Community engagement
We are proud to embed social value into the way we deliver projects.
Our actions are guided by the company’s People-Planet-Purpose Sustainability Framework. The ‘Purpose’ pillar of our framework focusses on:
• Having a positive impact in the communities where we work, focusing on education and employability
• Charity, volunteering, and community engagement
• Sustainable supply chain and ethical procurement
Calculating our social value contribution
We have an established partnership with Thrive who supported us in configuring a centralised reporting portal which was launched in early 2021. This enabled us to capture our sustainability and social value commitments, and use proxy values to calculate the impact of our activities aligned to the Impact Evaluation Standard. Other modules within the platform enable schools to seek support, and provide a centralised way for our employees to search for and sign up to volunteering work, following the formal publication of our Volunteering Policy.
NEWS: Community engagement, the social impact of the Barking Riverside extension project
NEWS: Social Value, the KVF35 programme generates over £83 million in social value
Encouraging the next generation
We build strong and meaningful relationships with schools and other educational establishments to broaden the minds of young students about the career opportunities in the construction industry. We want to stimulate young minds about the exciting world of construction, as well as supporting schools to meet Gatsby Benchmark requirements, to provide employer engagement and work experience opportunities for students.
Our ‘Open Doors’ events enable us to invite students to our facilities to hear first-hand accounts about life in construction and the career opportunities available.
NEWS: Open Doors, VolkerFitzpatrick welcomes students to Eastbrook Studios site for Open Doors 2023
NEWS: Training and employment in the community, Luton DART skills programme provides training to over 720 local people
NEWS: Early careers, VolkerFitzpatrick creates ‘employability programme’ to offer work experience placements for T-Level students
NEWS: Engagement with schools, Brent Cross West team helps local schools go green
Supporting charities
VolkerFitzpatrick is a Patron of CRASH, supporting several of its construction projects for homelessness charities and hospices. The business also entered into partnership with Save the Children, raising funds and providing ongoing financial support, including an initial donation of £10,000 to mark the business’ 100th anniversary, while also offering technical expertise for the charity’s building projects.
NEWS: VolkerFitzpatrick unites supply chain to raise over £22k for CRASH at its charity golf day
NEWS: VolkerFitzpatrick donates over £24k in brand-new furniture to homelessness charity
Requesting our support
We can offer curriculum support, help with careers events, attendance at a virtual event, STEM support, or site and office visits.
To request support from VolkerFitzpatrick, please complete the form using the link below. 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 support them all, it's not always possible to do so.
- Please also use this form if you are interested in applying for work experience or a work placement with us.
- We will endeavour to provide a response within 10 working days.
- Note that you must be over 18 to complete this form, to ensure that we do not communicate directly with minors.
Our Education Engagement Request form is available here.