East Renfrewshire Council
Community Benefits Case Studies
Advance (Scotland) Construction: The Foundry Carpark
Following development of the new Asda superstore and learning, leisure and business centre facility The Foundry on
Barrhead Main Street, contractor Advance (Scotland) Construction worked in partnership with East Renfrewshire
Council to redevelop The Foundry carpark. As part of East Renfrewshire Council’s commitment to building strong
and sustainable partnerships with businesses, a number of community benefits were realised as part of this project.
Advance Construction was requested to deliver 10 Community Benefit Points – the company delivered 35 through:
6 week work placement
1 full time job
School Construction Career event at St Lukes High School
Support for Arthurlie Football Club
Support for Schools Paving Stones Project
The car park was designed to provide enhanced car parking provision, attractive
landscaping and lighting and improved public realm and pedestrian access. The
area now features seating, planted areas, art installation and bike shed, in
addition to 95 parking spaces including disabled, parent & child and electric car
charging spaces.
Advance Construction provided a 6 week work placement for a young person
through the TIGERS training programme, who has subsequently been employed
by the firm.
The company was also keen to develop relations with local schools and carried
out a career construction activity in St Lukes High School.
Advance Construction were also very supportive of the Council’s Schools Paving
Stone Project, helping local school pupils to install paving stones in the public
realm which were etched with their own words of inspiration. The project
involved pupils from seven local primary schools who had each been invited to
submit entries and Advance Construction provided each pupil with appropriate
PPE.
“It’s great to be able to get involved in a local community project as part of our construction work and working at Barrhead,
we were keen to develop relationships with the local schools. We often undertake activities in schools to teach pupils about the
industry and it was a pleasure to meet and work with the pupils at St Lukes. Having the Primary School pupils on site for the
paving stone installations was a great finish to the project – the kids were so excited and our team enjoyed helping them to fit
the stones in place.”
Jean Smith – HR and Training Manager
Advance Construction
“We know how important it is to encourage future skills in the industry and we were impressed with the quality of the trainee
who came to us on placement through the Barrhead project. We were delighted to be able to offer Anthony Fox a full time job
and he is now working with us to develop his career”.
Billy Cairns, Contracts Manager
Advance Construction
East Renfrewshire Council
Community Benefits Case Studies
Asda, Barrhead
In 2014, Asda built a new superstore on Barrhead Main Street. The new
25,000sq ft store was built by contractor Barr Construction (now
McLaughlin & Harvey) and was built on redundant site behind a former
health centre, including a car park for 250 cars beneath the main sales
floor, with cycle storage spaces and electronic car charging points and a
petrol station.
Asda were required to recruit at least 10% of their 150 staff required to
open the store from the local community. During the construction
process, Asda worked in partnership with East Renfrewshire’s employability team to target local employment. 12
members of the Asda recruitment team including the new store manager and property communications manager
were based within the Work East Ren office.
A recruitment day was held at which 2000 people attended and 3600 applications
were made online. 40 people were assisted with their applications through a
dedicated resource centre in Barrhead and of the 290 people asked to second stage
interview, 33% were recruited through the council’s employability team.
Barr Construction were also encouraged to engage with the local community, using
the Council’s employability team to recruit a site secretary and hosting a Meet the
Buyer event to engage with SMEs.
Donations to Arthurlie Family Centre were made through staff hours and gardening materials and Asda also
sponsored the Barrhead Gala in 2014 with the provision of bottled water for St Lukes High Schools fun run.
“We were delighted to be part of an exciting time for
Barrhead with the new store not only boosting the
attractiveness of the town centre but enabling residents to
shop and work locally. Working in partnership with the
Council’s employability team we were able to engage
directly with the local recruitment market and successfully
employ staff across all skill areas for the new store.”
Diane Allan
Store Manager Asda Barrhead
“As a Paisley based company Barr Construction was proud
to play an integral role in the redevelopment of Barrhead
town centre and to work with the local community to
provide on site placement opportunities.”
Derek Simpson
Operations Manager, Barr Construction
East Renfrewshire Council
Community Benefits Case Studies
Ashleigh Building
Ashleigh Building is a private construction company based in south west and operating across central Scotland. They
have a strong focus on supporting the communities in which they operate and seek to engage, involve and enhance
communities on all of their projects. Ashleigh frequently works with schools and colleges, to raise awareness of
safety and to promote careers in construction. They also support local sport teams and enterprises through
investment and business mentoring.
Ashleigh’s experience is that community members relish the opportunity to not only be informed about, but also
actively involved in projects and in return the project benefits from stakeholder buy-in, community acceptance and
pride.
