Our Commitment to The Community
Neilcott tailor social value commitments to local needs and client preferences on every project. We provide dedicated resource and regular information to make sure that agreed commitments are delivered on the ground.
- We source materials and labour locally, providing high-quality London Living Wage jobs and opportunities for local businesses – c70% of our supply chain are SMEs.
- Our Employment & Skills Plans target key priority groups for training, whether through formal apprenticeships, supported ‘pre’-apprenticeships, up-skilling or employability training.
- Our community engagement initiatives build on local needs, working with local charities, schools, colleges and interest groups to fund local projects, get involved through volunteering or facilitate site tours and workshops.
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Project:
Leyton Green Partnership Project
Client:
London Borough of Waltham Forest
Value:
£7.5m
Description:
To improve life chances of vulnerable young people at Belmont Park Special School by creating tailored ‘pre’-apprenticeships with additional support.
Providing opportunities to ‘Dream, Believe, Achieve’ at
Leyton Green
The Leyton Green Partnership Project combines Social Care, Education and Housing on the same project through new and improved educational facilities for Belmont Park School, along with purpose-built new residential respite and therapeutic facilities.
Belmont Park School caters for 65 students with Social, Emotional and/or Mental Health (SEMH) issues aged between 10-18 years old who require specialist provision within a small school setting. The school ensures that the students’ transition from school to paid employment is supported, reducing the risk of individuals becoming involved in crime within the borough.
Whilst on site at Belmont Park School, we were keen to support the school’s mission and provide opportunities for students to gain new skills and exposure to the world of work through meaningful work experience and supported pathways to employment.
Social Value Champion Laura Elster worked with the school to create a Social Value Plan tailored to their needs. This focused on work experience and bespoke ‘pre’-apprenticeships which were deemed more valuable to their students, particularly to those who lacked confidence or had specific learning difficulties. Initiatives included:
- Site visits and work experience for 12 students – Students studying construction at the school were given the opportunity to shadow a variety of trades, including site management. The construction students were then tasked with attaching some of the school’s art work to the front of the hoarding creating an outdoor gallery.
- Paid work placements for 3 students – who were coming to the end of their construction course at the school, each student was assigned a mentor who supervised them at all times.
- Paid ‘Pre’-Apprenticeships were created for 3 students – all still working with us. For many students with SEMH issues wishing to enter the construction industry the opportunity to gain experience of different trades and have a little more time and support to experience life on-site is extremely valuable to build the self-esteem required before taking on the challenge of a formal apprenticeship:
- One student who had just completed his construction course was supported in obtaining his CSCS card and joined our Groundworks team
- One ex-student had recently left school to work as an apprentice caretaker, but found the experience overwhelming due to his speech and language difficulties. He showed a keen interest in carpentry and therefore 30-minute basic carpentry sessions were provided twice a week after work.
- One student successfully transitioned from antisocial/criminal behaviour through structured work environment support and evidence of his successful track record.
- Apprenticeship Information Session for 12 students – within the new cohort of the construction course, delivered by our Apprentice Coordinator with the assistance of current apprentices who gave an insight into the realities of an apprenticeship. All students were provided with Neilcott’s Careers in Construction guide.
Women into Construction
In addition to school-led employment and skills activities at Leyton Green, Neilcott supported a Women into Construction event aimed at creating ‘returnship’ work placements, apprenticeships and jobs for women wishing to enter the industry. We were introduced to Helna who had studied her Engineering degree later in life and was struggling to find her first role within the industry. We offered her:
- 1 month paid work placement with our Site Engineer, providing valuable experience and a reference for future job applications.
