Winvic Wins CECA Midlands Social Value of the Year Award

Winvic Construction Ltd has been awarded the Social Value of the Year Award from the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) Midlands. The team collected the award at a ceremony in Birmingham last Thursday, 14 September.

The award recognises Winvic’s team for delivering a high standard of Social Value in partnership with client IM Properties for the Peddimore Civils and Infrastructure project, which met CECA Midlands’ category criteria:

• Promotion of local skills and employment
• Development of the workforce
• Working with Local Stakeholders and support of the local community
• Safeguarding the environment during the project
• Engagement with a local supply chain to support local business growth

The key drivers for the Peddimore Social Value Strategy were set by IM Properties’ following their successful appointment as development partner with Birmingham City Council (BCC) for the project. The social value strategy at Peddimore was influenced by BCC’s Business Charter for Social Responsibility. The Peddimore SV strategy was centred around four key pillars with the aim to make the greatest impact in communities with the greatest need, and to facilitate pragmatic actions directly linked to opportunities. Winvic worked in close partnership with IM Properties to deliver real social value outcomes during their time on the project.

Winvic’s work to identify and engage with stakeholders began 12+ months prior to construction, first joining IM Properties on the North Birmingham Economic Recovery Board (NBERB) and then forming the North Birmingham Employment and Skills Board (NBESB). A collective approach was crucial for success so that targets and actions were set collaboratively, but flexibility ensured no opportunity could be discounted and new ideas could flourish.

New and improved cross-agency relationships were formed, grew and remain strong today and the strategic layered approach coordinated by an experienced site-based Social Value Manager allowed break-out groups to plan and deliver activities, which ensured people were more easily reached and greater successes achieved. Winvic explored deprivation and key on-the-ground challenges, reacted to the economic landscape, found opportunities through grassroots partnerships, aligned training with real job vacancies, engaged with local SMEs, VCSEs, education providers and charities.

Strategic social value targets for Peddimore were exceeded due to the volume of quality, targeted projects and ideas put forward by the Social Value Manager, NBERB and NBESB and their collaborative work. Long-lasting positive outcome include:

• 2,070 training/employment weeks
• 64 people facing back-to-work challenges were supported into employment
• 466 training weeks delivered with 93% of learners being local residents
• 61 learners achieved necessary construction qualifications
• 38 learners completed traffic management qualifications
• 17 redundant workers supported into construction training
• 9 events delivered in 5 local schools and a nursery including a careers pilot with pupils and parents
• Multiple food and ‘Dignity Bag’ donations made to 3 local charities and 5 community projects were supported with resource and materials
• 98% of waste from the site was recycled and diverted from landfill
• Balanced the use of bulk materials across the site – no bulk materials were imported or removed
• Maximised the use of recycled materials

Heidi Salmons, Winvic’s Head of Marketing, Communications and Social Responsibility, said: “Peddimore’s Social Value Strategy is a shining example of what can be achieved when developer, contractors, local authorities, educators, trainers, businesses and non-profits share a common vision. None of it could be possible without the support of the whole site team, including every subcontractor, numerous education and training providers, the local councils and our client IM Properties. We’re all very proud to be recognised for this by CECA Midlands.”

Winvic Social Value Manager, Emma Rhymes, has written a blog where more information can be found about her work on the Peddimore project. She added: “Face-to-face community liaison was crucial to success, and we built robust relationships in vulnerable communities. Also, we were fast reacting in supporting the local community through challenging economic shifts during project delivery; we helped people who were being made redundant from a local firm to retrain and gain construction qualifications around their shift patterns and we distributed energy vouchers to local families in need, for example. Getting the strategy right to increase local skills and employment was important and we mapped skills shortages and job vacancies with our supply chain, which allowed us to create training content – qualifications, expertise, soft skills, career progression next steps – that resulted in on-site jobs and long-lasting careers. It’s amazing how much has been achieved through collaboration, so thank you, this award is for us all.”

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