**Social Value**
Using construction as a catalyst for good
We are facing a skills shortage in the industry, and there is a responsibility for us to do the most we can to attract and recruit the next generation. However, our responsibilities also go much further than learning and employment. It's about diversity and inclusion, sustainability, and local communities too.
On the National Highways project, we looked to give something back to the community through investment, community events and sustainability improvements, guided by our Social Value Charter written specifically for each project by all of the stakeholders.
Social Value Manager
Across all 4 projects we achieved:
📈 39% social value ROI💑 £8.1m of social value reinvested in local area🌍 £99.6k spent with Social Enterprises👷🏼♀️ 229 apprentice weeks👨🏽🏫 173 charitable volunteering hours🎁 £6,700 in charitable donations
Fundamental
It's in the mix
Unimportant
Stuart Scrimgeour, the Senior Planner working on Bescot, delivered a ‘Meet the Planner’ school engagement session for three Rushcliffe Spencer Academy students interested in construction.The students were tasked with assessing a number of activities and determine their durations. They were then tasked with scheduling the activities and populating a Gantt chart to create their programme.
‘The Healthy Employee’ attended the National Highways' depots as part of a Health and Wellbeing Screening Programme for our staff. We also invited staff from National Highways and it’s maintenance and response partner, Colas, to attend. These sessions included:
A confidential 1-2-1 appointment with a Health Coach
Instant results and a personal report, presented in an easy to understand traffic light guide format
Advice for making positive lifestyle changes
A GP referral letter if required
The purpose of the sessions was to provide information that inform lifestyle decisions, helping people to be healthier, fitter, more motivated and engaged.
We set up an ‘Excess Material Zone’ on site to store surplus material ready for donation to Walsall College. We engaged with the college, which runs construction courses locally, to identify the materials they most needed. Throughout the project we were able to collect and donate close to £2,000 worth of brick and blockwork.
15 representatives from Morgan Sindall Construction, National Highways, and Gleeds walked 17km across Cleeve Common for the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity. Each of the four National Highways schemes raised £500, meaning a total of £2,000 was raised for the charity, which has a local air base in Strensham, nearby to the National Highways depot.
Stuart Scrimgeour, Senior Planner at Bescot, also took part in ‘The Ivanhoe Way Walking Challenge’, a 60km walk in the Leicestershire countryside, raising £7,000 for Pancreatic Cancer UK. The event was held to support the niece of one of our colleagues who is suffering from this devastating form of cancer. Stuart was joined by a team of volunteers from Morgan Sindall.
In October, Chloe Spencer, Doxey Depot’s Quantity Surveyor and Andrew Clayton, Social Value Manager, were amongst the Morgan Sindall Construction volunteers who attended Nottingham Trent University’s Careers Fair.
Emma Sharman, Liz Ling and Lorreen Naylor also supported the University’s Apprenticeship Week event, which brought together employers, current and prospective apprentices, academics, course leaders and industry experts.
Recognising the many barriers that prevent people donating money to the homeless, the Billy Chip charity produces ‘chips’ that can be exchanged at local corner shops, coffee shops and larger retailers for food and drinks.National Highways' depots were chosen to trial this initiative, with each SHE observation resulting in the purchase of a £2 Billy Chip.
We’re really sensitive about the communities around us and we worked really hard to try and source as many suppliers from the local area – three out of every four pounds that were spent on our depots went to businesses within a 30 mile radius, which is fantastic for the local community.
Duncan Smith, Executive Director - Operations at National Highways
