Social Value – Hale Group

Community Engagement

Creating positive legacies for future generations

Alongside building sustainable homes, commercial premises, and Extra Care facilities, Hale Group are committed towards providing meaningful Community Engagement within our areas of work. We have a directly employed Social Value Officer, Dionne Herbert, who oversees the organisation and delivery of all engagement, from educational workshops, sponsorships, through to community led events.

Dionne is also Hale’s point of contact for all things TR&T (Targeted Recruitment and Training). This refers to all Work Experience, New Employment, Apprenticeship and Trainee Placement. TR&T also extends to the provision of Site Visits, Mock Interviews, CV Workshops, and any other employability and training support that we can extend to our communities.

We work with a range of excellent charities, not-for-profits, community projects, sporting clubs, employability, education, and training providers across Wales. Always seeking to discover new connections of this nature, Dionne welcomes contact from any organisations or charities of this nature, whom may benefit from Community Engagement, on Dherbert@halegroup.uk

Understanding the crucial importance of being a socially responsible organisation, Social Value forms part of Hale’s company mission. As such, throughout the expansion of our business we have become experts in:

The delivery of circular economy solutions.
Procuring local supply chains.
Utilising locally sourced materials where possible.
Monitoring our material and energy usage, output, and waste; diverting more than 99% of company waste from landfill and making executive decisions to minimise energy output wherever possible.
Offering sustainable solutions within our projects, such as natural insulations, and energy-efficient technologies.

Providing pilot studies and whole life carbon assessments of our projects, monitoring carbon usage; forming KPI’s for improvements.
Supporting local employment and training (via collaborations with local employability, education, and training providers).
Tailoring our Community Benefits approach to meet national goals.
Community initiatives and consultation.
Involving our clients from project inception, ensuring that Community Investment sums are utilised for the greater good, providing tailored social value initiatives, which provide maximum impact for the communities surrounding our developments.

“Our expertise, combined with Dionne’s knowledge and understanding, allows Hale Group to surpass our corporate social responsibility objectives to provide tangible legacies within our local communities.”

Redevelopment of County Flats

Client: Tai Tarian. The scheme has been made possible via Innovative Housing Programme (IHP) funding from the Welsh Government.

Contract Value: £13.6 million.

Project Summary: The development comprises of the energy-efficient redevelopment of 72 existing flats (built in the 1950’s), and the further construction of 55 new homes.

Situated within the ward of Sandfields, Aberavon; during project inception, Hale set a target of providing 77 Employability and Training opportunities, greatly enhancing local employment and training. Quarterly meetings are held with local employability providers, to ensure that the opportunities provided, match regional demand.

Circular economy solutions
With the site being located just 10 miles from Hale’s JCG Timber frame, MMC, and offices facility, has greatly benefitted the developments foundational circular economy solutions.

Over 95% of the supply chain resides within 25 miles of the site.
100% of waste has been diverted from landfill, via our in-house biomass boiler (fed by waste timber), alongside our supply-chain partners, GD environmental.
A park and ride facility, supporting Hale workers to and from site, reducing the carbon consumption from multiple vehicle mileage.
£15,000 worth of in-kind labour and donations (community benefits initiatives) have been undertaken within 2 miles of the development.
An in-house Training Academy, delivering innovative training, centred around low-carbon technologies.

A range of innovative technologies and solutions have been applied to the project, including:

The development is the first scheme in the world to pilot study mycelium (mushroom insulation), home grown in the basement of our JCG factory, with research and development support from Bath University. Mycelium has a range of healthy properties, including air purification, support towards immunity, alongside a calming effect, resulting in the reduction of stress responses.
Wood-fibre insulation, derived from wastage timber offcuts, fed into our wood-blown fibre machine (situated within our JCG facility).
Welsh sheep’s wool, sourced locally from nearby Crynant Farm (just several miles from our Head Office).

Legacy projects
To provide a mixture of short and longer-term community benefits within the area, Community Benefits Officer, Dionne, is midway through collaborating closely with client, Tai Tarian, to deliver the following:

A beach clean and litter pick.
An alpaca visit, for residents of nearby Swn Y Mor Care Home.
Mock interviews for Ysgol Cwm Brombil.
Donation to the local Action for Children service.
Local intergeneration event.
A wellbeing fair, for Tai Tarian residents and local community members, held during half term.
A regeneration project at nearby NSA Community Centre.

Glan Yr Ithon, Llandrindod Wells

Client: Newydd Housing
Contract Value: £18.6 million

Project Summary: 55 affordable homes comprising of one, two, and three-bedroom bungalows, and apartments.

Sourcing a local supply chain
Having not worked within the rural area of Llandrindod Wells historically, it was important to Hale to provide opportunities for a local and reliable supply chain. This was particularly pertinent due to the project being onsite for two years during the first phases, with further phases in progress. To provide information around the procurement available in line with the project, including sub-contractor, and supplier opportunities, Hale held a “Meet the Buyer” event at a local hotel. The interest was high, with all external packages procured locally, a direct consequence of the event.

Employability Opportunities tailored to local need
From liaising with local employability providers, it was apparent that employability and training experience was in short supply within the area. Consequently, Hale arranged for:

2 Kickstart positions on site: 1 x Cleaner, and 1 x HR and Admin Assistant. Each candidate received Mentoring from our Social Value Manager, who worked closely with the candidates, their college mentors and job coaches to assess current needs and their long-term goals.
Working in collaboration with Coleg Powys, we were able to directly appoint 7 local apprentices, alongside a Construction Management Trainee.
To illicit interest in career opportunities within the construction sector, among secondary schoolchildren, we hosted a site visit for students from Ysgol Calon Cymru, providing them with a key insight into the sector, an opportunity to ask questions to tradesmen/women and to be a part of a live site environment.
In total, the development provided a total of 672 employment and training weeks throughout the duration of the build.

Providing tangible, long-term Social Value
Hale’s Community Benefits pot for the project, was £12,300. We worked closely with the local community to ensure that the funds stretched as far as possible, reaching as many different community groups as possible. Initiatives included; donation of shoes to Radnorshire Bowls Society, donation to the Fareshare project (yielding food donations to the local community to the value of £6000), installation of a Happy to Chat bench for Men’s Shed, a new story book for each of the resident’s children, an educational prize for a short story writing competition, and, flower and play equipment donation to Llanyre Park.

Ladyhill, Newport

Pobl Housing Association

Currently on site with a programme duration of 80 weeks, JG Hale Construction is in the process of providing 83 TR&T positions as follows:

1 no. Assistant Site Manager – full duration.
1 no. Trainee Quantity Surveyor – full duration.
1 no. Junior/Trainee Designer – full duration.
1 no. Knowledge Transfer Partnership Candidate – full duration.
6 no. Carpentry Apprentice – 60 weeks each.
1 no. Technical Apprentice – full duration.
4 no. Plumbing Apprentice – 20 weeks each.
3 no. Plastering Apprentice – 20 weeks each.
20 no. Onsite Hub Work Experience – 2 weeks each.
45 no. (15 no. attendees per visit over 3 visits) Site visit targeting niche groups: BAME community, care leavers, disabled, ex-forces etc.
School visits from Always Primary School, educating the children around the ecology and wildlife within the local area.

At Hale, we are aware that collective action results in a greater improvement of social value and thus, we work together with our clients, stakeholders and subcontractors ensuring that interorganisational relationships are developed and learning is acquired, not only within our business but also between those who have a mutual interest in our projects.