Member Article

Wates calls for more investment in Birmingham SEs

HOUSING CONTRACTOR CALLS FOR INCREASED INVESTMENT IN

BIRMINGHAM SOCIAL ENTERPRISES

Affordable housing contractor, Wates Living Space, is urging businesses across Birmingham to ramp up their engagement with social enterprises (SEs) as part of a nation-wide campaign to promote the sector.

The call to action comes after Wates and Birmingham-based social enterprise development organisation, i-SE, jointly hosted a ‘social enterprise tour’, designed to promote the social and economic impact of SEs.

Delegates from the region’s public sector bodies were invited to take part in the ‘Seeing is Believing’ event, which commenced in the city’s Social Enterprise Quarter in Digbeth where there are over 50 registered SEs.

The event gave attendees the opportunity to observe a variety of social enterprises in action, including LOAF, a Digbeth-based bakery, Bita Pathways, Jericho Foundation and Argonaut Community Enterprises.

Hosted in collaboration with national social enterprise campaigning body, SEUK, the event formed part of i-SE’s Social Enterprise Week (20-24 April), the first initiative of its kind in Birmingham.

The week-long campaign included a range of events to showcase the value of the social enterprise sector, which is estimated to turnover £180m a year and employ approximately 14,600 people across Birmingham.

Wates’ efforts to engage the sector in its projects’ supply chains has so far seen the contractor trade over £5m with the SEs across the UK. Seeing social enterprises as a cornerstone to local economic growth and regeneration, Wates has also committed to investing £20m in the sector by 2020.

Stewart Reid, Business Director at Wates Living Space, commented: “Wates has long recognised the invaluable role that social enterprises play in overcoming today’s economic and social challenges and we are wholly committed to supporting the development of such initiatives.

“Birmingham has one of the highest concentrations of social enterprises in the UK and we were pleased to have supported i-SE’s Social Enterprise Week. This offered a fantastic opportunity for delegates to meet the people behind these incredible enterprises.”

Peter Holbrook, CEO of the campaigning body Social Enterprise UK, added: “As a Social Enterprise Quarter, Digbeth is re-injecting life into local communities, creating opportunities, local wealth and changing lives for the better. Digbeth’s social enterprises are dynamic and showing strong growth. Everyone has a role to play in supporting the sector by buying from social enterprises across Birmingham.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Wates .