Social Value Report 2022

Social Value Strategy 2022 – 2025

Focused on building communities and place

1. Hill Group Vision

At Hill, we have always aimed to be leaders and innovators in our sector, and this includes environmental and social issues. We have delivered some of the most sustainable schemes in the UK and, as regeneration specialists, a community focus is at the heart of what we do. One of our driving forces at Hill is creating real, tangible social value that leaves a positive, lasting impact on communities now and in the future.

Hill’s thematic approach in this strategy outlines 4 key areas, in which we believe will support us in creating added social value for the communities we have the privilege to work in and empower us to deliver our company vision.

OUR VISION

Achieving our Group vision:

Most trusted Housebuilder

Deliver on our promises and commitments set out in our Social Value strategy. Setting a target of 25% of our annual turnover to be achieved as added social value by 2025.

Creating Exceptional Homes

Homes are more than just the building; they are the places we grow as individuals & families. At Hill it is important to focus on the placemaking ensuring our residents have happy, healthy & safe lives.

Sustainable Communities

Our communities should enable people to feel connected and included. Providing opportunities for people to live & work locally, as well as grow local businesses and social enterprises providing careers for future generations to come. all our activities.

To be the UK’s leading, most trusted housebuilder, creating exceptional homes and sustainable communities

Our ESG pillars and our goals

Towards the end of 2020 we developed a strategic approach to sustainability which we rolled out during 2021. We chose to keep the three pillars of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at the centre of our strategy because this terminology is instantly recognisable to all our stakeholders – registered providers (RPs); local authorities (LAs); banks and institutional investors; customers; and employees.

At the same time we identified action areas under these three headings and communicated them to our staff in a clear and accessible language so that we can build an understanding and culture of sustainability and a belief that everyone in the business has a part to play. Similarly, the language we adopt needs to resonate with our residents, supply chain and the communities in which we work.

Environmental

y Creating net zero carbon homes

y Taking care of our natural resources

y Reducing our environmental impacts

Governance Social

y People come first

y Communities and customers

y Tackling homelessness

y Strategy and responsible business

y Reporting and assurance

y Future proofing

This strategy sets out our detailed approach to the ‘social’ pillar and how we will deliver social value across Hill Group to 2025.

3. Our Social Value Commitments

As one of the UK’s Top 15 Housebuilders and a family-owned business, we recognise the importance attention to social value allows us to ensure that people, and communities are at the heart of the projects that we deliver. By looking holistically at our social, economic & environmental impact ensures we make a positive contribution to the people & communities that we work in. Outlining our social value commitments and measuring our social value impacts allows us to report the broader impact that Hill Group and our projects contribute to society.

"One of our driving forces at Hill Group is creating real, tangible social value that leaves a positive, lasting impact on communities now and in the future."

Andy Hill, CEO

Value Model: Focusing on the 3 areas will deliver wider social value maximising positive societal impact.

OUR SOCIAL VALUE COMMITMENT STATEMENT

Hill Group will deliver industry leading impact with our communities, we are committed to maximising social value at a portfolio level and actively working with our wider supply chain, leading by example to maximise our added social value.

Social

Economic

Social Environmental

Social Value

Over-arching approach

In April 2021 we announced our 3 key areas of focus for 2021:

y We are dedicated to having a positive impact on every community we have the privilege to work in

y In 2021 we will measure our Social Value added on all Hill activities

y Allowing us to create a Social Value Plan and set our ambitions for 2025

Hill have three key themes focus groups established in the business responsible for leading on social value initiatives:

S1. People Come First

An internally facing group looking at Hill staff initiatives and our approach to D&I. This group is led by Tom Hill and has a range of representatives from different areas of the business such as Site Managers, Bid Team & HR, as well as our project lead from Women into Construction.

S2. Communities & Customers

An externally facing group looking at social value & customer initiatives. This group is led by the Head of Social Value and has a range of representatives from Head of Regeneration, Project Teams, Marketing & Customer Service.

S3. Tackling Homelessness

This group includes the Foundation200 Project Manager and Head of Social Value working together to focus on the wider social value impact alongside the donation of Foundation200 homes to ensure that we can help change lives.

These groups are key to driving initiatives forward, gaining buy in and different perspectives from across the business and will be refreshed with new members every year to maximise the diversity of input and opportunities to increase our social value offering as broadly as possible.

£1.1m of social value was delivered on our Teviot project in 2021 –before we had even submitted for planning

4. Ambitions for 2025

In our Annual Review 2020 we launched our 4 key themes for delivering Social Value:

y Education to Employment

y Business Support & Mentoring

y Community Belonging & Connectivity

y Safe & Healthy Lives

These themes outline the way Hill see and deliver social value and really focus on what we believe to be important to the communities that we are working in, giving us the flexibility to adapt to the needs of our clients, supported by local socio-economic research. Hill will deliver key targets associated with these on all the projects we work on. The targets will depend on the contract value of each project (see Appendix A for a summary of K.P.I.’s and targets).

Where we have additional client driven social value requirements, or Section 106 requirements they will be delivered in conjunction ensuring we maximise social value for the communities around our projects.

