Molly gets inspired by construction!
A young girl has been inspired to be a bricklayer for our company after building castles in her Key Stage 2 class with the help of our people!
The challenge of building a fairer society for all is as enormous as ever. In the UK, income inequality remains high and people’s life chances vary greatly.
These are problems that no single organisation can tackle alone. The construction industry has a massive role to play. We will work with our customers and experts to fully understand what is needed and how we can help deliver real, long-term impact.
Our Building Lives theme and associated activities are guided by the Willmott Dixon Foundation. Our ambitions revolve around Community, Business and People. It provides our approach to CSR, Social Value and Community.
Understanding community to increase impact: Ensuring that we always deliver high-impact social value which we can demonstrate meets the real needs of our communities is essential. We know that our communities include our people, customers and supply chain as well as wider community organisations and groups, so we listen carefully to all of them to understand where we can have the most impact. In 2020 we developed and launched our national Building Lives Delivery Suite. This suite of programmes enables us to deliver our social value programmes in a socially-distanced, digital, or face-to-face format – we always collect feedback on their success and they are reviewed every time they are delivered to make sure they are truly delivering what is needed.
Harnessing business leverage: Increasing our social impact by making sure that all our business processes have social value and community wellbeing at their heart – from innovating on our projects to supporting and spending with local businesses and social enterprises and repurposing IT equipment to tackle digital poverty.
Supporting people directly: At Willmott Dixon, we have always maintained that the best way to improve a person’s life chances is by enabling them to access good quality work. This starts with our people and extends to those in our supply chain and beyond. This belief is what led us to sign up to the Real Living Wage, set our 2030 gender parity target and regularly test how we are doing in the Best Companies review. It is also what led us to create our 2013 Young People Target and our new Careers Target.
Find out more about how we will be delivering our ambitions in our strategy document and via the links below.
A young girl has been inspired to be a bricklayer for our company after building castles in her Key Stage 2 class with the help of our people!
Building bridges with the University of Birmingham School!
Helping former England rugby player to encourage sports people to ‘get busy living’!
Putting down roots in the community...
Going the extra mile to raise £500,000 for children’s hospice...
Removing barriers to a career in construction!
Giving young people the limelight!
Truly inspiring project helps elderly people and vulnerable women!
Helping people to climb the career ladder every step of the way
Bingo! Helping young people find their calling...
School pupils encouraged to try the trades with BBC's DIY SOS team
New careers forged via military charity
In conjunction with South Wales Police's Memorial Event to mark the 100th year!
Over £10,000 raised for refurbishment
Empowering skills course and refurbishment of children's homes...
Attracting the next generation into construction ...
Renovation of Kale Lodge...
Elizabeth House, in Gateshead, is a last chance for young mums struggling to care for their children...
Refurbishment of Grove Park Youth Club in Lewisham
Empowering young people ...
A programme aimed at students 16-20-year-olds!
Discover how Harry got into construction from the age of 15...
Inspiring and supporting school children studying at Imperial College London
GirlDreamer is a social enterprise which aims to improve representation and accessibility to work for women of colour...
The Prince’s Trust Get into Construction programme with the Youth Offending Service
Our team volunteer with Ann Withybush charity in Wales!
Launch of our new drylining academy at HMP Elmley...
Community garden transformation for the elderly and their families to enjoy
Our group sustainability team worked with Studio306 for a creative team away day with a purpose beyond profit.
One day interactive workshop dispels the myths about working in construction...
Sustainability teams gets green-fingered for children with learning difficulties
Committing to increase the goods and services we produce through social enterprises
Helping young people at risk of becoming NEET learn about construction
Raising vital funds for assistance dogs...
Seeing the greatness in everyone...
Fundraising and community garden transformation
Foxgloves and Sunflower House are short-stay children's homes that support young people with learning disabilities
Helping young people realise their full potential...
A renovation turns into a fantastic training opportunity for young people
Tackling food poverty in Yorkshire...
Supporting young people going through a difficult time...
How Rocky’s start in construction led to him building his own business
Promoting STEM subjects and career paths into construction to educate young people
Supporting The Prince’s Trust mission to empower young people to find employment, education and training
Buddying up with St James School, Exeter to improve students’ understanding of construction
Supporting the Armed Forces community in the South West
From living in a hostel whilst studying for GCSEs, , Armin has joined our management trainee scheme.
Fundraising football tournament provides learning spaces for 400 children during pandemic
Working with Key4Life to break the cycle and support young people into good careers
Who needs Nick Knowles when we have the Willmott Dixon Oldham team? That was the message from Age UK, following our revamp of the charity’s over 60's centre in Chadderton.