- 1 full-time role following an extremely successful placement
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Subcontractors:
Landworth Electrics Ltd
DP Building Services Ltd
Trade:
Electrical / Mechanical
Annual spend:
£2-3m per subcontractor
Description:
Working in trust and partnership with key subcontractors has enabled collaboration over the last 10 years to jointly train and support the next generation of construction professionals
Embedding social value across our supply chain
Neilcott’s apprenticeship programme has been specifically geared towards supporting the long-term unemployed, troubled and disadvantaged young people and those who are underrepresented within the construction industry. It is important to us that all apprentices are directly employed by Neilcott to ensure that the experience and support they receive is appropriate and constructive, particularly when managing disabilities or special needs, including an apprentice (now employee) with cystic fibrosis. In addition, it creates a sense of belonging for these young people, something that is perhaps valuable to those from challenging backgrounds. It also allows us to help trainees develop broader life skills which are just as important as learning a trade/profession.
Although directly employed by us, trade apprentices work under the direction of one of our trusted subcontractors with whom we have long-standing relationships. In particular, we have been collaborating with Landworth Electrics and DP Building Services over the past decade to support the next generation of construction workers into the industry. Both subcontractors are currently supporting apprentices on our sites across London and the South East. Each apprentice is assigned a 1:1 workplace mentor who arranges the apprentice’s work schedule and ensures that they are supervised at all times. The workplace mentor communicates with Neilcott’s Apprentice Coordinator on a monthly basis to provide progress updates and flag up any issues that may arise.
Both subcontractors are fully involved in the journey of each apprentice from start to finish by sitting in on the interview panel, to signing the apprentice off at the end of the course. On completion of their apprenticeship, Neilcott apprentices meet with their work-based mentor and a Neilcottt Director to discuss their next steps. We are proud to report that all of our most recent cohort of apprentices were directly employed by DP Building Services and Landworth Electrics post course completion. We were also pleased to hear that one of our ex-apprentices was recently promoted by Landworth Electrics and is now working as a supervisor. As part of his role, he has taken on the responsibility of workplace mentor, offering Neilcott apprentices additional support and insight into the industry as a result of his experience with both companies.
This highly successful approach is enabled by constructive working relationships with our subcontractors. By working together to select the right candidates, committing to regular communication and providing timely intervention, we provide the best possible experience for our young trainees – supporting future success and employability.
Supporting thought-leadership, skills training and development – evolving best practice and embracing new ideas
Neilcott regularly undertake joint-training at a project level, through site inductions and ongoing toolbox talks to address pertinent site and health & safety issues.
In addition, we promote deeper supply chain collaboration, skills development and exploration of how Neilcott can best support our partners to jointly address industry challenges and trends e.g. recently hosting a team-building day for our top-25 subcontractors (65% of spend) with brainstorming workshop on current issues including Working at Height, fire, pros/cons of Neilcott aggregation of materials purchase, followed by a social/networking event.
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Framework:
Brick by Brick Housing Framework
London Borough of Croydon
Description:
Brick by Brick was established to accelerate delivery of new homes
across a variety of tenures for Croydon residents.
Collaborating with local framework contractors to magnify
impact of social value initiatives
The model is designed to maximise the return from development activity to support our target of 20% local labour and wider Employment and Skills commitments, we are working closely with Croydon Works and other framework contractors to plan and undertake a range of local recruitment, work experience and school engagement events. By working together in a co-ordinated manner, we are able to provide meaningful support to borough-wide initiatives and magnify the impact of each contractor’s efforts.
Croydon Works collaborate with Croydon Council and Brick by Brick to deliver increased employment and training opportunities for Croydon Residents. We have developed a good relationship with their Employment Pathway Officer – who supports schools with careers events and links them to businesses. We have now supported 8 careers events in Croydon since our Brick by Brick projects commenced.
In-line with our Social Value aims to target those most disadvantaged in society, in March 2019 we supported Saffron Valley Collegiate at their Careers Day. The Collegiate supports some of the borough’s most troubled and at risk students across 5 Pupil Referral Units, working with the Prince’s Trust to re-engage them in education and provide them with valuable skills to support a return to mainstream education or employment.