Hill recognise that to be to leading housebuilder creating exceptional homes & sustainable communities that we need to be ambitious in the standards and targets we set ourselves in all areas of the business.

Safe and Healthy Lives

Education to Employment

Business Support and Mentoring

Community Belonging and Connectivity

Social Value: The Hill Way

1. Education to Employment

7.5% of Hill & our projects (inc supply chain) will be apprentices, higher apprentices or Graduates by 2025.

Hill delivered over 11,000 weeks of earn as you learn programme in 2021 & with our ongoing commitment to new entrants to the industry, we have set the ambitious target of achieving 7.5% of people in our workforce & business to be on an apprentice, higher apprentice or grad programme by 2025.

25,000 hours of school’s engagement (focus on schools with high FSMs / pupil premium to support social mobility & inclusion)

Over 7000 hours of school engagement was achieved in 2021 through a challenging period of Covid, this target will help support our apprentice target by promoting opportunities

1,000 work placement weeks

325 weeks achieved in 2021 though schools & college engagement & WiC

250 trained STEM Ambassadors by 2025

Dedicated ambassadors to engage young people & encourage new entrants

2 individuals from under-represented groups employed on every Hill project Building our commitment to gender equality through WiC, we want to encourage inclusion & provide opportunities for all under-represented groups in the industry

2. Business Support & Mentoring

Target of Constructionline Gold membership for 60% our supply chain by 2025.

Currently over 52% of Hill’s Supply Chain are gold members and above

500 hours of expert advice provided to MSME’s & VCSE’s

Using Hill’s expertise, we will support businesses locally to our projects to help them grow

3. Community Belonging & Connectivity

£250,000 donated to charities alongside our existing F200 charitable pledge

Supporting our annual commitment to charitable donations both at group level, and localised project commitments. 2022 budget of £40k, with sports teams and individual donation matching equates to approx. £75k pa.

4. Safe & Healthy Lives

350 initiatives to keep our communities safe & enhance community cohesion after the pandemic.

Through schools, community groups & youth organisations & community engagement days we will run initiatives to promote safety & cohesion in our community.

200 Food bank or Furniture donation initiatives to be run across Hill projects by 2025, supporting those in our communities in food or furniture poverty.

Hill currently have Foodbank donation bins on a lot of our sites, we will look to continue & expand this across all projects or furniture vouchers where we know furniture poverty is an issue.

Employment programme developed supporting Foundation200 residents into employment on Hill projects

We piloted our first placement from F200 & our supply chain in 2021 and will use lessons learnt to develop a wider programme in areas we have F200 sites.

Business Delivery & Governance

Work to ISO26000 standard for Social Responsibility

Membership of the Social Mobility Employer Index

Minimum of one Social Enterprise engaged in every project supply chain

Hill already engage with Social Enterprises recognising this drives added social value but will increase this as a target for every project

Deliver 25% added social value against our annual turnover as Hill Group

Real Living Wage Accreditation & Supply Chain by 2025

Expand our partnership with WiC to run a programme in every Hill region

5. Social Value Thematic Approach

a. Theme 1: Education to Employment

Hill believe that the career of your dreams can start at any age, inclusivity creates innovation, and we are working to ensure the routes into our business are as inclusive as possible engaging our role models to inspire the next generation of Hill leaders.

Education: Hill will engage with schools on every project we work on, improving career aspirations, increasing the number of females choosing Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) options and a greater knowledge of careers in the industry. We will achieve this through tailored approaches relevant to the age and curriculum of the young people we are working with. (See Appendix B).

Employment: Hill have multiple routes into our career opportunities encouraging applicants who are straight out of education or those who are looking for a career change to consider Hill and the wider construction industry, which are:

y Early Careers

y Hill Academy

y Women in Construction

y Local recruitment partners

Further details of these programmes and delivery can be found in Appendix B.

Local Labour & Projects: Hill have a commitment to local labour on the projects that we work in & want to be able to provide a lasting benefit to the communities we work in and providing employment opportunities close to homes is vital to that and the local economic benefits that can bring.

Diversity information for our projects will be captured via Hill’s M-Site system as part of the induction information and allow us to understand whether our workforce reflects the communities that we are working in.

Further details on targets & delivery can be found in Appendices A & B.

“From the music to the food, everyone at the Our Teviot Festival seemed to be enjoying themselves. I am proud to know that I had a hand in organising such a successful community event.”

Teviot Estate, Poplar

b. Theme 2: Business Support & Mentoring

Having a commitment to spending locally ensures that Hill are maximising the benefits of our projects to the local community. Strong local businesses will mean increased job opportunities for local people and more money being spent with in the local economy. It also provides us with the opportunity to engage and strengthen small, medium and micro enterprises (MSME’s) as well as support local charities and social enterprises. We will focus in delivering this through the following key areas:

y Our spend with MSME’s & locally to our projects

y Business development workshops

y Engaging voluntary, community organisations & social enterprises (VCSE’s)

Further information about our approach and targets can be found in Appendix B.