Working with Gloucester Constabulary and our supply chain to deliver a new, improved community hub
Tackling digital poverty
Six-week training course designed to upskill those in long-term unemployment or at risk of becoming NEET
30% of participants on our programme have secured employment in the industry
A range of social value activities enabled us to deliver 19.7% social return on investment for Forestry England
Providing mentoring, support and job opportunities for the long-term unemployed
17 students from Greatfields School take part in our Enrichment Programme designed to encourage more women into construction
A collaborative programme between Willmott Dixon Interiors and the Department for Work and Pensions to tackle unemployment across the Midlands
Students at Shaftesbury High School gain employability skills during a fun week of activities
Nine students, who are studying City & Guilds qualifications, enjoyed their site induction
Training academy enables local people, like Mike and Cliff, to find work...
How the industry can help upskill individuals
Building Lives Academy supports those furthest from the job market with employment skills
Collaboration between our Midlands-based businesses will help local teenagers kickstart a career in construction
Our 5-week Enrichment Programme has resulted in two students from Oaklands college landing a job
Improving biodiversity and encouraging learning across local communities
A region-wide wardrobe clear out resulted in 246kg of clothes being recycled...
Josh created and delivered a programme to help those not in employment, education or training, find work in our industry
Jamie created a programme, which resulted in four 16-24-year-olds finding employment
The construction of a new, disability compliant outbuilding will support the scouts' mission...
Transforming an old basketball court into a safe and friendly space
With a pipeline of five academies due to open across the region next year, we reflect on the impact of our programmes...
James created Willmott Dixon's first, off-grid renewable pod which will be used by students for years to come...
Our team supported the renovation of the community Shed, which supports local, vulnerable people
Our people and supply chain joined forces to transform a garden space for a family...
Supporting Exeter College with the roll out of their Construction T Level during the pandemic...
On National Careers Week, we reflect on how the kickstart scheme is supporting young people into construction…
Our partnership with a local wood recycling scheme has created opportunities for Joe…
Working with Kensington and Chelsea council, we launched an art competition exploring sustainability…
We partnered with Balfour Beatty, AMEY and Wates to deliver our Virtual Work Experience Programme
The week-long work experience programme took place in our Willmott Dixon Interiors office...
Our 6-week programme supported 22 aspiring women into construction, with many gaining full-time employment as a result
90 students studying construction, engineering or plumbing learn what it’s like to use their skills on site...
Mikey has now secured a place in college after his year-long internship with our Midlands team
We supported the social business to develop new sustainable signage for our construction sites
"To anyone curious about taking a similar journey to me, I’d say there is no better way to kickstart your career than a placement with Willmott Dixon."
How Willmott Dixon’s dry lining academy at Elmley prison is helping to reduce reoffending by giving prisoners employable construction skills.
Our construction traineeship programme has helped 24 young adults who faced barriers to work progress their careers 2022
Dan Tredget supported charity Ride for Freedom's efforts to break the cycle of modern slavery
A Willmott Dixon trainee has created an 'underwater' sensory room at a school for boys with emotional, behavioural and mental health needs.
A group of Willmott Dixon trainees has raised more than £1,500 for a Surrey charity that helps homeless people into rented housing.
A Willmott Dixon management trainee has been applauded for her leadership of a campaign to tackle mental health in the construction industry.
Antony’s podcast series and ‘get active’ campaign raised awareness of mental health in construction
Willmott Dixon Interiors (WDI) trainees led renovation works to improve mental and physical wellbeing across four community projects.
Willmott Dixon has launched its fourth drylining academy inside a prison to help more ex-offenders learn skills to find jobs upon release.
Work experience gives Ryan the chance to try out a career in construction.
We work with recruitment agencies that help people facing barriers to employment.
Ex-army officer Karen is one of many former members of the Armed Forces forging a new career in construction.
A Doncaster specialist education college has thanked Willmott Dixon for “literally changing a young man’s life” after a work experience placement led to full-time employment for one of its students.
Regeneration project brings employment and upskilling opportunities to local community
We upskill and reskill local people to improve social mobility in our communities
We believe the best way to improve a person’s life chances is to help them find good and sustainable work.
A high impact social value initiative that began while delivering the Stevenage Bus Interchange has been successfully implemented as a yearly programme to support students with the vital Gatsby Benchmarks
The Queen's Green Canopy was created to honour the Queen's service and legacy...
Beth focussed on raising awareness of social enterprises across our North region...
Improved technology for local charity will help more homeless people find safe places to stay
Widening our impact by working with businesses with a social purpose
Stefan Cripps explains how a job in construction has helped him find a new purpose
Willmott Dixon’s virtual work experience programme helps students prepare for world of work
Brothers Vigo and Kumba move into new enclosure at Isle of Wight Zoo
Tackling homelessness amongst young people in Bristol
Renovation of Rose Cottage
A transformation of the Grosvenor Street property to improve employment opportunities across Manchester...
A Willmott Dixon management trainee has improved access to a nature reserve to benefit the local community.
A Willmott Dixon management trainee has built on a previous initiative to support mental health and wellbeing at a local school.
A Willmott Dixon Interiors management trainee has supported community organisations to get access to funding for repairs and improvements to their buildings.
We partner with social enterprises that support our ambition to help people facing barriers to employment find rewarding work.
As part of our Now or Never sustainability strategy, we support educators to raise the profile of construction careers.