Community partnerships

Building long-term partnerships with selected organisations helps us focus our support and make a greater difference to our communities.

Some of our closest partnerships are with:

Business in the Community’s Business Action on Homelessness programme

Business Action on Homelessness (BAOH) helps the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless to gain and sustain employment, by providing training and organising work placements through its ‘Ready for Work’ programme. In partnership with BAOH, Carillion offers two-week placements and a six-month period of coaching by our employees afterwards.

In 2010, we offered 111 two-week placements against a target of 110; 47 people gained employment, 13 of them with Carillion.

We have established local champions in each business to develop this programme. We also hold monthly conference calls with BAOH to share best practice and review operational needs and benefits to the community.

“Business Action on Homelessness and Carillion have developed a strong partnership over the past year. Carillion brings a huge depth to the placements that we offer to people who have experienced homelessness or are at risk of homelessness. By offering over 110 placements in 2010, Carillion has given our clients a fantastic opportunity to develop and improve their skills, which helps them move on to gaining work in the future. We look forward to deepening our partnership with Carillion in the future.”

Anne Willmot,
Director, Business Action on Homelessness

Carillion helps Iain get ‘Ready for Work’

Iain McColl first arrived at Carillion’s Library of Birmingham project in May 2010. He had spent two years living in hostels when he saw a poster for the BAOH ‘Ready for Work’ programme, and his support worker encouraged him to apply.

Iain said, “I was treated like an employee. Carillion gave me a ‘buddy’, Derek, who was great – I really valued the time he spent settling me in. In my second week, I was given the opportunity to work with A J Morrisroe, a construction company.”

His hard work and skills made Iain an ideal candidate for one of the positions that A J Morrisroe wanted to fill locally, and Iain gained full-time employment after the placement ended.

“We are now helping Iain to get his NVQ Level 2 as a Construction Operative through the National Skills Academy and are pleased to see he is making such excellent progress.”

Sinead Mackenzie,
Project Manager Employment and Training, Carillion

Business in the Community’s Business Class programme

Business Class involves carefully structuring partnerships between businesses and schools. It is a mutual relationship with benefits for both parties. The core principle is that school determines what is needed from its business partner – it is not about financial giving but supporting schools by giving time and knowledge.

Carillion Construction Nottingham and our inspiredspaces company have provided a £10,000 support package for Business Class in the East Midlands to help shape the future of 10 schools in Nottingham.

We supported Business in the Community East Midlands with their Business Class Breakfast Club launch event in October 2010, to raise the profile of the programme with other private and public sector organisations in Nottingham.

Carillion has been paired with a local Wolverhampton school to provide external support over the short and long term. Some key areas that Carillion provides help with include mentoring school staff, improving management processes and systems and giving presentations to students on issues ranging from CV writing to entrepreneurism.

In the West Midlands, we offered interview tips and developed engineering and technology workshops to add to the curriculum. We will continue this in 2011, with the addition of work experience opportunities.

Black Country Student Awards

The Black Country Challenge is a government programme to break the cycle of low attainment among disadvantaged children in the region and raise aspirations of pupils and their families. Carillion sponsored the Black Country Student Awards as part of our Business Class commitment.

Students from Ridgewood High School, Stourbridge won the Business and Enterprise category at the Black Country Challenge Student Awards for their proposal to raise money for charity. Pictured here are Paul Reynolds, Regional Director, Carillion Construction and Dame Julia Cleverdon congratulating the winning students.

The Wildlife Trusts

In 2010, we celebrated 10 years of working with the Wildlife Trusts and donating to them through the Carillion Natural Habitats Fund. To date, the Fund has donated around £300,000 to support 48 projects across the UK.

We prioritise Wildlife Trust projects that are close to local Carillion sites, so that our people are able to volunteer. For example, in 2010, as part of a long-term programme to reintroduce the water vole to the River Wandle, our teams across London carried out wetland conservation work and species recording. Our volunteers also supported the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust to undertake practical woodland conservation activities at the Ryton Wood Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Wildlife Trust work day

Wildlife Trust work day In August, a team from Carillion spent a day working alongside the London Wildlife Trust to support their mammal monitoring project. Despite rain, we met our aim of launching six mammal monitoring stations on to the River Wandle. These are anchored rafts that attract mammals such as the American Mink. When the animals walk through the station, they leave footprints behind in a basket filled with clay.

Every month, workers from the Wildlife Trust revisit the sites to assess the range of mammals using the river.

Defence Career Partnering

Defence Career Partnering is a collaborative arrangement between individuals, selected employers and the Ministry of Defence (MOD). It offers service personnel opportunities for career development within the defence community. Carillion started supporting this programme in 2010 by providing work placements to this targeted group. We are committed to developing our partnership and offering more opportunities in 2011.

Habitat for Humanity

In 2010, Carillion Canada launched a partnership with the non-profit organisation, Habitat for Humanity Toronto, which builds affordable homes for families living in need. We donated money, assisted with sourcing building materials, and our employees volunteered to ‘build a house for a day’.