Spreading festive cheer in our communities

With the festive season in full flow, we thought it was a great time to share some news on more of the social value initiatives we’re currently involved in. Some may be more festive than others, but all are undertaken with the aim of “giving a little something back” to our communities, for the Christmas period and beyond.

Social value is one of the things at the heart of all we do at Hughes and Salvidge. We’re always open to supporting new schemes and projects, and Helping Hands - our social value initiative which aims to enhance and support the communities that we work in - is evidence of that.

The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree is an initiative that we’ve contributed to in recent years and we’re pleased to be doing so again in 2024. It was originally created as a fun alternative to the traditional Secret Santa, when instead of buying anonymous ‘joke’ gifts for colleagues, The Giving Tree encourages people to buy a toy for a disadvantaged child who might otherwise receive very little – or in some cases – nothing at all at Christmas.

The Giving Tree is run by KidsOut, a charity dedicated to supporting some of the UK’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable children with positive and happy experiences. Last Christmas they were able to gift 77,803 toys to children, including 6,558 boxes of 10 brand-new toys to children who had fled domestic abuse and live in refuge, plus a further 12,223 toys to disadvantaged children who have life-limiting disabilities, are carers, or are affected by economic hardship.

We receive tags with a fictitious name on, but real age and gift ideas, and using this information any staff members that wish to do so, will go out and buy an appropriate gift. The team is incredibly generous and love being part of this initiative.

For those who prefer to do their shopping online, there is a QR code on each tag that links online to The Giving Tree, Fun & Happiness Shop where the gift you buy will be kept safe in our warehouse ready to be delivered alongside other gifts in time for Christmas. Find out more or take part this year…

Christmas charitable donations

In lieu of Christmas cards this year, we will be donating to two charities; The Lifehouse and Centrepoint. The Lifehouse is a free food kitchen, resource and support centre that serves hot food in Albert Road, Southsea. Many people in Portsmouth are facing desperate situations, and The Lifehouse’s aim is to show people that there is hope for the future. They offer hot breakfast / brunch every Wednesday from 9am, a nutritious hot dinner every Thursday from 6pm, and a range of other services including food parcels, clothes donations, counselling, personal care appointments and help with CVs.

Centrepoint is the UK's leading youth homelessness charity. Alongside their partners, they support almost 14,000 young people every year and campaign to end youth homelessness by 2037. Their work includes liaising with partners in schools to identify 11-16 year olds who are at hidden risk of homelessness, running over 60 accommodation services in London and northern England, helping youngsters into education and employment, and providing support and advice.

i-Construct

We attended i-Construct, a two-day construction-specific careers event at CETC & CEMAST, Fareham College, in October. Supported by the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the event is designed to attract youngsters into the industry in order to meet the current skills shortage, which is currently predicted by CITB to be 225,000 needed by 2027.

i-Construct aims to reach as many students as early as possible to educate them about the diverse career pathway within construction and the wider built environment industry. It is primarily aimed at students in Years 7-9 who have not yet made their GCSE choices, as well as those from Years 10 and 11 and their parents and educators. 

i-Constuct reinforces the message that careers in the built environment offer youngsters exciting opportunities to transform the world around them and truly make a difference. In addition to addressing the skills shortage, i-Construct’s also aims to increase the talent pipeline, build a more diverse workforce and promote social mobility.

During the event, members of the Hughes and Salvidge team manned a stand, handing out collateral to those interested, as well as giving students the opportunity to talk about career pathways into the industry.

The event also gave the students the chance to take on a range of challenges exploring the world of construction. Working in small teams the students interviewed construction experts and civil engineers, then developed a plan to resolve a hypothetical incident. The best 10 plans won an award, one of which was the Reused, Recycled, Retain Award, sponsored by Hughes and Salvidge.

The teams from Toynbee School in Southampton won three awards, one of which was sponsored by ourselves. In response to this, an awards assembly was arranged at the school on 5th December, with representatives from Hughes and Salvidge, and the other two award sponsors - Wintle Camp Coaching and Future Water - attending to hand out the awards to the successful student teams.

Julia Shaw, Careers Leader at Toynbee School said: “Many thanks for everyone's involvement in the iConstruct careers day and the awards ceremony. Our pupils really enjoyed the assembly and have massively benefitted from this experience.”

Please contact us if you’d like to learn more about careers in demolition...