“It was amazing to see the community come together for such a great event. The regeneration of Rectory Park has made the area flourish and there’s much more to come which is very exciting.”

Rectory Park, Northolt

c. Theme 3: Community Belonging & Connectivity

The projects that Hill have delivered so far have highlighted the strong sense of community that exists, and our focus is on how we can enhance and build on that sense of belonging by running community initiatives and events that enable people to come together.

Maintaining community cohesion and the sense of belonging to the neighbourhood throughout the entire development programme is a key priority for us. We have a strong reputation for implementing initiatives that will have a strong lasting positive impact and truly reflect the needs of the local community. We work closely with local stakeholders, including residents, to deliver a number of community festivals and fun days for all ages to enjoy, as well as support smaller-scale projects such as improvements to community gardens and capacity building for social groups.

5. Social Value Thematic Approach

£249,899 donated to charitable causes and community groups

482 staff hours volunteered

Hill are committed to working with communities and existing organisations to increase the work they do and continue to deliver community belonging in and around our projects. Some of the areas of focus are detailed below, further information regarding our full delivery and targets can be found in Appendix B.

y Support for foodbanks & community food projects

y Furniture poverty

Hill introduced our staff volunteering policy early in 2021 giving all employees 1 day paid per year to volunteering initiatives recognising this will not only benefit the wider community but also contributes to the health & wellbeing of our staff allowing them time to support initiatives which are close to their hearts. Following the policy being implemented we have seen fantastic team volunteering approaches including litter-picking & treeplanting providing positive benefits to both local communities, the environment & team building across projects & the wider business.

The Covid-19 highlighted the loneliness and social isolation that many people felt even before the pandemic, created barriers for people who do not have access to digital services or struggle to use digital technology, preventing them from accessing basic services such as food shopping; GP appointments; or even contacting friends and families. It also affected some of the most vulnerable members of society and exacerbated the level of poverty of those already on the breadline, and with furlough covering only 80% of a salary meant that those who were already struggling to make ends meet simply couldn’t, increasing the reliance on food banks & charities.

y Access to laptops

y Digital Inclusion

Action Funder: Hill have teamed up with Action Funder as a founding partner recognising the service, they provide to help us engage with community organisations and ensuring our charitable funding delivers programmes that maximises the impact to the wider community.

Digital Age

We donated 30 laptops to schools in Poplar as part of a wider intiative to bring pupils into the digital learning age.

Delivered in 2021

d.

Theme

4: Safe and Healthy Lives

Everyone has the right to live a safe and healthy life and that means having access to services and outdoor space which is free from crime & promotes health and well-being initiatives. Poor health & crime issues will put increased pressure on local health services which is why it is therefore important for us to build safe and sustainable communities to tackle these issues from first principles.

Foundation 200 – Initiatives to support the homeless

The Foundation 200 programme was launched in 2019 to mark our 20th anniversary. It is a pledge to gift 200 modular homes to homelessness charities as part of a £15m social impact fund running over five years, providing safe, comfortable and sustainable homes to single people experiencing periods of homelessness. We aim to provide a safe roof over their heads while they rebuild their lives with the support of local homelessness charity partners.

SoloHaus homes are designed for a single person and come fully equipped with everything residents need, including furniture, white goods and bedding. Each modular home provides the individual with a safe and comfortable space to get back on their feet, find work and move towards independence. Thanks to air source heat pumps and mechanical ventilation heat recovery systems, they are extremely energy efficient, with running costs of less than £5 per week.

SoloHaus homes have been designed to meet Future Homes Standards, exceeding building regulations for energy efficiency and sound insulation. With a design life of 60 years, they provide a short-term solution to vulnerable individuals who have nowhere to call home. Each home is delivered fully furnished with a kitchen, living and dining area, bedroom and bathroom.

“After all that time at hostels, in night shelters and on the streets, you can shut your front door and lock it and just be you or with the people you choose to have as company. It's just ideal.”

Alongside Foundation 200, Hill commit to delivering initiatives to focus on 5 key issues in the communities we work in:

Knife & Violent Crime

Gangs

Online Safety

Mental Health Awareness

Improved physical health

Further information about our approach and targets can be found in Appendix B.

6. Embedding Social Value

Our Social Value & Community Structure:

To enable us to deliver on these KPI’s and our existing social value commitments we have created a new role in Hill, with 5 new positions recruited in 2022. The new Social Value and Community Managers (SVCM’s) are based regionally across the business, reporting directly to the Head of Social Value providing a consistent approach to Hill’s social value delivery. The SVCM’s have a dotted line into the Managing Directors who have overall accountability for social value targets across their projects enabling a clear visibility of performance against KPI’s via the Impact reporting tool & working with their SVCM’s to achieve these.

This structure will continue to evolve alongside Hill’s 2025 Vision and expanding project portfolio, providing scope for entry level social value roles, such as social value apprentices and career progression in the social value function at Hill.

The Head of Social Value reports into Greg Hill, the

of

demonstrating the value that Hill Group places on this area of the business.

