We’ve had an exceptionally busy quarter when it comes to social value and giving back to the communities where we work. We’ve been continuing to offer work experience opportunities to local young people and provide donations and volunteers for community initiatives and events taking place over the summer. We’ve also been working on several significant projects to support local organisations and councils with making improvements to infrastructure and public spaces.
Greenwich Builds
We’ve been continuing to deliver social value for Royal Borough of Greenwich and in April attended its Greenwich Social Value Showcase at Charlton House, which celebrated the positive impact of the social value initiatives being carried out under the Greenwich Builds contract.
We’ve also recently completed several of our Greenwich Builds projects, and we were pleased to attend Royal Borough of Greenwich’s welcome event for the new residents at our Halsbrook Road development back in April. During the event, special tributes were made to Councillor Christine Grice, who sadly passed away last year. A part of the development has been named in her memory. Mayor of Greenwich, Jit Ranabhat, and Leader of Greenwich Council, Anthony Okereke, were in attendance, alongside other councillors, Christine’s family and the new residents, plus our MD, Ray Elkins.
Work placements
We continue to work with YouthBuild to provide opportunities for local young people to get into the construction industry. At the end of May, our HR & Learning Development Advisor, Sarah, attended Youth Build’s mock interview and CV writing session at their Thamesmead Centre. Following this, we had five of the candidates join us for a week of work experience from 2nd-6th June as part of our commitment to providing work placements for local residents under our Greenwich Builds contract. Anisa worked in our HR department, Tobi and Kylan in Site Management, Jaden worked with our RLO team and Summer with our Multi-Trade team.
We have recently been joined by another YouthBuild candidate, Matt, who will be with us for work experience every Monday until he goes to university in September. He’ll be working with Site Manager, Dave Conroy, at our Buckhurst Street site and observing the various trades associated with delivering a modular new build project.
In June, we also hosted a site visit for Youth Build partners at our new build site, The Brooks, where the candidates got to see the project in progress and learn more about the modular construction process. At the end of the month, our Social Value Manager, Ayesha, will also be attending Youth Build’s ‘Young People Building Community Together’ event.
In our last update, we announced we were providing work placements for London South East Colleges’ first intake of Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction T-Level students. We were pleased to welcome Tyler, Che, Jada, Madeleine, Vito and Adam to start their placements in June. They will be working with our Site Manager, Ian Stubbs, Quantity Surveyor, Chris Pierce, and Project Manager, Keith Hill, one day a week across two of our Greenwich Build sites for the next 40 weeks.
We’ve also been continuing our work with local schools to inspire young people into careers in construction. Ayesha conducted mock interviews with students in years 10 and 12 during a session at Eltham Hill School and attended Haberdashers’ Borough Academy’s careers networking event with Construction Youth Trust, where she spoke with Key Stage 4 students about the different routes into the construction industry. In mid-June, Ayesha, our HR Manager, Sarah, and Labourer, Alex, attended Bygrove Primary School to deliver a ‘Going to Work’ assembly to students about the various roles in construction.
Community initiatives
We’ve been working on several projects with local organisations to improve community spaces over the last three months. We’re working with Kasbah, an organisation providing support services for people with disabilities, to renovate its centre’s outdoor spaces as part of our social value commitment to Gravesham Borough Council. Improvement works include painting fences and benches, installing a new picnic bench and garden table, tidying up flower beds, weeding and supplying new flowers.
In June, we arranged for improvement works to three war memorials in Thanet – Bourner Memorial, the British Legion Memorial and the War Memorial at All Saints Church. The works are part of Thanet Council’s project to protect and restore some of its most significant statues and monuments. Andreea Plant, Head of Property at Thanet District Council, said: “The ultimate aim is to ensure that all statues and monuments on public land are preserved for future generations, and that the events or people that are commemorated are remembered for years to come. […] The contributions of our contractors WW Martin, AD Construction, Elkins, PJ Mears and BSW have made this project possible, and I would like to express my thanks to them all.”
We are also in discussions with local organisation, Sports 4 Change, to see how we can assist with internal improvement works required to its hub. The organisation does important work to facilitate sports and activities that transform lives and encourage healthier, happier futures for local communities.
Local donations
In addition to offering our services, we’ve also been supporting community organisations with their work through donations over the last three months. Under our recently awarded contract to build new homes for Gravesham Borough Council, we have made an early start delivering social value, with £1,500 worth of donations to four organisations helping distribute food and other essential items to people in the local community – Hive Hope Food Bank, Gravesham Food Bank, Salvation Army and the Community Cupboard.
Over the last few years, we’ve been committed to encouraging young people into sport by supporting local youth teams in the areas where we work. Continuing this commitment, we’ve also donated £500 towards running Gravesham Council’s free tennis and basketball sessions as part of its summer fun programme running during the school holidays.
Earlier this month, we agreed to donate four iPads to three local charities as part of our social value commitment for Tower Hamlets Council: Jubilee Street Practice, which delivers a wide range of health and wellbeing activities for local residents; Globe Community Project, a grassroots charity providing services to some of the borough’s most disadvantaged communities; and Turners and Locksley Community Centre, which provides a vital local hub promoting community cohesion. Mohammed Kenawi, Projects & Operations Officer at Globe Community Project said: “We are incredibly grateful for the IPad donation from Elkins Construction. This will have an immediate positive impact on our operations. Specifically, we plan to use it for our project’s weekly registration process. For a long time, our volunteers have managed this with paperwork, so transitioning to the tablet will save significant time and effort, allowing them to focus more on supporting our community members.”
This summer, we’re also excited to support two summer festivals for local people as part of our social value commitment under our Greenwich Builds contract. We have donated £2,500 and will be the principal sponsor at Hornfair ParksFest on 22nd June and we will contributing over £4,000 to cover the entire cost of Kidbrooke Community Festival on 13th July. Both festivals are key events in the summer calendar that provide a free day out for families and help bring local communities together.
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