Social Value

Inspiring future generations: With over 150 different roles in our celebrated industry, we are passionate about raising awareness of careers in construction amongst our future generations of professionals, engaging with local schools and training providers to deliver careers initiatives including mock interviews, careers fairs, industry-specific careers talks, and work placements.
 
Providing employment opportunities: We also provide employment opportunities for long-term unemployed or NEETs: on our Lubbesthorpe School construction scheme, we supported the Leicester Cares WIRE project by running a 2- week training programme for ex-offenders – all of whom went on to secure employment in the industry.

Defence Employer Recognition Scheme: We honour the Armed Forces Covenant and are recognised as a Bronze member of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) in testament to our continued support of the armed forces community. The company employs ex-military personnel in several roles.

Using local businesses and providing employment and training opportunities for the local community are key aspects of economic sustainability. This is particularly crucial in areas with higher deprivation rates.

Whenever practical, we aim to source local labour and materials when suitable contractors and suppliers can meet our requirements. This ensures the use of labour with local community knowledge, provides employment opportunities for local people, keeps costs competitive (no excessive travel costs to be considered), and there is consideration toward the environment by not having labour and materials travelling great distances burning fossil fuels.

In 2022, we spent over £40m on local suppliers and subcontractors, creating supply chain opportunities for SMEs and social enterprises and boosting the local economy. We’ve recently exhibited at 4 Meet the Buyer events, where we’ve established meaningful connections with local suppliers and subcontractors.

We believe that health and well-being are integral to our business, our people, and our communities. 

From mental health awareness workshops to educating our staff and communities on the prevention of key physical health issues, we’re committed to providing a safe and healthy work environment for our employees whilst promoting healthy lifestyles across the areas we work within.

We support numerous charities dedicated to promoting emotional and physical health and wellbeing, with recent examples including Mind, the Lighthouse Trust and the MS Society. Earlier this year, we were a headline sponsor of Nottingham Men Allowed 2024 – a live charity event that raised over £26,000.00 for Prostate Cancer UK.

We care deeply about our planet and its future, and are doing what we can to minimise the impact of our activities in terms of cutting carbon and other greenhouse gases, reducing pollution, and maximising energy efficiency to help the UK meet its 2050 target. 

We volunteer time towards environmental conservation initiatives, such as litter-picking and tree planting, and are committed to reducing travel emissions via the use of low or zero-emission vehicles. We also work with our clients to apply innovative measures to safeguard the environment directly to schemes, such as the integration of bird boxes, bug boxes and bee corridors. We recently partnered with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust as part of our commitment to the environment and sustainability.

With sustainable design at the forefront of our approach, we enjoy partnering with like-minded organisations to help them identify new and/or retrofit low-carbon opportunities and future-proof their assets, whilst reducing the environmental impact of their buildings We can work together to help you meet your climate-related targets through the implementation of measures that continue to benefit end-users and the environment long after we’ve completed works on site. 

For more information on our climate commitment, please visit our Sustainability page.

Our communities are made up of people with different strengths, backgrounds and perceptions - differences that we believe should be recognised and celebrated. Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy outlines our commitment to encouraging diversity and eliminating discrimination both on and off-site. 

Below are some examples of how we have supported and encouraged individuals and groups in the communities in which we work.

• Facilitating training opportunities for site and office-based staff in areas such as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Women in Construction 
• Supporting local community projects - such as food banks and allotments, by donating time and/or money
• Donating to/fundraising for local charities
• Sponsoring local sports teams 

Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking
We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business. Our Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chains.