All performance data will be captured at project level and entered on Impact Reporting. This provides a live dashboard that can be viewed both internally at Hill, for client reporting to measure performance against targets as we progress through the programme.

Deputy Chief Executive

Hill Group

Deputy Chief Executive

SVCM CIP & Eastern Residential

SVCM Specials (Teviot)

SVCM Specials (London Projects)

SVCM London Partnerships

SVCM Southern

SVCM Majors/W&E/ SW

MD CIP MD Specials

MD Partnerships MD Major Projects

Head of Social Value

Hill Group Supply Chain:

Maximising our social value delivery is important and we want to see social value added on every £ that we spend, and our clients spend. On our projects with social value commitments Hill will set social value KPI’s for every consultant, supplier and sub-contractor we work with. This will be aligned to our 4 key themes of: Education to Employment; Business Support & Mentoring; Community Belonging & Connectivity; Safe & Healthy Lives. Targets will be informed by contract value, duration and the nature of works on the project.

For projects without social value commitments, we will request our sub-contractors contribute to our social value delivery by selecting activities from Hill’s 4 social value themes to deliver as part of their contract, selected from the menu of sub-contractor commitments (Appendix C). This will be supported by the relevant SVCM, and all activities will be reported into the regions social value figures.

Using the Impact Reporting tool sub-contractors will be invited to input their social value commitments, along with method statements on how these will be delivered and examples of best practice of when they have achieved similar activities and targets. This will be evaluated by the Social Value and Community Manager again set criteria to ensure a consistent approach to all tenders and projects.

Once successful the KPI’s will move across to the delivery side of Impact Reporting and the subcontractor & SVCM will work together to ensure the reporting is captured via Impact & monthly performance conversations to ensure progress is being made. Case studies and good news stories will be collected and shared through project newsletters, social media, and our client reports.

All sub-contractors will be invited to attend Social Value best practice meetings with Hill twice a year where there will be updates on Hill Social Value delivery as well as an opportunity to share best practice and drive innovation with our supply chain.

Commitment to Hill's Social Value Charter at PQQ stage

Agreed commitments included in contracts & form section of prestart meetings

Supply Chain targets established based on trade, contract value & duration of works

Performance reported monthly & managed by SVCM in conjunction with Project team

7. Measuring our impact

Embedding Social Value –A Case Study:

The regeneration of the Teviot estate with our joint venture partner Poplar HARCA will truly position the residents at the heart of our delivery. Our unrivalled social value commitments will create in excess of £278m of social impact for the community across the development’s 15 year programme and ultimately produce a sustainable legacy which will be felt by the community for many generations to come.

The joint venture uses the HACT Wellbeing Valuation methodology and the UK Social Value Bank to measure the value of services, activities and programmes we deliver ourselves and in partnership. This approach has been informed by people’s actual experiences and so the values are based on how people live their lives and judges the success of a project by how it affects people’s wellbeing. The social value delivery plan has been designed to focus on creating social impact through 12 key outcomes within this framework – these outcomes were identified as priority areas by residents following extensive consultation.

To ensure that the social value programme delivery is managed successfully, a social value programme board has been set up to govern this process. The social value programme board, chaired by HACT chief executive Andrew Van Doorn, oversees the performance and viability of the social value delivery plan and assesses the plan’s progress, quality of delivery and any risks that may impact the plan going forward. In addition there is also a community social value group, comprising of estate residents and community stakeholders, which makes sure that the resident’s perspective is always at the forefront of decision-making in relation to the social value delivery.

Project level reporting will be completed on a monthly basis, the SVCM will compile a report outlining performance from all projects in the region along with case studies, examples of best practice as well as potential risks and mitigation. This will be shared with the Head of Social Value and relevant Regional Director.

The Head of Social Value will develop a Group level report every quarter that will be submitted to the Deputy Chief Executive for review, along with a follow up meeting to discuss performance along with plans for the next 2 quarters. Social Value will also be included in Executive Committee updates

In 2021 Hill recognised the need to have a dedicated reporting tool for our Sustainability output that allowed us to record all activity for both environmental & social value consistently across all projects and allow us to calculate our social value-added output as a business, and on a regional and project level. However, working with multiple clients with their own social value reporting requirements we needed the tool to be flexible and allow us to use different metrics to align to our individual client requirements. After much research through our S2 Communities & Customers group we procured Impact Reporting. Hill have captured the data for 2021 with Impact which have informed our ambitions to 2025.

Hill have chosen to measure our Impact using the TOM’s (Theme’s, Outcomes, Measures) metrics developed by Social Value Portal. The tool also aligns to the UN Global Sustainability Goals so we can measure our global sustainability impact.

Local Labour Employed (Hill Group) 25% Local Spend (Hill Group) 25%

STEM Ambassadors per project 1 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4

Paid Placement / Employment Opportunity for Under-Represented Groups 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 3

Meet the Buyer Events 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3

Business Development Workshops 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2

Social Enterprises Engaged 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2

Crime / Safety Workshop (p.a) 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2

Staff Health & Wellbeing Sessions (per year) 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Delivery Plan & KPI’s: Theme 1: Education to Employment

Education: Our aim is to see young people experience several careers engagement initiatives with Hill from primary school through to their transition into employment, recognising the eight Gatsby Benchmarks as a framework to provide young people with the exposure to the wealth of careers available and the advice & guidance to help them achieve their goals.

