Equans is incredibly proud to have played a significant part in delivering one of the best examples of social value in the country, through our work with St Basils youth homelessness charity in the West Midlands.
Our partnership with St Basils, our admiration for their work and vision, coupled with our desire to bring our regeneration expertise to the table, has yielded incredible results for vulnerable young people in the region.
In the case of St Basils, their mission is clear and that is not only to tackle youth homelessness, but to support young people to build lives and careers for themselves. Therein lies the introduction to the Live & Work project – a groundbreaking scheme that offers young people aged 18 to 25 at risk of homelessness the chance to have a home, develop their skills, and increase their opportunities.
Equans's relationship with St Basils began a decade ago with phase one of the Live & Work scheme, which saw us work with the charity and Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust to transform derelict former nursing accommodation into an aspirational young workers' village.
The scheme offers high-quality, low-cost accommodation for up to two years at truly affordable rents – just £50 per week, inclusive of energy costs. It means young people don't need to claim benefits and can take on apprenticeships or entry level roles whilst still being able to afford to keep a roof over their heads and save for future housing plans – offering them a stable base to start their careers.
Equans supported St Basils to secure grant funding for the project, ensuring it didn't accrue any debt, and we then designed and delivered the work at cost.
More than 170 young people have lived in the apartments so far, and not one has gone on to experience further homelessness, despite being identified as high risk to do so.
Following the unparalleled success of phase one, the partners joined forces once again to deliver phase two of Live & Work, where we hope to build on the legacy and already extraordinary outcomes the project has achieved with 54 self-contained furnished apartments, designed to give young people the opportunity to take their next step towards independent living at truly affordable rents.
The original partners extended this time to include Sandwell Council, LandAid and other charitable funders.
One of the reasons the Live & Work project has been such a rousing success is because every partner involved was wholly committed to the cause and to finding a holistic approach to a very real issue facing young people in the region.
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust was able to identify and offer up unused accommodation, as well as providing apprenticeship and employment opportunities for the village's young residents; Equans has the knowledge and expertise to design and deliver the new workers' village, and St Basil's is primed to detect young people at risk of homelessness and support them to springboard their careers
Three different sectors came together and used their collective expertise to make a difference and that is the ultimate key to successful partnership working and, in this case, successful social value too.
Paul Bingham is Regional Director for Equans UK & Ireland
‘We are hugely grateful for the support Equans has provided on this project. Projects of this nature only work when they have partners who are committed to looking at old problems in new ways. The Live & Work concept is about providing opportunities for young people where traditional routes into housing are unavailable. By creating truly affordable housing which enables young people to live and work without the complexity of navigating complex benefit systems, ultimately benefits everyone.'
Jean Templeton, Chief Executive of St Basils
This article is sponsored content for The MJ