In East Renfrewshire, Ashleigh Building are developing amenity housing for Hanover (Scotland) Housing Association
Ltd and are on site with 95 residential units for Mansell Homes at the Newton Mearns site Hillfield.
To ensure a future workforce and successful industry, Ashleigh has a strong focus on
educating young people about both the working environment and various employment
opportunities within construction. Joint Managing Directors David Smith and Douglas
Small are members of the Developing Young Workforce board for Ayrshire and Dumfries &
Galloway and the firm was recently awarded Investors In Young People status. The
company recently delivered the first of a new Construction Partnership Project with
Belmont Academy and Ayrshire College: using the
Newton Mearns project as a case study, the 8 week
programme for S3 pupils was designed to allow students to visit the site, learn
about the construction process and various professional and trades roles and
then design and present their own 10 unit development plan. Each participant
received a Dynamic Youth Award, with the winning team also receiving
Construction Partnership Trophies.
The Ashleigh teams in East Renfrewshire have provided a school talk at
Crookfur Primary and ran a “design your house” workshop, to let the children
understand the site health and safety and to highlight construction jobs.
Ashleigh also donated sporting goods to the school. A similar engagement
with Giffnock Primary has been planned with the addition of a site visit for
school pupils.
Working in partnership with Glasgow Clyde College, Ashleigh Building has been providing
industrial work placements for trades students at their Newton Mearns site. The work
placements allow students to put their academic training in to practice on a live site
environment and will prove valuable when the students are looking to apply for
apprenticeships or jobs. As a result of the work placements, Ashleigh have also recruited
Moiz Baig as Apprentice Joiner as part of a targeted recruitment and training programme.
“Investing in education & providing job opportunities are
at the heart of what we do, as we recognise it will help to
develop a secure future. We’ve built it in to our culture &
are keen to support Community Benefit initiatives. It’s a
win-win situation for us too – some of the talent we find
through student placements is fantastic and the fact we are
able to recruit key team members helps our business
grow.”
David Smith, Joint Managing Director Ashleigh Building
“I got offered a work experience placement with Ashleigh
through my course with Glasgow Clyde College. Being on
site was great – and really let me see that being a joiner is
what I want to do. Now I’ve started an apprenticeship and
I get to train on the job.”
Moiz Baig, Apprentice Joiner, Ashleigh Building
East Renfrewshire Council
Community Benefits Case Studies
BAM/ hub West Scotland: Barrhead High School
Construction work is now underway on the new state-of-the-art
£29.7m Barrhead High School and associated facilities. The new
school is being built in Barrhead, at the Johnny Kelly Pavilion and blaes
pitch site, adjacent to the existing school which will remain open
throughout construction with no disruption to pupil education.
The cost of the project is being met jointly by East Renfrewshire
Council and the Scottish Futures Trust. The new school is being
delivered by hub West Scotland, the council’s Development Partner, who has appointed BAM as the primary
contractor. The new school is expected to be finished for the summer 2017 term.
hub West Scotland are committed to making a social and economic impact in East Renfrewshire by developing a
range of community benefit requirements to maximise employment and learning opportunities for Barrhead High
School pupils and East Renfrewshire residents. hub West Scotland has vast experience in delivering public sector
facilities and is dedicated to supporting the economic development of the local community.
Through the development of the new Barrhead High School a variety of education engagement activities and
employment opportunities aimed at pupils and East Renfrewshire residents will be created. These will include, but
are not limited to:
Employment Opportunities
Apprenticeships
Graduates
Work Experience Placements
Education Engagement activities such as, careers awareness sessions, site visits, construction related
workshops and employability sessions.
“Providing tangible benefits to local communities is at the
heart of every project hub West Scotland deliver. We are
proud to work with our partners to provide training and
employment opportunities to the residents of East
Renfrewshire, and encourage young people to begin a
career in construction.”
Lindsey McNaughtan
Community Benefits Manager, hub West Scotland
“BAM are committed to achieving community benefits on
the Barrhead High School project. Working alongside the
school, hWS, ERC and Work East Ren we hope to
maximise any opportunities where possible”
Paul Carle
Construction Manager, BAM
East Renfrewshire Council
Community Benefits Case Studies
Glasgow Clyde College
Fraser MacDuff, Apprentice Joiner: Burnhome Improvements
Fraser left school in June 2013 with a National 4 in Practical Craft Skills. He studied
at the Cardonald campus and completed the introduction to Construction followed
by NPA Construction by June 2015 and was offerred an apprenticeship with
Burnhome Improvements. After 2 months, Burnhome are now supporting Fraser to
complete an SVQ in Carpentry & Joinery at the Cardonald Campus.