The day included mock interviews, detailed feedback sessions and 1:1 careers guidance. Students who were interested in construction were guided to us, as well as highly disaffected students who were unsure of their career paths and needed exposure to some different career choices. We used our Neilcott Construction Careers Guide as a framework for discussion, also highlighting specific websites (such as Go Construct) for them to research further – resulting in an offer of 2 work experience placements.
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Project:
Rochester Way & Sandpit Place
GLLAB Construction Boot Camp
Description:
Supporting Neilcott’s social value targets by providing work experience placements on our projects in Greenwich
Supporting the next generation of construction skills
At our Rochester Way and Sandpit Place sites in Greenwich, we forged a positive working relationship with Greenwich Local Labour and Business (GLLAB). GLLAB provide free careers information, advice and guidance, employment support, training and job matching services for those living in the borough. They organise a Construction Boot Camp for those wishing to enter the construction industry – a four week programme of activities for young people who are lacking in skills and work experience. One week of the programme is spent on a local site gaining valuable, hands on work experience to support their learning.
We kicked off our engagement by hosting 2-week work experience placements for two trainees to gain experience of bricklaying. We held a meeting with L&R Brickwork to gain their support for the project and after a thorough risk assessment was carried out, the two trainees commenced on site. They were tasked with forming sample panels of face brickwork with a 150mm cavity and block work. Their work was photographed throughout the week and the trainees made brief notes on what they had achieved to assist them in writing their CVs at a later date. Each trainee undertaking work experience with Neilcott receives a letter of reference detailing what they observed on site and the tasks they carried out to support them in applying for jobs and apprenticeships in the future.
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Project:
Swanmore College
The ‘Big Build’ Challenge
Description:
The project’s ‘Super Objective’ was:
‘Working in teams, form a small construction company to tender for the works to transform a disused outdoor area of the school into a sustainable and ecological space’
Inspiring students across design & construction disciplines
Neilcott spearheaded an in-depth curriculum-led school engagement activity encompassing several key construction disciplines – providing an insight into the many and varied careers within construction and developing key employability skills. To achieve the project’s super objective, students in their teams were invited to a series of workshops (one per week) to understand the construction process and the variety of roles within the industry. Each workshop had specific learning outcomes that linked to literacy and numeracy skills. The workshops culminated in a presentation of their chosen design to the project team including architects who were able to ask them questions about their proposals and methodology. The winning design from ‘Swantech’ was funded and constructed with assistance from Neilcott.
| Workshop | Learning Outcome | Post-workshop Task/Indpendent Learning |
| 1. Construction Careers Presentation, presented by the Neilcott Team and Architects |
To understand the variety of roles within the Construction Industry and how they interface with each other. | Students form their own mini construction companies and assign roles. |
| 2. Workshop on Sustainability and Ecology – taught in collaboration with science teachers | To understand the meaning of sustainability and Ecology and apply this to potential design features. | To research sustainable and ecological spaces. |
| 3. Design Workshop/First Look at the Brief | To understand and interpret a Client Brief. | To produce final design to scale. |
| 4. Bid Writing, Pricing and Programme | To understand what a tender is and how to structure one. To use numeracy skills to price the final design. | To produce a bid including pricing summary and programme for the project. |
| 5. Presentation Skills | To develop presentation skills and understand what makes a winning presentation. | To prepare for their post tender interview with the client. |
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Project:
‘Building Futures’ programme
School trips
Hard hat tours
Description:
Providing high-quality curriculum-led learning and community engagement opportunities
Supporting communities – building skills, environmental
awareness and local engagement
We are committed to working with local schools, colleges and universities to promote construction as a career of choice and to change young peoples’ perception about the industry in general. As well as developing bespoke workshops for the schools that we are constructing in, we also collaborate with Education Business Partnerships such as 15billion EBP to support and deliver a range of workshops covering a variety of topics.