8 GATSBY BENCHMARKS:

Gatsby benchmarks: The Benchmarks are part of the careers strategy (launched December 2017) and statutory guidance for secondary schools and colleges since 2018.

STEM Engagement:

Although the Gatsby Benchmarks are focused on secondary school education, Hill are passionate and committed to increasing the number of females working in our industry. Women are significantly under-represented in STEM roles, research conducted by Microsoft showed that girls in Europe had disengaged with STEM subjects by the age of 15. They also highlighted that the two most contributing factors were the “lack of real-world applications in STEM subjects” & a “shortage of positive role models”. It is becoming more and more crucial for businesses to engage with schools at an earlier stage to promote careers in STEM, and for women who are already working in STEM to be visible and proactively encourage young females to keep studying those key subjects. Also, for employers to engage with parents and teachers and help them to understand our industry in more depth and breakdown some of the associated gender myths and promote the excellent career paths available. Hill will continue to support this through developing STEM & Industry Ambassadors with a commitment to have ambassadors on every project across the business.

Hill will engage with schools on every project we work on, improving career aspirations, increase the number of females choosing STEM options and a greater knowledge of careers in the industry. We will achieve this by:

Primary Schools: Years 5 – 6

y Engage with Years 5 & 6 to give an insight into the industry & types of roles available

y Our management trainee’s & females will support sessions as career role models and to breakdown stereotypes

y Deliver STEM & industry focused workshops to support interactive sessions

y Engage with Employer Business Partners (EBP) to maximise opportunities

Secondary Schools: Years 7 – 9

y Career routes into industry y STEM workshops with interactive projects

y Mentoring

y Career fairs & presentations

y EBP Engagement

y Partner engagement such as Class of Your Own (Design, Engineer, Construct) & Construction Youth Trust

Years 10 – 11

y Age adjusted activities as above y Promote available apprentice opportunities, through Hill & our project Supply Chain partners y Work Experience placements

y Promote Hill’s Management Trainee Programme & requirements y CV construction support & Interview prep

Years 12 – 13

y Promote Hill’s Management Trainee Programme & requirements

y Career mentoring

y Apprenticeship opportunities

y CV construction support & interview prep

y Work experience placements

y Summer internships

STEM Ambassadors / HBF Ambassadors

Hill will work with STEMNET / HBF to run ambassador training for our staff who go into schools, colleges & youth centres to promote careers in STEM. There will be a minimum of 1 STEM ambassador on every project, including one of our Management Trainees, and we will ensure that our ambassadors represent the diversity of our business, project team and wider community to encourage those from under-represented groups to consider a STEM based career.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s):

y No. Hours of Schools Engagement

y No. of Pupils engaged

y No. Weeks of Meaningful Work Placements

y No. of Apprentice opportunities advertised with local schools & colleges

y No. progressed into employment with Hill or our Supply Chain

These KPI’s will be attributed to projects based on the contract value (matrix on page 13), and do not include client or S.106 targets.

Employment:

Early Careers: Early careers programmes are very important to Hill, with our successful Management Trainee Programme which has been running since 2003 with the first cohort of one. Now we have over 17% of Hill employees who are either currently on the programme; or employed in the business and following the trainee management programme; or working at senior levels including Regional Directors who have progressed through Hill over their career.

Hill, previously, have had a target of 5% apprenticeships on all our projects and we work with our supply chain to encourage them to identify opportunities to allow more apprentices and trainees in our industry. We will continue to have an apprentice target across Hill Group, with targets embedded through our supply chain. We will work with schools, colleges & partners who are working with candidates who are not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) or Care Leavers to engage and promote our opportunities.

Hill Management Trainee Programme, led by our Group Talent Development Manager continues with the trainee opportunities identified by the Regional Directors & recruited for centrally. The Social Value & Community Managers will work

closely with the Group Talent Development Manager to promote the annual trainee recruitment with partners and stakeholders around our projects, encouraging applicants from residents and the local community and local schools & colleges close to our projects, reflecting the diversity of those communities.

Hill Graduate Programme is currently under review for 2022/23 and further information will be released in due course.

Hill Academy, 2022 will see the launch of the Hill Academy designed to open routes into the business for those who may not want to achieve a degree qualification, are a career changer such as a candidate from our Women in Construction programme or a returner to the world of world such as a long-term unemployed or ex-offender.

The Academy programme will include a 2-week work placement before moving into a Site Assistant role, once probation is completed successfully the candidates will study for their NVQ Level 4 Construction Site Supervisor apprenticeship.

This will open opportunities for candidates outside of our Management Trainee Programme or who have little or no experience in the industry.

Women in Construction (WiC)

Hill has partnered with Women into Construction since June 2019, seconding Shelley Lawrence as a Project Manager to launch and develop a programme with Hill, it’s supply chain and other local construction companies to improve gender diversity in Cambridgeshire's construction workforce.