Victoria Black, Apprentice Joiner: Elmwood Projects
Victoria left school in June 2014 with a National 4 in Practical Craft Skills. She completed the NPA
Construction by June 2015 and was offerred an apprenticeship with Elmwood Projects. Elmwood
supported Victoria on to the SVQ in Carpentry & Joinery at the Cardonald Campus.
Mark Curran, Apprentice Joiner: KCL Construction
Mark Curran left school in June 2014 with a National 4 in Practical Craft Skills. He started the NPA
Construction at Cardonald campus in September 2014 and was offerred work expereince through
CITB in May 2015. KCL Construction offerred Mark an apprenticeship as a result of his work
experience placement and the firm is now supporting him to complete the SVQ in Carpentry &
Joinery at the Cardonald campus.
Chris Donnelly, Apprentice Roofer: Glencare Roofing
Chris Donnelly left Barrhead High School in June 2014 with a National 4 in Practical Craft Skills. He started the NPA
Construction at Cardonald campus in September 2014 and was offerred work expereince through CITB in May 2015.
Having successfully completed the NPA in June 2015 Chris was offferred an apprenticeship with Glencare Roofing.
Jordan McRorie, Apprentice Ceiling Fixer: Allied Acoustics
Jordan left Barrhead High School in June 2014 with a National 4 in Practical Craft Skills and
started the NPA Construction at Cardonald campus in September 2014. He completed work
expereince through CITB in May 2015 and having successfully completed the NPA in June 2015
Jordan was offferred an apprenticeship with Allied Acoustics.
East Renfrewshire Council
Community Benefits Case Studies
Glasgow Clyde College
Gary McReadie, Apprentice Joiner: Mactaggart & Mickel
Gary left school in June 2014 with a National 4 in Practical Craft Skills and started the NPA
Construction at Cardonald campus in September 2014. He completed the NPA in June 2015
and was offferred an apprenticeship with Mactaggart & Mickel.
Damon Ramsay, Apprentice Joiner: KCL Construction
Damon left school in June 2014 with a National 4 in Practical Craft Skills and started the NPA Construction at
Cardonald campus which he completed in June 2015. In November 2015 Damon was recommended by the college to
KCL Construction to undertake some work experience. He has since been offered an apprenticeship and has been
working as an apprectice joiner with KCL Construction since July 2015 and the firm is supporting him to complete the
SVQ in Carpentry & Joinery at the Cardonald campus.
Moiz Baig, Apprentice Joiner: Ashleigh Building
Moiz left school in June 2015 with a National 5 in Practical Craft Skills and started the NPA Construction at Cardonald
campus which he completed in June 2016. In November 2015 Moiz was recommended to Ashleigh Building to work
at their Mearns Grange site for work experience; he impressed Ahleigh staff so much, that they have since offered
him a joinery apprenticeship and is returning to Clyde College to undertake the SVQ in Carpentry & Joinery. Moiz
has also been awarded the John Mathers full time construction student of the year at Cardonald campus.
“I got offered a work experience placement with Ashleigh
through my course with Glasgow Clyde College. Being on
site was great – and really let me see that being a joiner is
what I want to do. Now I’ve started an apprenticeship and
I get to train on the job.”
Moiz Baig
Apprentice Joiner, Ashleigh Building
“Working with East Renfrewshire to provide pathways into
full time courses from their vocational programmes is key
to our young people securing employment in the future.
We work with a number of local employers to provide
placements as part of the course and so far the quality of
the trainees has led them in to full time employment
through apprenticeship opportunities. It’s great that local
firms recognise the need to encourage and develop young
people into pursuing a career in the construction sector
and we look forward to developing the courses to lead
more people into full time employment.”
Allan Dickie
Senior Lecturer Construction, Glasgow Clyde College
East Renfrewshire Council
Community Benefits Case Studies
Mactaggart & Mickel Homes Ltd
Housebuilder Mactaggart & Mickel are developing a variety of new homes across the East Renfrewshire area. The
Glasgow based family business is dedicated to providing sustainable communities and is committed to an
apprenticeship scheme to develop a young workforce.
The company actively supports the East
Renfrewshire community through a number
of developments and works closely with the
schools and education team to provide work
experience and placements for students.
