bermondsey Carnival in Southwark Park. We have supported the event previously, but this year was a particularly special occasion, as it was held in memory of one of its organisers, Russell Dryden, who was an important figure in the local community.
Also in August, we made a donation to provide 400 free meals for members of the local community at Kingswood’s Summer Carnival. The event was organised by Kingswood Arts and Kingswood Estate TRA, both of whom we have supported throughout our time working on Kingswood Estate.
Meanwhile, we recently ran a free raffle on Kingswood Estate for the residents, to thank them for their patience during our Kingswood Externals project, which is coming to an end. We awarded £150, £75 and £50 shopping vouchers as first, second and third prizes.
In addition to donations for our long-term partners, we recently joined forces with two new football teams – South Thames Girls Under 13s and Billericay Town Under 10s – to provide sponsorship for their kits this season. Both teams are fantastic organisations run by local people, providing young people with the opportunity to take part in team sports and stay active. We’re looking forward to following their progress and even attending some matches to see them in action.
Engaging with the community
We celebrated the arrival of the new residents to our recently completed Gilbourne Road project by attending a welcome event organised by Royal Borough of Greenwich. We were pleased to support this event, which was attended by local councillors and key members of both the Elkins and Greenwich Builds teams. It was fantastic to see the impact the new council homes will make to the lives of the tenants.
As part of our partnership with YouthBuild, our Social Value Manager, Ayesha, attended its Network Meet event in August, with candidates from the YB100 programme, local organisations and Phoenix Community Housing. The purpose of the event was to establish a long-term plan for how we can continue to support the younger generation into the construction industry, ensuring they have the right skills to succeed.
In September, Ayesha attended Royal Borough of Greenwich’s Social Value Forum, which brought together members of the council, community leaders and contractors, to provide a greater understanding of how we can continue to deliver meaningful and impactful social value. These platforms are so important in helping us to continuously improve our social value delivery and work together with communities to ensure they are getting the maximum benefit from our work, in the form of employment, training and other initiatives.
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