At Elkins, we always strive to make a positive difference in the communities where we work, which is why providing social value is an important part of our offering. In this update, we look back at the social value initiatives we undertook in the final months of 2024.
Work experience for local young people
As part of our commitment to providing opportunities for local young people to gain experience in the construction industry, we have been continuing our partnership with Shooters Hill Sixth Form College in Greenwich. In October, we welcomed two students from the college, Leland and Armani, for a week of work experience in our multi-trade department.
We also invited 12 students from Shooters Hill to visit our Well Hall Road new build project in November. Our Site Manager, Dave, and Contracts Manager, Marnie, took students around and gave them insights into the construction of the site. Elkins’ Social Value Manager, Ayesha, and Greenwich Builds’ Social Value Officer, Reme, also explained the social value initiatives being delivered in the local area as part of the project. The visit was a great success, with Shooters Hill Teacher, Paul McDermott, commenting: “The students who attended really enjoyed the experience and gained a lot of insight into construction practices from it.”
In addition to our work with the college, we have also been continuing our long-term partnerships with youth employment organisations, Construction Youth Trust and YouthBuild, over the last few months. This has included our Social Value Manager, Ayesha, attending volunteering sessions to assist with conducting mock and live interviews with candidates.
Local sponsorships and donations
In our last social value update, we revealed we had sponsored the kits for two new youth football teams – Billericay Town Under 10s and South Thames Girls Under 13s – as part of our commitment to providing social value under our contract for Southwark Council. At the end of 2024, we made a further donation to South Thames Girls Under 13s to cover the cost of branded raincoats and pitch hire at Burgess Park for all the club’s home games in the 2024/5 season. Burgess Park is a local pitch, which will help to make attending training and the games more accessible for players and their families.
We also previously announced we had donated £6,000 to Kingswood Arts to build a new youth club and recording studio in the basement of Kingswood House. The team has been working hard on the construction and the complicated structural changes have now been completed. Kingswood Arts is currently crowdfunding to kit out the newly refurbished space and we look forward to seeing the final results and the positive impact the project will have on the local community.
We’re excited to have another significant social value project underway, where we are collaborating with other major contractors to deliver even more value to the community. We have teamed up with Durkan, a fellow contractor on the Greenwich Builds programme, to renovate a garden at a local centre, as part of our commitment to improving the quality of green spaces under the Greenwich Builds contract. Both Elkins and Durkan have donated £8,700 towards the total cost of the project, which is £21,000. The final £3,800 is being contributed by Blakeney Leigh, to pay for the garden features, including a seating area, shed, trampoline and boxing bag. Look out for further updates in our next news story.
Keep up to date with all our latest news and on social media – follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram.
