Employment Opportunities and Job Creation

How we are addressing this issue:

Our developments have an important role to play in contributing to economic growth and prosperity in the local community. Through the construction process jobs are created on site, drawing on local labour where appropriate. Our completed mixed-use developments then go on to drive economic regeneration and create long-term employment opportunities, both through the commercial space that we provide directly, and also through local businesses which open to serve the new communities. For example, at Blackheath Road we expect around 120 full and part-time jobs to be created through the development of new commercial space and a 90-bed hotel. Additionally, many of our developments draw in new business to the area and boost the wider employment opportunities.

We actively work to promote job opportunities at our developments both during construction and once occupied. This is an important mechanism through which we add value. At several sites we are working with the Local Authority to ensure that we recruit local people and local businesses as employees, contractors and sub-contractors. Local in this instance tends to refer to businesses or people based in the Council's administrative area.

We are very interested in understanding the socio-economic impacts of our developments and identified that in order to do this there was a need for socio-economic assessments to be performed. Given that this remains a relatively unexplored concept, we decided to develop our own methodology through a pilot study of our Chelsea Bridge Wharf development. The outcome of the pilot study was a broad understanding of the direct and indirect socio-economic impacts of this development, including the employment opportunities created and contributions to public realm. It also provided a series of recommendations for the further development of our assessment methodology.

Our performance:

In 2010/11:

• We developed a draft Employment Plan that will be rolled out on our largest developments in 2011/12.

Our Vision2020 commitments and ambitions:

As part of delivering Vision2020 we have set specific objectives for continuing to ensure that we create employment opportunities and jobs.

Our commitment from May 2011:

• Put in place an Employment Plan on all developments of 1,000 units or more incorporating targets for the proportion of local labour used, plans for long-term job creation and measurement of the success of the plan implementation

Our ambition from May 2012:

• Put in place an Employment Plan on all developments incorporating targets for the proportion of local labour used, plans for long-term job creation and measurement of the success of the plan implementation

Case studies:

An employment success for CGETI

As part of our ongoing effort to create employment opportunities, we partnered with the London Borough of Southwark to run the 'Camberwell Grove Employment and Training Initiative' (CGETI) at our South London development.

The programme was set out in a tiered structure to provide:

• Careers advice
• CSCS training qualification
• Short training courses
• Work placements
• Full-time employment

CGETI has been particularly successful in its ability to provide opportunities to a broad spectrum of individuals, from school leavers to the long-term unemployed.

Teigan Augustus is an inspiring success story from this initiative. He joined CGETI after attending the 2010 Imperial Wharf Jobs and Careers Fair to enquire whether he would be able to arrange work experience to supplement his degree in construction management at Westminster University. Following his exceptional work experience, St George made an offer of undergraduate employment to Teigan, proposing he convert to part-time study and work as a Construction Trainee in our Imperial Wharf development. St George has also committed to sponsoring Teigan for the remaining three years of his university course.

"The key skill in construction management is being able to utilise theoretical knowledge in an applied working environment. My degree has taught me a lot but the CGETI has given me the chance to apply my knowledge on live construction sites. Experience of this calibre is invaluable and has helped kick start my career in the construction industry."

Teigan Augustus

Job creation at The Armouries

Our Armouries development at Royal Arsenal Riverside, Woolwich is estimated to create around 500 construction jobs. It is also estimated that 1,900 full-time equivalent jobs will be created on the completed Royal Arsenal Riverside development, of which around 420 will be through the non-residential space within The Armouries itself. The importance of these opportunities and resulting benefits, are likely to be especially widespread as Royal Arsenal Riverside is located in the top ten percent of deprived areas in the country according to the Government's Index of Multiple Deprivation. Through our redevelopment of the Royal Arsenal Riverside site, we are aspiring to raise the profile of Woolwich and encourage the wider regeneration of the town centre. 

Local employment opportunities at Woodberry Down

Our planned regeneration of council estates at Woodberry Down in Hackney will also give us further opportunity to continue regenerating the local economy in previously deprived areas. Woodberry Down is one of two National Demonstration Projects for the Homes and Communities Agency Mixed Communities Initiative in London. It will deliver over 4,500 new homes of mixed tenure and a range of new community facilities including a community centre, health centre, business centre, new Academy, extended primary school, retail and commercial opportunities. At Woodberry Down, we are working in conjunction with the local Community Trust to promote local employment opportunities on our development sites. The Community Trust has also started a training scheme for local residents which we helped to set up through advice and guidance in the early stages, to the provision of a hoarded site with access to materials to allow the scheme to be of real benefit to local apprentices. The scheme is aiming to train candidates for work on the numerous forthcoming major regeneration projects in Hackney, including the 2012 Olympics. We have worked closely with the Council and other stakeholders to drive this initiative forward. Hackney is a typically diverse inner London borough, and it was important to apply a strong understanding of the cultural sensitivities in the area. We therefore helped to develop a tailor-made construction training package for key local minority groups, such as the Orthodox Jewish community in Stamford Hill.