VINCI Building wins BCIA award for Community Engagement Initiative of the Year

9th Nov 2020

VINCI Building are delighted to have won a British Construction Industry Award (BCIA) for Community Engagement Initiative of the Year for our amazing work with the Fallowfield community during the Unsworth Park Campus project.

Unsworth Park was a major development, not only for Manchester University, but also for the Fallowfield community. Our team sought to not only deliver a 1,200-student accommodation project but leave a lasting legacy within the community by working to support the fight against social exclusion in the employment market, promote healthy lifestyles and address wellbeing of local citizens.

The determination of project manager, Peter Dodd and his team engaged directly with the University and City Council to create a social value plan, which specifically focused upon tackling key issues facing Fallowfield.

By introducing a range of activities which included embedding social value in procured work packages, partnering with the University’s employment charity and engaging with an initiative to help children across Manchester learn important skills that would be beneficial in the workplace later in life, our team was able to contribute in developing sustainable local employment, whilst fighting exclusion.

PROMOTING HEALTHY LIVING

Our team supported ‘Incredible Edible’: which helps local‐residents grow their own vegetables to encourage healthy living and wellness.

Through ‘Dirt Factory’, a pop‐up venture, aimed at promoting cycling and physical activity in a fun way to riders of all ages, VINCI also supported the initiative which has developed an innovative approach to engaging with local communities. The initiative has also helped riders become more confident and more active on their bikes in a safer environment, providing youngsters with opportunities learn to ride through collaborating with local schools from the most deprived areas of Manchester.

SUPPORTING WELLBEING

Offering a helping hand by repairing a sensory garden for local Dementia Home ‘Monet Lodge’, has provided much needed assistance in supporting local groups.

Fallowfield’s ‘Secret Garden’ also is a place where the local community can learn to grow their own produce such as food, herbs, flowers, fruit and veg. The space is used to promote sustainable living and providing a safe-haven for the local people to feel included in their local community. VINCI donated £5k worth of tools and landscaping materials to help improve the infrastructure of the garden and help the initiative thrive.”

LEGACY

VINCI’s Unsworth Park team have opened the minds of other delivery teams and provided a stimulus in realising the benefit and importance Social Value activities can have on the local communities we serve. Through a diverse range of activities which have been undertaken in a relatively short timescale there was completion of 1,131 apprentice weeks, 23 community engagement activities and 34 work placements. A pro‐active ‘source‐local’ programme also ensured 52% of personnel on site resided locally (within the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Area).

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