Winvic Shortlisted for BCIA Community Impact Initiative of the Year

Following its submission to The British Construction Industry Awards’ (BCIA) Community Impact of the Year Initiative, for the Mercia Park Employment Scheme (MPES), Winvic Construction joins 10 others on the category shortlist. Over 80 experts have judged the entries and on 6^th September Winvic’s social value project team will deliver a presentation on the MPES to a smaller judging panel who have been selected for their knowledge of best practice community engagement.

The awards are facilitated by the Institution of Civil Engineers and New Civil Engineer and comprise 19 categories in total. Representatives from Winvic and its client IM Properties will attend the ceremony on Wednesday 12^th October, being held at the Great Room at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.

The Community Impact Initiative of the Year category recognises projects that have improved the lives and prospects of the communities that live close to the project area. Judges are looking for project teams that can demonstrate an understanding and recognition of the importance of working with local communities. These teams will have gone the extra mile to have not just sought to mitigate the impact of construction on the community to provide true outreach in the form of engagement with schools and community groups and potentially offered training and employment.

Winvic’s entry details a broad social value plan that continues to have tangible and positive effects on the lives of many people surrounding the north west Leicestershire site, located adjacent to junction 11 of the M42. It covers the period of time through the IM Properties’ project’s civils and infrastructure enabling works, the construction of DSV’s industrial units and the ongoing delivery of Jaguar Land Rover’s facilities. The appetite for meaningful activities across four themes – local employment, business opportunities, curriculum support and community projects – is reaching beyond the developer’s and main contractor’s vision and is embracing outstanding partnership models.

The MPES took its cue from the Planning Application Socio-Economic Impact Assessment. Targeting the six surrounding local authority areas (Local Impact Area) and the East and West Midlands (Wider Impact Area), an Employment and Skills Partnership (ESP) made up of 29 people from 22 organisations was created to make opportunities become reality.

Highlights of the benefits the MPES has delivered to date include:

• From over 3,000 construction workers, 2,400 are from within the impact areas
• 586 weeks of training has been delivered and an onsite Future of Construction Training Centre was opened, a first-of-its-kind for both and Winvic and IM Properties
• 19 apprentices employed across the project and 11 work experience, placement and Year In Industry students have worked on site
• 350 hours of T-Level placement onsite work experience provided
• 213 out of 319 suppliers are from within the impact areas
• 45% of spend has been with SMEs in the impact areas
• A first-of-its-kind facility – the onsite Sustainability & Innovation Hub (SIH) – was opened and students from local colleges, Building Birmingham Scholarship and primary schools have visited
• Virtual Construction Careers Insight Days and an interactive workshop with four LEP Careers Hubs have been held
• The IM Properties Mercia Park Community Fund has supported 61 projects, positively affecting 15,886 people’s lives with a total of £258,560 in grants. Winvic has further supported an additional 6 community projects.

Heidi Salmons, Winvic’s Head of Marketing, Communications and Social Responsibility, who also sits on Winvic’s sustainability leadership team, commented: “Winvic, IM Properties, our supply chain and all the members of the Employment and Skills Partnership have been working determinedly for over two years to find opportunities for – and to deliver – the Mercia Park Employment Scheme. Therefore, us being shortlisted is already fantastic recognition of our combined passion to bring a wide range of benefits to individuals, businesses and communities in the local authority areas and across the Midlands. We are now preparing for our panel presentation and are looking forward to the big announcement in October.”

David Smith, Planning & Communities Director at IM Properties said: “We are very proud of what has been achieved in partnership with Winvic on the Mercia Park Employment Scheme. As a contractor Winvic shares our ambitions for creating positive change in communities, engaging their supply chain to deliver real job and training opportunities.

“Throughout, Winvic’s commitment has been unfaltering. Together we have helped inspire a new generation of young people into construction through use of the pioneering Sustainability & Innovation Hub and utilised our available resources to support local people and projects to create an impressive set of outcomes. This in turn has helped us build a strong reputation with local stakeholders and be recognised for our genuine shared desire to leave a lasting legacy.”

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