Longhurst Group is giving back to the community through our partnerships with our contractors

Pupils at several schools across our region have been learning basic construction skills as part of a social value project.

We’ve teamed up with Morgan Sindall Property Services (MSPS) to deliver energy efficiency improvement works to nearly 600 homes across our portfolio as part of our Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) programme.

Within the contract is a requirement for MSPS to deliver social value to local communities, and the organisation has been working with students at schools in Peterborough, Nottingham, Lincoln and Grimsby to deliver the ASDAN Introduction to Construction course.

The course sees pupils learn about different types of wood, what their botanical names are and what they can be used for. They also learn about and use different types of joints as they build items such as bird boxes.

One of the schools that’s taken part in the project is St Francis Special School in Lincoln.

Fallon Warren, our Head of Environment and Sustainability, said: “We believe it’s important to give something back to our communities, so to be able to provide courses like this in partnership with our contractors is brilliant.

“We’ve worked with several schools across our region, but the students at St Francis Special School have really engaged with the project and it’s been great to see the progress they’ve been making.

“I’d like to thank Morgan Sindall Property Services for helping to make this happen and we’ll continue to deliver more social impact as our partnership continues.”

The sessions are being delivered by Donna Shaw, Senior Social Value Officer at MSPS.

She said: “I’ve really enjoyed meeting all the amazing young people at St Francis Special School and it’s been a joy to work with them.

“They’ve fully engaged and the amount of knowledge they’ve retained and the quality of the work they’ve produced has been amazing.

“Allowing pupils to learn about something that isn’t on the curriculum to enable them to develop skills while linking elements to careers they may never have heard of or thought might be an option for them to pursue is important to ensure that everyone can make an informed choice when choosing their next steps.  

“Social value is not only a job, but also my passion. Supporting others to empower them to reach their individual potential is really rewarding.  If communities can be brought together to support each other with social value initiatives, it can only be a good thing to create an inclusive environment. “

Adam Hooker, Careers Teacher at St Francis Special School, said it’s been great seeing the students engaging with the course.

He added: “One of the key things we try to do here at the Lincoln Saints Federation is provide students with as much engagement with local businesses as possible. This project has enabled the group to learn about a new employer to them, in a sector that they didn't have a great deal of knowledge about.

"For some, this will lead to a desire for a career in the industry. Most importantly, though, it's been great fun for them. They've been able to follow a project through and have really engaged with the process.

"You can see they're very proud of what they've achieved."