Noel Park Pod & Major Works Project

Residents were invited to celebrate summer with their family thanks to a free fun day hosted by EQUANS.

Held at Russell Park, on 24th August, EQUANS held it's second fun day of the year for the local community, and even better it was completely free!

In addition to a number of bouncy castles, beat the goalie, sumo suits, DJ and face painters, children could also claim a free ice cream by presenting a copy of the event's flyer. Members of Noel Park Big Local and a number of EQUANS staff kindly volunteered their time to help man the bouncy castles and the generator used was generously provided for free by Sunbelt Rentals UK & Ireland.

The weather stayed nice and bright and the day was well attended with several members of the site team also attending.

Thanks to support from EQUANS, a youth initiative known as "Project 2020" has been able to once again provide full services to local youth in Haringey.

In August, EQUANS provided support to Haringey Council's youth initiative, Project 2020, by replacing their table tennis table after it had broken after many years of use. They were in desperate need of a new table and EQUANS was only too happy to step in and sponsor a lovely new table for everyone to enjoy.

The Project 2020 hub in Northumberland Park offers engagement activities for young people three evenings a week, and during the half term holiday. These activities include a homework club on Wednesdays, music project on Thursdays and open access on Fridays.

The hub provides a safe space for young people aged 11yrs - 19yrs, to participate in structured activities and the team access opportunities for young people to go on educational and social trips to widen their knowledge and raise their aspiration which including sponsorship to undertake the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

We have a respite area available for residents wishing to take a break from the works being carried out.

As well as comfortable seating, a TV and tea/coffee making facilities our respite area provides a welcome break from the works.

The respite area is available within our site office at 92 Gladstone Avenue. As well as being used to take a break from the works, residents can also use these facilities when they are required to leave their homes for the day to allow the removal of the existing bathroom pod and installation of the new modular pod.

For more details about the respite facilities available to you or to enquire about booking them, please speak to your Resident Liaison Officer, Hayley Cox on 07816 097 737.

Homes for Haringey are also considering additional respite facilities to suit the needs of residents. If you have any queries in the meantime you should contact the HfH Project Manager, Shaynesia Byfield directly on 020 8489 1778 or by email at Shaynesia.Byfield@homesforharingey.org

Three new apprentices welcomed under our Haringey contracts, thanks to partner, Embassy Site Services.

So far, in 2022, we have recruited five apprentices under our contracts with Haringey, and in May, the latest three were officially welcomed to the team.

We've worked closely with our supply chain partner, scaffolding and roofing experts, Embassy Site Services to offer these opportunities and when EQUANS' Social Value Manager, Julian Sanz, and Embassy's HSEQ specialist, Seb Lik, held interviews, earlier this year, three candidates stood out!

Derrick, Ramzan, and Haydon all impressed, showing commitment, enthusiasm, and an eagerness to learn and progress - as a result, they were all offered positions as apprentice scaffolders.

Julian commented: "We currently employ around 600 apprentices across our business in varied roles, and we're known in our division for our commitment to offering varied apprenticeship roles, providing excellent experiences and support. In turn, we benefit from attracting some genuinely amazing young apprentices and Derrick, Ramzan, and Haydon are no exception."

None of this would be possible without the support of our supply chain partners, like Embassy Site Services, who are committed to helping us deliver our social value commitments. Promoting diversity in the workforce, developing youth, and supporting local employment all contribute to levelling up communities.

The three new apprentices will benefit from gaining a qualification, learning 'on the job' from experts in the field, and will be paid the London Living Wage.

"With the huge skills shortage in the construction industry, it's more important than ever to invest in youth and especially in local people. EQUANS will be taking on a total of 22 trainees and apprentices in Haringey in the next year alone." Paul Jennings, Divisional Director, EQUANS

If you're interested inworking for EQUANS or would like more information about our work placement and apprenticeship opportunities, please contact Julian Sanz on 07795 194 449 or click here to view our current vacancies.

Over the past 18 months the EQUANS team have delivered an amazing £2.5m worth of measured social value within our partnership with Haringey Council.

As a responsible contractor, EQUANS is committed to providing a tailored and responsive programme of social value which has a lasting and positive impact for residents and the wider community, focusing our efforts across five key strands: Jobs, Growth, Social, Environment and Innovation, to provide the best support for levelling up communities.

Thanks to our Social Value Manager, Julian Sanz, and the rest of the site team including Jim, Hayley and Rachel who all volunteered some time assisting this.

EQUANS recently supported the official opening of the 'Changing Gears' social enterprise that's funded by Noel Park Big Local.

With help from Social Value Manager, Julian Sanz, EQUANS has been supporting Noel Park Big Local with the creation of this new venture including free consultation to help the team source an office building, funding two full time apprentices, installing a public bike repair stand and signage and hosting a recent fun day together.

The Changing Gears project is a catalyst at the Noel Park estate, for what local resident, Laurie White described as "Social Good" and is already kick-starting many positive new ventures locally.

The Leader of Haringey Council, Peray Ahmet joined Julian and local volunteers to celebrate the grand opening.

In partnership with Noel Park Big Local, EQUANS hosted a free fun day for local Haringey residents!

Free ice creams and drinks were available all day and more than 400 Easter eggs were given away. Bouncy castles, sumo suits, face painters, live music and a giant Easter bunny raffle ensured a great turn out for the event.

A number of EQUANS staff including Hayley, Christine and Ricky from the Noel Park site team joined Social Value Manager, Julian Sanz who organised the event, and took time out of their busy schedule to help run the event.

Further photos are available within the image library.

Click here to read the full case study

The Noel Park site team received an impressive score of 41/45 for their latest audit visit by the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) after scoring high marks in each of the three categories.

On 22nd March, a CCS monitor visited Noel Park and carried out his audit of the site, commenting things like “The RLO team maintained engagement and communication at all times with the residents with updated newsletters and the digital community notice board. The presence of the project RLO team continues with constant engagement with the residents on this extensive project.”

The CCS is an independent organisation founded to raise standards in the construction industry to ensure all construction sites present an image of competent management, efficiency, awareness of environmental issues and above all neighbourliness. Monitors from the scheme regularly audit our sites to ensure we are adhering to the scheme’s Code of Considerate Practice which is designed to encourage best practice beyond statutory requirement.

Each audit is split into three categories; respect for the community, protecting the environment and valuing the workforce each with a potential score out of 15 with a total combined max score of 45 available. To score above 13 in any category warrants an excellent level of achievement for that category.

Congratulations to Jim, Rachel, Hayley, Nalule and the rest of the site team, who work so hard every day to maintain such high standards

For more information about the Considerate Constructors Scheme please visit our information page here.

We have uploaded a copy of your colour choices for your kitchen and bathroom to the document library.

Whether you just need a reminder of the choices, want to see your choices again or want to show your friends, family or neighbours - feel free.

View the Kitchen and Bathroom colour choices document here