Project Aims

The programme aims to promote construction and the various roles available to local women, many of which have not considered a career in construction before due to the lack of role models, careers advice and parental encouragement of the sector to girls historically. With a dedicated WiC resource in place, partnered with Hill's strong positive influence with the supply chain and local competitors as a leading homebuilder in the area, the impact has been high, with the programme engaging 170 women 1-2-1 to date. The trailblazing programme was also recognised as the "Best Training and Recruitment Initiative" at the 2020 Housebuilder Awards.

Project Objectives:

1. To raise the awareness of careers in construction through events and talks to showcase the range of jobs, promote the sector and dispel the myth of gendersegregated roles.

2. To engage, inform and deliver advice to local women to enable them to make informed career choices and develop individual action plans to access employment in the construction sector.

3. To deliver pre-employment support for women, including a mix of employability support, training to gain CSCS cards, supported work placements and 1-1 mentoring to produce site and work-ready candidates.

4. To support Hill Group UK and their supply chain to recruit women into sustainable employment in construction.

Since its launch in 2019, the programme has engaged with over 170 women on a one-to-one basis, with 85 of those registering for further training, work experience and employment support. Hill has provided 24 on-site and virtual work experience placements during this time and have directly employed three women out of the twenty that found employment from the programme.

In December 2021 Hill & Women into Construction commissioned an independent Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis to review a twoyear period of the total project. This analysis determined that the WiC / Hill programme creates a social return of c. £3.50 - £4.00 for every £1 invested, of which:

y c. £450k of value is created for women

y c. £140k of value is created for the State

Participants reported increased confidence and industry knowledge, having undertaken support from the programme, commenting:

"I thoroughly recommend this programme for anyone who is interested in the construction industry."

"I couldn't recommend this programme highly enough. It's opened my eyes to a whole new world of opportunities, and it's given me the confidence and insight I needed to realise my passion. Thank you!"

"The virtual work experience provided by WiC was impeccably organised and delivered and very well supported by team Hill."

Alongside this impactful engagement to increase representation of females in the industry, the support from Women into Construction has also seen Hill implement half a day of mandatory Diversity and Inclusion training to all its staff, helping improve inclusion and wellbeing across the workforce.

The previous partnership completed in May 2022, and was renewed as a different model of sponsored regional hub approach to provide wider geographical coverage in East Anglia & London, and a new area launch for WiC & Hill in Bristol.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s):

Hill will endeavour to ensure all project vacancies are advertised locally (including our supply chain) – engaging local job brokerages, Job Centre Plus, local schools, colleges & advertising opportunities on our site hoardings

25% local* labour on every project

5% Apprentices delivered across Hill projects

Provide at least 1 opportunity for applicants from under-represented groups on our projects such as:

y Care-Leavers

y Ex-Military

y NEETS

y Ex-offenders

y People with a disability

Diversity information of our projects will be captured via M-Site as part of the induction information and allow us to understand whether our workforce is reflective of the communities that we are working in.

*(local defined as: Inner London – the borough of the project and all directly neighbouring boroughs; Outside London – up to 25 miles of the project postcode).

Theme 2: Business Support & Mentoring

Local Spend & Engagement

Hill commit to a target of a minimum of 25% of our contracts spent locally*. To achieve this, we will hold a minimum of 1 Meet the Buyer event on every project we work on, this will increase dependent on the size & duration of each projects & align with contract packages as they are being released. We will work with ConstructionLine, the local Chambers of Commerce and locally based business to business organisations to promote the events as wide as possible with in the local area. These events will provide an overview of the project and the contracts available as well as an opportunity to meet our Commercial team for a 1-2-1 short meeting. Where possible, these will be held face to face in the local borough / area rather than virtually.

Hill will also look to breakdown packages to support smaller business to be able to compete for work.

*(local defined as: Inner London – the borough of the project and all directly neighbouring boroughs; Outside London – 25-50 miles of the project postcode)

Business Development Workshops

Hill recognise that some smaller businesses may not be registered on ConstructionLine or have experience in competing for the size of contracts that maybe on offer. We want to be able to develop our supply chain, and potential supply chain alongside us and support SME’s to be able to effectively compete for the business opportunities available. Following Meet the Buyer events we will identify companies that have the potential to compete for packages but may not be quite contract ready. We will therefore hold business development workshops led by our Commercial team to help companies prepare for the tendering process supporting them through the process & sharing our knowledge and helping them to succeed. This in turn will also provide us with valuable feedback about how our own processes may be a barrier for a SME joining our supply chain and encourage us to review if appropriate.

Voluntary, Community Organisations & Social Enterprises

Engaging and supporting community and voluntary organisations are key to leaving a positive legacy in the communities we work and continues after the project has completed. Hill will identify key community organisations from as early as bid stage, helping us to understand issues and barriers in the local area & existing projects that are running. We will engage those organisations to partner with us in running projects that directly benefits the communities surrounding our projects, we will work together to gain further funding or match funding from Hill’s contribution to maximise the reach & longevity of initiatives providing a lasting benefit.

