At Willmott Dixon, we create a lasting legacy in the communities we serve by enhancing the wellbeing and career prospects of local residents.
Stockport Interchange, part of a £1bn town centre regeneration project, shows how construction projects can deliver significant economic and social benefits. With a focus on employment and wellbeing in the community, our programs achieved a 32% Social Return on Investment, demonstrating the substantial value it has generated for the community.
Early collaboration with the customer, Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) was essential. Together, we co-created a comprehensive social value plan that aligns with MDC’s ‘One Stockport’ borough strategy, ensuring that local needs were met effectively.
Employment Opportunities
Working closely with our supply chain partners and community organisations we provided training, work experience, and job opportunities for hundreds of people. This effort resulted in over 3,000 connections with young people, 1,803 apprenticeship and training weeks, and 103 work placements. The project also created 175 new jobs across various sectors, with 60 of those positions filled by Stockport residents, highlighting our commitment to supporting local employment.
This initiative was particularly successful in helping individuals facing barriers to employment. For example, 18-year-old Matthew Gaskell (right), who was previously unemployed, secured a Kickstart position with Willmott Dixon. After completing a construction course with the charity Groundwork, he earned his CSCS card. “I’m seeing things I’ve never seen before as it’s such a big site,” said Matthew. “I just want to learn more while I’m here.”
In terms of contribution to the local economy:
- 45% of local spend was within 10 miles
- 40% of labour on site was from within 10 miles
- £692,000 was spent with social enterprises.
Building Lives Academies
High impact interventions led by Willmott Dixon people included four Building Lives Academies (BLA), which provided skills training for diverse groups, including care leavers, armed forces veterans, and young people with special educational needs (SEN). These programs were run in conjunction with Groundwork Greater Manchester’s Stockport Sustainable Futures Construction Program, funded by the Prince’s Trust.
The first BLA focused on nine care leavers aged 18-24 who were not in education, employment, or training. The course provided construction qualifications and employability training, leading to four participants securing jobs in roles such as steel fixing and joinery. Participant Cain Powers-Evans (below), from Stockport, said: “It’s transformed my confidence. I wanted to go into landscaping or bricklaying, and I didn’t know much about construction, but it’s been a really good experience.”
Subsequent academies included a partnership with Stockport’s veteran charity Project Recce, leading to one veteran progressing to a Build Manager role at Willmott Dixon’s Leeds office.
Another, tailored for SEN students at Stockport’s Pure College, resulted in one student securing an internship. Amanda Noon, Director of Learning and Development at Pure Innovations, said, “Willmott Dixon has been an instrumental part of our careers and employability programme at Pure College, which has been varied, accessible, and aspirational for each learner. We can truly say all learners have thoroughly enjoyed and learned a great deal from the programme.”
Watch the video to find out more our work with Pure College.
A key component of our social value work was engaging local schools and colleges to educate students about construction careers. We delivered 109 career sessions, reaching 3,048 young people across eight schools, inspiring students through activities like mock interviews and ‘World of Work’ days.
As a result of the Building Lives Academies around Stockport Interchange:
- 48 careers events were delivered in Stockport colleges and schools.
- 98 work placements were created (totalling 66 weeks), including four T Level placements resulting in two paid employment opportunities.
- 20 participants qualified with Health & Safety in Construction Level 1 certification.
- 20 received a CSCS card following an intensive four-week course.
- Six gained employment/apprenticeship directly with Willmott Dixon or our supply chain, while others gained employment with other Greater Manchester businesses.
- Four care leavers progressed into either apprenticeship or employment.
- Six young adults with the most complex learning difficulties, disabilities, and additional communication needs enjoyed office-based placements.
Supporting the local community
Our community contributions included raising and donating £24,050, along with dedicating 601 staff hours to community support. We also improved facilities at Webb Lane Community Allotments by renovating a disabled toilet and workspace worth £10,000. Mike Rodgers, chair of Webb Lane Community Allotments, said, “Disabled visitors can now use the allotments, making a huge difference to the local community.”
Our commitment to supporting social enterprises was also evident, with £692,000 spent with enterprises like ‘We Are Footprint’ and Kenny Waste Management, which help disadvantaged individuals gain employment. Overall, 58% of local spend was within 20 miles of the project.
Nick Hill, Economy, Work & Skills Manager at Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, said: “Willmott Dixon’s social value outcomes have been an integral part of the development of the new Transport Interchange in Stockport. In particular, the Building Lives Academy model is a real-life example of how to work with local partners, to provide a routeway into a construction career for target priority groups, be they young people that are NEET, care experienced or military veterans."
Anthony Dillon, managing director for Willmott Dixon in the North West, said: “So many of our senior team in Greater Manchester have enjoyed a long and rewarding career in construction because they were given an opportunity, like these students. Whether our Building Lives Academy students go on to pursue full-time careers in construction or are inspired to go on to further education, we’re delighted to offer them a positive experience and a place to develop valuable employability skills.”
Across the duration of the project Willmott Dixon updated on progress at the Social Value Stockport Roundtable with Stockport Council featuring our program of social value work as an exemplar in its Fair and Inclusive Annual Report.