Following a week’s work placement in May
2016, Williamwood High School pupil Cammy
Gilchrist impressed the head of finance at
Mactaggart & Mickel sufficiently that Cammy
was offered a paid summer work
opportunity.
“The recruitment and retention of young people is vital to our long term success as a business. We recognise that our people
are what make the difference and it is our ethos to continually develop, train and reward individuals, while also ensuring their
health and wellbeing, so that we cultivate and retain the skills and knowledge we will need in the future. We have a policy of
‘grow our own’ with a clear commitment to learning and development, and we have many examples of individuals who began
their careers with us and now excel in their roles and are recognised industry-wide; our chief executive Ed Monaghan is
evidence of this, having started his career with us as an apprentice painter at 16 years old.”
Claire Beattie-Davis, Training Administrator
Mactaggart & Mickel Homes Ltd
“Cammy was an extremely polite, articulate and well turned out lad. We are an extremely busy finance department and
Cammy joined us when we were trying to ensure that all our accounting year end commitments were met so he was put to work
immediately. He worked solidly during the time he was with us with good humour and he completed every task he was given
accurately. He was such a huge help to us that we are inviting him to work with us again during his school summer holidays.
It also gave our accounting trainee the opportunity to manage a member of staff for a couple of days which has been hugely
beneficial to his development as well. This has been an excellent placement and we can highly recommend it to any
organisation.’
Dorothy Osprey, Head of Finance
Mactaggart & Mickel Homes Ltd
East Renfrewshire Council
Community Benefits Case Studies
Mansell Homes: Young Enterprise Scotland
Young Enterprise Scotland offers a wide variety of enterprise and entrepreneurship programmes and development
opportunities for young people across all of Scotland. They work in primary, secondary and tertiary education as
well as prisons, residential and secure units and with community groups. Their Pathway to Landscaping &
Construction programme is delivered through their centre at Rouken Glen Park, Giffnock, providing young people
with an interest in the horticulture and landscaping industries, an opportunity to develop basic practical skills
necessary to work in most of the land based disciplines.
The Young Enterprise Scotland Centre at Rouken Glen is a purpose built facility which aims to prepare students over
a 10 week period for an apprenticeship, employment and further education courses in the land based industries.
The course includes Personal Development, employability and practical workplace skills, so young people undertake
off-the-job training as well as gaining practical experience.
Mansell Homes are currently developing new housing at Newton Mearns and were keen to support the local
community. The company sponsored two Horticulture Modern Apprenticeships through Young Enterprise Scotland
and have provided work placement experience on a variety of community projects.
“Young Enterprise Scotland is a commercially aware
social enterprise focussed on delivering opportunities for
young people. We recognise the value in investing in
future skills and providing young people with opportunities
to develop a career. Mansell Homes is delighted to be a
private sector partner with Young Enterprise Scotland and
we have been impressed with the young people who have
participated in the programme.”
Bruce Hampton, Mansell Homes
“With the support of private sector partners, Young
Enterprise Scotland has been able to offer young people
Apprenticeships to follow on from the Pathway to
Landscaping & Construction programme. The young
people at Rouken Glen have delivered a variety of
community related projects - so everyone gains!
Geoff Leask, Chief Executive,
Young Enterprise Scotland
East Renfrewshire Council
Community Benefits Case Studies
Morgan Sindall/hub West Scotland: Eastwood Health & Care Centre
hub West Scotland (hWS) and Morgan Sindall worked in partnership
with East Renfrewshire Council, Scottish Futures Trust and NHS
Greater Glasgow & Clyde to deliver the new £14m Eastwood Health
& Care Centre in the Williamwood area. The new development
provides a multi-purpose site for health and social care services,
incorporating five GP practices and community health services and
East Renfrewshire Council's social work team. Works commenced in
October 2014 and completed in Spring 2016.
hWS and Morgan Sindall worked with East Renfrewshire Council’s
employability partner Work East Ren to identify jobs, apprenticeships and work experience placements. The
opportunities provided spanned the whole construction spectrum from cleaning and labouring positions, to joiners,
trainee construction technicians and quantity surveyors.
Key Community Benefits delivered:
14 work experience placements provided
7 employment opportunities created
1 graduate employment opportunity created
3 apprentice opportunities created
1518 individuals engaged through education activities
20 individuals participated in site visits
One of the beneficiaries of the opportunities created was 18-year-old Euan Thomson, who commenced a traineeship
in quantity surveying with Morgan Sindall in June 2015. Based at the Eastwood project site, he followed a blended
learning route: working on site four days per week mentored by a senior commercial manager, and attending
university one day per week to pursue a degree in quantity surveying.
