Tuesday 8th September 2009
Cruden Property Services team up with The Big Life Group
Cruden Property Services have teamed up with the Big Life Group to provide employment opportunities to the Partington community through our Harvest Housing reactive maintenance services contract.
The Big Life Group is one of the largest social businesses in the North and includes; The Big Issue in the North, Big Life Centres, Aisha Childcare and Big Life Employment workshops.
Big Life Employment offers opportunities to people who are overlooked by mainstream employers. They help people to develop their skills and perspectives in a supported environment by providing employment placements, training opportunities, and creating a tailored package to help everyone reach their goal - whether that's mainstream employment or accessing specific training. This helps provide a direct and positive influence on the people who need a helping hand and recently The Big Life Group opened their Job Shop and Skills Workshop in Partington with the express aim of creating an environment to help people find access to training and finding employment.
Cruden Property Services were already active in Partington through our Partnership with Harvest Housing Group providing reactive maintenance services and dealing with void properties.
Cruden Group have always been supportive of giving people opportunity whether by our annual intake of apprentices or our 'Escalate' programme which provides a structure for training and advancement for all our employees. The synergy between Cruden and The Big Life was clear, the keenness to help individuals better themselves is ingrained in both our ethos.
The partnership started at a grass roots level with an approach from one of The Big Life Group supervisors to help Cruden with garden clearing on void properties on an ad-hoc basis. The initial garden maintenance idea was then complemented by the Workshop providing teams to clean and clear void properties and erect fencing and gates. This collaboration has been supported and encouraged by Harvest Housing Group who has always been keen to promote an active community involvement.
Mark Smith manages the day to day activity for the Partington Workshop and he is especially keen to see his groups flourish and progress into full time employment, one such trainee was Colin Perkins who having worked on some void properties as a trainee on The Big Life Employment programme was successful in securing a permanent position with Cruden Property Services as a trainee operative on the Harvest Contract. Colin is working with Geoff Cagoolie and is learning basic on the job trades such as joinery, plumbing and decoration. "Colin is doing a great job, he is really enthusiastic and wants to learn" commented Geoff. "I'm loving it" added Colin "in a few years I would like to have good set of trade skills and my own Cruden van."
For The Cruden Group this is an important initiative as it directly helps people in the area in which we are working The Big Life Group has created an initiative that can allow Cruden to help and recruit local people both within and beyond the Partington area and add value back into the wider community.
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- Cruden Get HAPPI
- Sharing Best Practice with the Liverpool Best Practice Club
- Cruden and 'Ivor Goodsite' talk Health and Safety
- Walking in the Starlight for St Roccos Hospice