At Elkins Construction, we’ve been busy during the first three months of the year carrying out numerous community initiatives as part of our commitment to providing social value in the areas where we work. These have included facilitating work experience for young people and a large garden renovation project for a children’s centre. Read on to find out more about what we’ve been up to.
Inspiring the next generation
We’ve been continuing to work with youth employment agency, YouthBuild, to provide work placements for local young people. At the beginning of 2025, we welcomed two new candidates for work experience – Donnell, who was placed with the multi-trade team to work on our new build project at The Brooks, and Kimani, who worked on Sam Manners with our previous apprentice, Kyle Harris. Both Donnell and Kimani received great feedback on their performance from their supervisors, and we look forward to welcoming more candidates from YouthBuild later this year.
We have also agreed to provide four work placements for London South East Colleges’ (LSEC) first intake of Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction T-Level students. The students will spend four days at college and one day on site gaining practical experience every week for a year. We’ll be providing further updates and following the students progress on our website and social media channels throughout the placements.
Elkins’ Social Value Manager, Ayesha, has been continuing to work with local schools and colleges to promote construction careers to young people under our contract with Royal Borough of Greenwich. She recently attended Eltham Hill School’s Employability Day and Shooters Hill Sixth Form College’s Future Careers Fayre, as well as a ‘World of Work’ session at Mayflower Primary School, which was our first community engagement under our contract with new client, Tower Hamlets.
Giving back to local communities
Our biggest social value initiative in the first three months of the year was the completion of a new garden for a children’s centre in Greenwich, carried out in partnership with our fellow contractors, Durkan Homes and Blakeney Leigh. Following an initial consultation with the centre’s staff, the Elkins team drew up designs and appointed one of our approved suppliers to deliver the renovation works. We donated £8,700 towards the project, which Durkan matched, and Blakeney Leigh contributed the remaining £3,800 to cover the cost of the garden’s features.
As part of our ongoing support for South Thames Girls FC, we recently agreed to fund memberships for all players for the pioneering new online hub, She Plays Football. The platform is designed exclusively for young female footballers and their parents, and provides expert guidance, training tips, and unparalleled insights from both professional players and rising stars.
Looking ahead, we have agreed to fund the Kidbrooke Park Summer Community Festival at Blackheath Rugby Club, which is being organised by Greenwich councillors, John Fahy and Odette McGahey. We will be in attendance on the day and also have a stall at the event. Keep your eyes on our social media channels for confirmation of the date and further details.
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