The ‘Building Futures’ programme introduces primary school children to the world of construction, asking them to become architects for the week to design and construct their own unique building. The students’ focus is to design a building that is sustainable and eco-friendly. The week begins with some introductory workshops that explore what sustainability means, why it is so important to the construction industry and ways in which construction companies go about developing sustainable and eco-friendly designs. Using this information, the students design their buildings in small groups, with each student taking on a specific role and responsibility. The week culminates in a presentation to a group of teachers and industry professionals to explain their building, its use, how they have incorporated eco-friendly features and how it achieves sustainability.
School Trips / Hard Hat Tours for local groups
We are very experienced in hosting site tours, whether project sponsors, commercial partners or local school children and will tailor the focus of each tour depending on the participants. Before being welcomed on to site, all students/participants receive a health and safety briefing in the site office, where they are also provided with PPE. The focus of the site tour (if relevant) will also be discussed prior to the tour.
We were pleased to welcome students from Year 11-13 onto our site at Wimbledon Girls’ School for a site tour and a setting out activity. In the days prior to the tour, students were given a brief lesson on what setting out is and how to set up the tripod and transit and take measurements. Once on site, the students were taken on a tour conducted by our Site Manager. The girls were then able to take their measurements before returning back to the classroom to discuss their findings further.
Site tours were conducted at our site at Ronald Ross Primary School for all year groups. The existing school was unfit for purpose, and so a brand-new facility was being constructed on the recreational space of the original school. Children were escorted around the site during the latter stages of construction, when the site was easier for young children to navigate. The objective of the tour was to emphasise the importance of team work, and demonstrate how many different trades work together to create a functional building through effective communication.
Whilst on site at Barking Abbey School, the A Level photography students were invited to take pictures of the site in conjunction with a project on space and shape. After liaising with the Head of Art, it was agreed that the most interesting stage of the project for their photography was after the steel frame had been erected. A number of areas around the site were cordoned off so that images could be taken from different angles. A space inside the frame was also made available for the students. The images were manipulated by the students in various ways and the results were displayed on the hoarding, included in the Neilcott Newsletter and posted on school social media sites along with project updates.
Community events and good causes
We have experience of financially supporting and organising community hoarding events at various sites across London to great success.
Our project in Central Somers Town, Camden, was part of a wider plan to regenerate the area, providing better community spaces and amenities. To celebrate the area which is rich in history, we supported local residents to create ‘Hoarding Stories’, a display that depicted the stories of residents who have lived in Somers Town over the years. Local residents have shared their personal experiences of living in the area along with photographs, letters and other imagery to create a unique section of hoarding that surrounds the school.
To achieve this, our team attended a number of meetings with the project organisers to establish a time line of events to ensure that any materials that were being supplied by Neilcott were procured on time and that hoarding and fencing panels were prepared for the work to be mounted.
Our site at Mint Street Adventure Play, Southwark, saw a number of community picnic events being organised to create a hoarding display entitled ‘My Mint Street’. At each picnic we provided children with craft materials to decorate cut out figures of children playing, which were then mounted onto the hoarding. Parents were also involved in the project, painting the hoarding background in the ‘Mint Street Candy Stripes’. There was a real sense of community spirit, enthusiasm and team work at each event, demonstrating just how valuable Mint Street Play Centre is to the community.
Sands End Community & Arts Centre – LB Hammersmith & Fulham Neilcott is providing 20% local procurement, work experience and training on-site. We are also working with Clement James Centre, a charity set up to support members of the community by providing education, employment and wellbeing support, in a safe and compassionate space. Neilcott is financially sponsoring one of the centre’s Business Engagement days and in March, 15 Neilcott employees gave up their time to work with the centre’s clients, taking part in various challenges to boost their confidence by giving one to one advice on interview and presentation skills.
The financial contribution covered the costs associated with running the programme, therefore allowing the centre to continue to support the local community, in particular, those that are vulnerable and at risk of long term unemployment and mental health issues.
We were pleased to support a community project organised by CREATE London. CREATE used funds and materials donated by Neilcott to construct a pop-up space/pavillion within their grounds. CREATE used the pavilion as a space for community workshops and also as a community cinema. The project itself was designed and built by a local architecture student who was in the final year of his architecture degree.