How Evolution supports the communities in which we work

"It’s Good to Do Good"

Much of our success has been built on the work we do in the social housing sector. We believe it’s important that when you’re paid by the public purse, you should give something back to the communities in which you’re working. Here are just some of the things we’re doing to achieve that.

Local

Local projects; local people

We use local labour on all our major projects, because we believe that local authority funded projects should see more money returned into the local community.

1%

Rebate for social housing projects

When councils and housing associations ask us to work on their social housing projects, we return 1% of our fee to them to use on community schemes. To date, our rebates have supported projects in Blackpool and across the Fylde coast, Burnley, Liverpool, the Wirral and more.

Apprenticeships

that mean something

We aim to take on at least one new apprentice every year. We do that not as a source of cheap labour, but to build the skills of our team for the long term. That’s why we commit to their training, give successful apprentices permanent jobs after their apprenticeship ends and pay them more than the basic apprenticeship rate.

Sponsorship

Layton & Fylde ABC

Boxing clubs can be a real benefit to communities, but they’re traditionally tough things to keep financed. For Layton & Fylde ABC, a boxing club based in one of the most deprived areas of Blackpool, we’ve bought kit, bags and other equipment, donated funds and rewired the building to modern safety standards.

Fleetwood Town FC

Fleetwood Town was facing a challenge of ensuring its juniors kept attending training sessions. In another deprived area, the club had found that when parents are embarrassed that their child isn’t in the latest kit (or without a kit at all), they’ll often drop out of training. So now, when local kids turn up for three successive trainings sessions, they’ll be given a kit paid for by us – so everyone feels included.

It’s good to do good. I was a council house kid who never had the latest sports kit and I know how much pressure hardworking parents can feel to provide kit for their kids. We’re now in the fortunate position of being able to give something back – and I don’t think it’s too much to ask to be able to train in a safe space, with the right kit.

Boxing has given me so much. Layton ABC was built from scratch from a club that had closed down when my own boxing trainer passed away. This is our way of saying thank you – to the councils who trust us to help rebuild their communities, and to the communities that raised us.

John Fitzgerald, March 2021