We are absolutely delighted to support and announce Dominvs is a Founding Partner of The Mayor’s Fund for London’s latest campaign ‘Firm Foundations’, building on our continued commitment to supporting disadvantaged young people across Greater London.
Launched earlier this year, Firm Foundations is a brand-new employability campaign in collaboration with the Built Environment (BE) sector seeking to create more job opportunities for disadvantaged young Londoners in the real estate industry.
As part of the commitment, we are also signing the Mayor of London’s ‘Diversity Pledge’ – an initiative that brings together leading BE companies across the capital to create a more inclusive and diverse property sector.
This exciting new announcement kicks off a brand-new partnership between Dominvs group and the Mayor’s Fund. It follows the launch of our new Social Value Unit back in July as we look to cement our long-term commitment to delivering positive value to the communities we work in, principally in London. The new Unit will help us ensure social value throughout the development lifecycle and embed social value principles across the whole business.
The Mayor’s Fund for London is an independent charitable foundation that runs and funds a raft of community programmes for young people across the city from low-income families. Firm Foundations is the Fund’s newest campaign and its objectives are twofold – to bring together London’s built environment sector to support disadvantaged young people in London and to create a more inclusive industry that is representative of our city. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is Patron of The Mayor’s Fund.
As a business working in the built environment sector, finding new and innovative ways of supporting local communities is critical to us.”
Wesley Ankrah, Director of Social Value and Community Investment, Dominvs group
Staggeringly, London has the highest rate of youth employment in the UK, a problem exacerbated by the Covid-induced economic downturn over the last 18 months. Aside from that, many of London’s young struggle to get into the real estate sector, with only 27% of sector employees coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds. On diversity, over 90% of architects are white, and less than 6% of construction workers are from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds.
As part of joining as a Founding Partner along with companies such as Berkeley Group, JLL, and Turley, we are committing to being more transparent on our Diversity & Inclusion goals and working in partnership with schools across London to increase more gateway opportunities for youngsters taking their first step on the employment ladder.
Speaking about the partnership with Dominvs group, The Mayor’s Fund said: “We are absolutely delighted to have Dominvs group join Firm Foundations as a founding partner. It speaks volumes to the company’s commitment that they got behind the campaign immediately after we spoke. Not only that, Dominvs group has stepped up to be part of our leadership group and help create a long-term impact as we shape the campaign activities. Having experts like Wesley Ankrah work with us is a huge privilege and we cannot wait to get stuck in and help change the built environment for the better.”
Speaking about why are supporting the fund, our Director of Social Value and Community Investment Wesley Ankrah, said:
“Signing up to both campaigns was a no-brainer for us; we didn’t even give it a second thought. Both initiatives resonate strongly with the whole team here at Dominvs group, particularly around supporting disadvantaged young people and increasing diversity in the BE sector. It’s important for businesses like us – that both understand their social responsibilities as a developer and has the means to support such campaigns – throw their weight behinds these flagship initiatives that make a difference.
“It’s never an afterthought, and with the new Social Value Unit that I head up, we are ensuring it’s part of everything we do as a developer. A part of that means striking new partnerships with organisations like the Mayor’s Fund, which is delivering support on the ground day in day out.”
To find out more about the campaign and how you can join, please visit: https://www.mayorsfundforlondon.org.uk/firm-foundations/