Hill, our supply chain and our consultants will provide expert support to VCSE’s through expert advice & mentoring sessions including:

y Website Development (it is estimated up to 50% of SME’s & VCSE’s don’t have a website) *

y Comms & Marketing advice

y Commercial & Procurement support

y Legal advice

y HR support

y Bid & Tender Writing workshops

Including social enterprises in our supply chain automatically maximises the value of every £ that we spend, and our clients spend with us and contributes directly back into society. Hill commits to join Social Enterprise UK ‘Buy Social Corporate Challenge’. We will engage with a minimum of 1 social enterprise on every project we work on, recognising by doing this we will enhance our supply chains & achieve greater social impact in communities.

*Government Digital Inclusion Strategy 2014 (Government Digital Inclusion Strategy - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Theme 3: Community Belonging & Connectivity

Hill are committed to working with communities and existing organisations to increase the work they do and continue to deliver community belonging in and around our projects. We will do this through the following initiatives:

y Continue to hold community events, festivals, BBQ’s to increase community cohesion on our projects

y Keep residents & neighbours involved with our programme by hosting community events at major project milestones

y Support for foodbanks & community food projects through monthly donations collected on our projects by Hill & through our Supply Chain, working with our waste suppliers to have an allocated donation bin on every project or providing a financial contribution

y Slow-cookers donations: working with local partners to identify families who have limited or no access to cooking facilities we will donate slow-cookers & a slow-cooker cookbook to enable them to cook healthy, nutritious meals with limited space and facilities

y Furniture poverty: working with local partners to identify families who are struggling to provide furniture for their homes to provide furniture vouchers to allow them to purchase home essentials such as beds for children

y Access to laptops: Working with local schools & partners we will identify households who do not have access to laptops for essentials such as schoolwork or attending virtual appts.

y As the UK produced over 1.6 million tonnes of e-waste in 2019 and are currently set to become the biggest producer of e-waste in Europe by 2024, working across our entire supply chain Hill will divert laptops, mobile phones, and other electronic devices from going to landfill and work with partners (where possible local partners) to refurbish these devices and donate to those who will benefit from them

y Digital Inclusion: It is estimated that 21% of UK adults do not have the essential digital skills needed for day-to-day life (Lloyds Consumer Digital Index 2021) working with local partners and charities we will run digital inclusion courses for residents in and around the projects we work on, ensuring that we are engaging with particularly elderly or vulnerable residents and increasing the accessibility of digital services & connectivity for the communities we work with

Hill’s Charitable Approach

Hill have committed to a Group charitable donation of £40,000 for 2022. We will identify 5 key third sector partners to work with who work to address the following issues: 1. Homelessness

Children’s Services

Environmental Issues

Food Poverty

Mental Health

Action Funder:

We will set up an Action Funder page for every project that we work on with a target donation amount available and ask community organisations to apply for funding via the page, this will support identifying initiatives specific to the local areas we are working in that will tackle the real issues at that time.

Theme 4: Safe and Healthy Lives

Foundation 200

Hill commits to working with our Foundation 200 partners to strengthen our commitment to helping the homeless by working with residents & other individuals who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless, to access training and upskilling opportunities, work placements & employment opportunities on our projects.

Knife & Violent Crime

In 2020/2021 there were over 10,000 knife crimes in London alone with 17% of those admitted to hospital for assault by a sharp object aged 18 or under, and approx. 91% were male. (House of Commons, Knife Crime in England & Wales). Although this is a decrease on previous years this is crime that is affecting young people in our communities and causing serious injury & deaths. Hill will work with partners locally and regionally to engage & educate young people by:

y Fund & organise workshops on knife crimes for young people in schools, youth centres & community organisations

y Fund & organise first aid courses focusing on knife & violent crime for young people in schools, youth centres & community organisations

y Fund & organise Violence Reduction programmes for young people in schools, youth centres & community organisations

We will record the number of young people engaged with on each project and the change in their perceptions of knife & violent crime.

Gangs

In statistics from the ONS gang crime is increasing and exacerbated by lockdown with young people not being in schools, increasing online use and financial struggles of families who may have had income reduced through furlough or redundancy. Hill commit to providing the following interventions to target gang crime around our projects:

y Run sessions with schools & youth groups educating young people on gangs & gang grooming

y Run sessions with parents & carers helping them recognise gang grooming

y Focused projects on females & gang grooming

We will record the number of people engaged with on each project and the change in their perceptions of gang activity.

Online Safety

During lockdown children were having to spend increased time online with schools closed & home schooling being delivered virtually, this in turn has opened them up to further risks of grooming & cyber bullying. Hill believe that our communities should equally safe online as in their physical environment so will work to deliver:

y Online safety courses with schools & youth groups

y Workshops to support parents & carers keeping children safe online

We will record the number of people engaged with on each project and the change in the way they access & manage children to access the internet.

