Sandwell Council, Stoford and McLaren Construction have given an update on the community value delivered through construction of our new hub for the West Midlands Ambulance Service in Oldbury.
The 72,000 square foot, three-storey building – funded by us - will be the largest of its kind in the UK, replacing a smaller base in West Bromwich. It will accommodate around 350 operational ambulance staff working shifts and will include a facility for the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), as well as fleet maintenance and vehicle preparation areas, an education and training academy and central stores.
In addition to the benefits of a significant increase in ambulance operational capability for the Black Country and Birmingham, the project has delivered on a range of community commitments made when the construction contract was awarded and supported Sandwell Council’s drive to generate more social value from businesses operating in their area.
Since May 2021, when McLaren commenced on site, the site has:
- Recruited seven apprentices
- Recruited 11 local people
- Provided two internships to Construction Management students at Birmingham City University
- Engaged with Rounds Green Primary School to design and build two bug houses
- Given six site visits to school and university students
- Volunteered with Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust
- Undertaken a fundraising healthy eaten cook off with donations made to the Wildlife Trust.
WysePower offered five apprenticeships in electrical and plumbing. All five apprentices are progressing well with WysePower and are studying at Dudley College.
Think Sandwell also supported McCoy Contractors, the groundworks company, who recruited Cameron as a Groundworker apprentice in November. Cameron has been undertaking varied activities including building manholes, laying pipe runs and using various machinery. Cameron has predominantly worked on site at WMAS. He attends college on block release.
In September, McLaren recruited Alex as a Trainee Site Manager. Alex is currently undertaking an HNC in Construction through day release at Solihull College. Early on in the development, McLaren engaged with Birmingham City University and offered site visits and talks as well as six-week internships for Construction Management students.
Two students – Reece and Abdul – undertook an internship; Abdul spent time shadowing different roles on site, including engineering, design, quantity surveying and site management. He commented that this opened his eyes to the different roles and maybe changed his career aspirations going forward.
A mixed group of first-year, second-year and Masters Construction Management students also visited site in early May 2022 and throughout construction on site, McLaren have had a close relationship with nearby Rounds Green Primary School offering class visits, talks on sustainability and a Bug House Design competition.
The winners and their teams (two teams of five) came to the site to build the bug houses out of waste materials to encourage bio-diversity, receiving prizes from the Wildlife Trust donated by contractors McCoy and PJ Brickwork.
Assura Social Impact Lead, Karen Nolan, said: "One construction project can create so many opportunities for learning and development, and for the community to get involved with what will be a landmark site supporting health services in this region. The skills and experiences forged on this site will play a role in the future careers of so many young people."