Building Connected Communities
We aim to deliver £1bn core social value by 2030. Building Connected Communities focuses on those aspects of social value that promote positive social mobility; education engagement, employability and investing in communities. This supports the great work already being done in the business to ensure fair working practices, being an inclusive employer, investing in the training and development of our employees, making conscious procurement decisions and managing the environment responsibly.
Education Engagement - Inspiring futures by connecting classrooms to careers
Our ‘Classroom to Careers’ programme joins the dots between the work being done in the classroom and how this translates into career choices for the future – all supported with a focus on skills that build confidence and employability.
If you are a school or further education facility looking for our support, click here to apply. Please note that you must be over 18 to complete this form, to ensure that we do not communicate directly with minors.
Work experience and work placements
Work experience is a fantastic way to experience a taste of life in our industry without having to commit to a specific path.
Our summer placement programmes provides students with the opportunity to build on their technical knowledge within a site environment. During the placement, students are allocated a project, giving them experience of managing a project through to completion. We ensure students receive regular feedback on their progress and, some are offered the opportunity to join us once they have completed their studies.
For university students, our year industry placement programmes focus on on-the-job learning, to complement their university course. Placements focus on technical skills and the progression towards increasing responsibility. Those who show consistent progress might be considered for employment post-graduation, via our graduate programme.
Click here to apply for work experience or a work placement, click here. Please note that you must be over 18 to complete this form, to ensure that we do not communicate directly with minors.
Employability - fair and supportive access to employment opportunities
We seek to create fair and supportive pathways into employment by removing barriers and widening access for individuals from all backgrounds supports social mobility including individuals from underrepresented groups including, but not limited to, those who are disabled, prison leavers, veterans, care leavers and long-term unemployed.
By working with carefully chosen partners we are able provide additional support to new employees from underrepresented cohorts to ensure they thrive in our business.
We have a fantastic team supporting our early careers employees - including over 10% of our workforce in 'earn and learn' roles, surpassing the 5% minimum requirement of our Platinum status with the 5% Club. Click here to find out more about our Early Careers programmes including our apprenticeship and graduate programmes.
Investing in Communities - turning local support into lasting action
Our strength lies in finding local community projects, Community Interest Companies, social enterprises and organisations that will benefit from our support. This may be through fundraising, a financial donation, gifts in kind, people power, or a more long-term investment, but whatever level of support provided, we always want to leave a positive legacy.
All our employees are entitled to a minimum of one day volunteering leave to support contract delivery which can either be facilitated through opportunities promoted on our volunteering portal, or through existing relationships.
Work Experience and Education Engagement enquiries
If you are looking for work experience, a work placement or are a school looking for our support, please complete our Education Engagement request form. Please note that you must be over 18 to complete this form, to ensure that we do not communicate directly with minors.
Please provide as much information as you can, so we can direct your request to the most relevant part of the business. We will review all requests carefully and, whilst we would love to be able to support them all, we hope you will understand that it might not always be possible to do so in every case.
