The McLaren site team at Plymouth’s current key development at Drake Circus has raised £500 for local charity, Shekinah, through coffee and cake mornings.
The charity provides services for people in recovery from homelessness, drug and alcohol issues, offending behaviours and mental ill health. These services include supporting rough sleepers off the streets and into their own homes, training and employment.
Stuart Goss, McLaren’s Operations Director, commented:
“We wanted to make a positive impact in Plymouth, as we strive to do in all the communities where we work. We are pleased to have been able to raise this amount of money for a charity that makes a big impact in the local area.”
Soo Brizell, Head of Partnerships, Shekinah added:
“With increasing numbers of people who are homeless, Shekinah is delighted to receive financial support from McLaren. This shows the commitment that large organisations are able to make in supporting Shekinah to end homelessness. We are grateful for the generosity and the social conscience of the business community and would like to say thank you to the McLaren site team.”
McLaren has been actively engaging with the community since the start of the project, late in 2017. The site team has hosted numerous educational visits for local schools and has enthusiastically promoted a positive image of construction. The project has also supported 20 apprentices through the supply chain, completing 869 training weeks. This has helped youngsters gain experience and complete their courses in different areas of construction.
In addition to community engagement, regular health checks and various wellbeing and mental health events have been organised for those on site, all of which were received positively. All of the hard work has resulted in the team achieving an average score of 42 out of 50 from the Considerate Constructors Scheme.
The Drake Circus development for British Land comprises an 11-screen cinema, 13 restaurant units and a sky bar. The development is the result of the transformation of a dated bus interchange in Plymouth’s city centre. It will create an exciting mix of leisure activities together with food offers complementary to the existing shopping facilities within Drake Circus and the surrounding area, as well as 420 on-site parking spaces.
