Wilmott Dixon turn their hands to wildflowers!
Following October’s ground-breaking ceremony marking the start of construction on our new Emergency Care Building, several initiatives within the Future Hospitals programme are starting to take shape. One such initiative is our commitment to social value.
Social value is about the positive impact an organisation creates for society and the environment. The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 is a UK law that requires public authorities to consider how they can secure wider social, economic, and environmental benefits when commissioning services. Within the Emergency Care Building programme, the Trust’s social value lead Sharon is working closely with our Emergency Care Building construction partner, Willmott Dixon, on joint social value projects (under their commitments in the original tender) which will increase training, employment, benefit the local community and help us achieve some of our sustainability goals.
Their first project focused on enhancing the external environment and boosting biodiversity. On 20 October, we headed out into the rain transforming spaces by Maternity and car parks into wildflower meadows. As the meadows develop, we will conduct surveys to measure the increase in butterflies and other pollinators. A big thank you to Willmott Dixon for funding this work and the wonderful volunteers from Sphere Solutions and YGS Landscapes.
