ESF project brings Chelsea flowers to east London
Groundwork, which runs the innovative ESF Host Borough Employer Offer (HBEO) project, is helping to keep the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show sustainable. Groundwork London are managing the RHS Reuse Scheme this year and reusing and redistributing as many of the plants and materials as possible from the show.
It is estimated that with the support of over 50 Groundwork staff, volunteers and HBEO participants and a significant logistical input from a partner organisation, FM Conway, over 400 tonnes of materials and more than 10,000 plants and trees will have been collected by the show's conclusion.
These materials will be used in over 20 community landscaping projects, including Groundwork London's 'Transform' programme across the Olympic host boroughs. Ten local people have been employed to build a garden from the materials and a training centre established in Newham.
Groundwork London and FM Conway developed their relationship via collaboration on the Innovation, Transnationality and Mainstreaming employer engagement strand of the England European Social Fund programme. Groundwork engages and supports employers in the development and implementation of a complete Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) offer in order to help them compete for contracts. Groundwork London then supports them by helping them employ local people and reduce their impact on the environment.
When the opportunity to clear Chelsea Flower Show came along (separate from the ESF project), it was merely a brief exchange of e-mails that secured the logistical support of FM Conway for this vast undertaking. The materials have not only reduced waste, but created an incredible number of meaningful training and employment opportunities for participants of the HBEO programme. An amazing garden is being built; a stones throw from the ExCeL Centre in London that will host many of the indoor Olympic games and be on show to visitors from around the world.
The HBEO project was designed to develop and test new and innovative ways of working with employers to help ESF target groups find, retain and make progress in employment. The project aims to increase levels of employer engagement within employment and skills activities in East and South East London by developing a range of services for employers that support their business development and CSR objectives through commitments to environmental and social benefits.
The key innovative approach that underpins the project is by utilising the environmental element as an engagement tool for businesses and then extending the focus to delivering tangible benefits for employers who demonstrate willingness to integrate social benefits. The project team then helps to develop bespoke delivery mechanisms for CSR objectives that add value in terms of environmental benefit as well as access to vacancies and training to disadvantaged groups.