Staff & Supply Chain

The health and welfare of our staff and everyone who works on Hill projects is of the utmost importance to us and alongside our Health & Safety approach & business policies we also will focus on the personal health of all workers by:

Mental Health Awareness

y Trained Mental Health First Aiders across all Hill projects

y Ensure Mental Health First Aiders are easily identified through hi-vis logos

y Run mental health campaigns throughout the year to help remove stigmas associated with mental health

y Promote mental health awareness week

Healthy Eating

y Provide fridges & microwave facilities to allow for people to bring packed lunches to work

y Where there are onsite canteens, ensure healthy food options are provided

y Provide information & promote healthy eating throughout the year

Social Value Sub-Contractor Menu

Education to Employment Business Support & Mentoring Community Belonging & Connectivity

✓ Commitment to advertising all vacancies with local partners

✓ Providing work placements (unpaid) (min 1)

✓ CIAG with local schools / colleges

✓ Providing minimum 1 apprentice opportunity or local job start

✓ Endeavour to achieve 25% local spend (in line with project requirements)

✓ Volunteer expert hours for local VCSE’s (min 0.5 day)

✓ Make a monthly contribution to foodbank donations (min £100)

✓ Min 0.5-day volunteering for all project-based employees

✓ Donate furniture vouchers (min £100) for a family in Furniture poverty

✓ Engage staff in a mental health awareness training / campaign

✓ Promote healthy eating & fitness initiatives for staff

✓ Support a Foundation200 project locally through volunteering or a welcome hamper

✓ Commitment to advertising all vacancies with local partners

✓ Providing work placements (unpaid)

✓ CIAG with local schools / colleges

✓ Recruitment of minimum 2+ local people

✓ Providing minimum 1+ apprentice opportunities

✓ Endeavour to achieve 25% local spend (in line with project requirements)

✓ Volunteer expert hours for local VCSE’s (min 0.5 day)

✓ Support a project with a local VCSE in conjunction with Hill

✓ Make a monthly contribution to foodbank donations (min £150)

✓ Min 0.5-day volunteering for all project-based employees

✓ Donate furniture vouchers (min £150) for a family in Furniture poverty

✓ Engage staff in a mental health awareness training / campaign

✓ Promote healthy eating & fitness initiatives for staff

✓ Support a Foundation200 project locally through volunteering or a welcome hamper

Social Value Themes Bronze (commit to 1 initiative from each theme, 2 from Education to Employment)

Safe & Healthy Lives

Social Value Themes Silver (commit to 2 initiatives from each theme)

Education to Employment Business Support & Mentoring Community Belonging & Connectivity Safe & Healthy Lives

Education to Employment Business Support & Mentoring Community Belonging & Connectivity Safe & Healthy Lives

✓ Commitment to advertising all vacancies with local partners

✓ CIAG with local schools / colleges

✓ Providing work placements (paid NMW)

✓ Provide a paid placement / job opportunity for an applicant from an under-represented group

✓ Recruitment of minimum 3+ local people

✓ Providing minimum 1+ apprentice opportunities

✓ Endeavour to achieve 25% local spend (in line with project requirements)

✓ Volunteer expert hours for local VCSE’s (min 1 day)

✓ Support a project with a local VCSE in conjunction with Hill

✓ Commit to engage a local SME or SE enterprise in supply chain (where possible)

✓ Make a monthly contribution to foodbank donations (min £150)

✓ Min 1 day volunteering for all project-based employees

✓ Donate furniture vouchers (min £150) for a family in Furniture poverty

✓ Support a digital inclusion workshop through volunteering or sponsorship

✓ Engage staff in a mental health awareness training / campaign

✓ Promote healthy eating & fitness initiatives for staff

✓ Support a Foundation200 project locally through volunteering or a welcome hamper

✓ Fund a workshop tackling violence or crime local to the project

Education

✓ Commitment to advertising all vacancies with local partners

✓ CIAG with local schools / colleges

✓ Providing work placements (paid RLW)

✓ Recruitment of minimum 5+ local people

✓ Providing minimum 3+ apprentice opportunities

✓ Provide a paid placement / job opportunity for an applicant from an under-represented group

✓ Endeavour to achieve 25% local spend (in line with project requirements)

✓ Volunteer expert hours for local VCSE’s (min 2 day)

✓ Support a project with a local VCSE in conjunction with Hill

✓ Commit to engage a local SME or SE enterprise in supply chain (where possible)

✓ Make a monthly contribution to foodbank donations (min £150)

✓ Min 1 day volunteering for all project-based employees

✓ Donate furniture vouchers (min £150) for a family in Furniture poverty

✓ Support a digital inclusion workshop through volunteering or sponsorship

✓ Contribute to donation of laptops through either an e-recycling initiative or new laptop contribution

✓ Engage staff in a mental health awareness training / campaign

✓ Promote healthy eating & fitness initiatives for staff

✓ Support a Foundation200 project locally through volunteering or a welcome hamper

✓ Fund two workshops tackling violence or crime local to the project

Social Value Themes Gold (commit to 3 initiatives from each theme)

Social Value Themes Platinum (commit to 3 initiatives from each theme, 4 from Education to Employment)

to Employment Business Support & Mentoring Community Belonging & Connectivity Safe & Healthy Lives