The project team also engaged with local schools Williamwood High and Isobel Mair. Pupils from Williamwood High
were given an insight into construction with industry professionals providing career talks and workshops.
Isobel Mair pupils were guided round the construction site to see the changes to the site where their former school
once stood. Pupils also took part in construction team building activities, which highlighted construction roles, team
work, problem solving and communication skills within the industry. In addition, the project team donated bespoke
calendars, designed by pupils, which were sold to raise funds for the school.
“I have been really interested in a career in construction
since I was in the fourth year at school. Originally, I
thought I wanted to do construction management but
during my HNC in construction I realised I was much
more suited to the commercial aspects: I really like the
problem solving. When I saw the trainee quantity surveyor
position advertised on WorkER’s website, I went for it as it
looked like a good opportunity to get some real experience
with a large contractor. I am really enjoying it and I am
learning so much more being out on site.”
Euan Thomson, Trainee Quantity Surveyor
“We recognise the need to offer real benefits to the
communities in which we work, beyond the projects that
we deliver. We are delighted to be able to support
employment and training opportunities through the
Eastwood Health and Care Centre project and it is
particularly encouraging to see people like Euan coming
through the ranks and pursuing a career in the industry.”
Harry Thorburn
Managing Director for Scotland, Morgan Sindall
“We are committed to providing tangible benefits to local communities on each of our projects and I am proud of the
achievements delivered through the Eastwood Health & Care Centre project for the East Renfrewshire community”.
Lindsey McNaughtan, Community Benefits Manager, hub West Scotland
East Renfrewshire Council
Community Benefits Case Studies
Malcolm Construction: Crossmill Business Park
Contractor Malcolm Construction, a division of W H Malcolm Ltd, was involved
in the delivery of a £1.1m development to create 10 new business units at
Crossmill Business Park. The development is part of a City Deal project to
redevelop the Levern Works – the former site of a Nestle manufacturing site on
Glasgow Road in Barrhead. Having won 2 separate City Deal contracts through
competitive tender, Malcolms worked in partnership with East Renfrewshire
Council to deliver benefits to the local community through their development
works.
W H Malcolm was requested to deliver 60 Community Benefit Points – the company achieved this through:
3 work placements
Schools Careers event at St Luke’s High School
Staff volunteers and resources donated for Glasgow Road Waterworks project
Sponsorship of Arthurlie Football Club
The Malcolm Group slogan “practical solutions, successful partnerships” is not just a phrase and they are proud of
their partnerships. They recognise that they are only as effective as the people they employ and the company
strives to ensure that it creates a sustainable workforce. Managing Director Martin
Kiely is very aware that the construction industry was hit badly during the recession
and that a whole generation of skills were lost from the industry, so now more than
ever they are keen to provide opportunities for young people.
East Renfrewshire Council introduced the Malcolm team to West College Scotland,
who run a Construction Skills Academy in Barrhead. Through the programme 3
students were offered work placements and the Malcolm’s site team were
particularly impressed with the student’s skills and commitment. As a result one
student, Cameron Laidlaw has now been offered a full time permanent position with
the firm and has started as an apprentice on another East Renfrewshire construction
project. Malcolm’s are also keen to employ the other students once they turn 17.
“We were delighted to work in partnership with East Renfrewshire Council and are very proud to have been involved in the
first City Deal project as it’s a major stepping stone to show the long term benefits of infrastructure projects. Communication
between the College and ourselves was facilitated by the Council’s Community Benefit Lead and the whole process was really
easy for us. West College Scotland’s trainees were of a very high standard and as a company we were impressed with their
skills and commitment. We’ve offered jobs to the trainees on a long term basis and we have developed an ongoing relationship
with the College as a result – for us it’s essential that we create hope for young people to develop a career in the industry, not
just a one off project based role. We have also been involved in the sponsorship of the Waterworks Community Garden and
local football team Arthurlie United – it’s always good to put something back in long term.”
Martin Kiely, Managing Director
Malcolm Construction
“Ever since I left school I’ve been interested in construction and have done a few courses. West College Scotland got me a 2
week placement with Malcolms through the Construction Skills Academy and I learned about hard landscaping. It’s hard
work but being offered a job is brilliant! I didn’t expect to get it – it’s my first proper job! I’m so grateful to the Council and
Malcolms for giving me the chance, as it gives me a job and the opportunity to progress and go on to get my tickets and
hopefully in 5 years’ time I’ll be higher up with Malcolms.”
Cameron Laidlaw, Apprentice
Malcolm Construction