Following consultation with tenants, residents, and local elected members to identify community needs and aspirations, our contractor McTaggart Construction Ltd pledged to deliver a number of community benefits.  

McTaggart Construction recruited six new employees and four apprentices during the project. 

• 4 General Operatives were employed through the Kickstart Scheme.
• 1 Groundworker 
• 1 Trainee Telehandler Operator 
• 1 Bricklaying apprentice
• 2 Joiner apprentices 
• 1 Electrician apprentice 

In addition to the new employees and apprentices, McTaggart Construction provided 6 North Lanarkshire pupils with 1 week work experience. 

As part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week, 7 to 11 March, MacTaggart Construction in partnership with our Community Benefits Team and Developing the Young Workforce Lanarkshire hosted three separate events consisting of construction talks around the variety of careers, apprenticeship opportunities and potential pathways to construction.

During one of the events, they were joined by one of McTaggart Apprentices, James, who shared his experience as an apprentice joiner. 

McTaggart Construction carried out two site visits with First Future Steps Training Lanarkshire and another one with North Lanarkshire school students who were part of a Developing Young Workforce pathway aimed at winter leavers. 

In December 2021, McTaggart Construction donated £300 to our Health Improvement Team for Christmas parcels to be distributed in the local area. 

McTaggarts Construction provided Balmalloch Primary School with new play furniture and planters. 

Working with The First Steps Future Training Programme, 24 young people from North Lanarkshire took part in creating these and were given the chance to develop their skills and learn about the industry at the same time. 

In March 2022, McTaggart Construction and North Lanarkshire Council facilitated a CSCS training programme for five students and three support staff at Buchanan High School. McTaggart Construction designed a pathway to support young people from across North Lanarkshire to increase their ability to progress to a positive destination in the Construction Industry. 

McTaggart Construction has been instrumental in providing workshops which suit the needs of our young people, who have been very hands-on and been empathetic towards pupil needs. Pupils attended in-school workshops on Construction Health & Safety by McTaggart Construction trainers, who used videos, activities and discussions to create a solid foundation of understanding about health and safety in construction. Pupils also attended tutorials one morning a week to revise McTaggart workshop materials and practice topics covered in 'CITB (Construction Industry Training Board): Construction Health & Safety Awareness' - and undertook a variety of interactive tasks, videos, discussions and personal study. 

All five S5 pupils have taken and passed their SQA Health & Safety in a Construction Environment exam, as has their Teacher, Ms McDonald. All are scheduled to take their CSCS Exam in September 2022. In total, this programme provided an estimated value of £1,778.50. 

Some comments from the pupils involved:

"I have managed to get work experience with MEARS in plumbing because I have my SQA H&S Award and they know I will be taking my CSCS card. I want to stay in school and finish my S6. MEARS have told me if I am good at my work experience and get my CSCS card, they will continue my work experience a day a week in Sixth Year. So far they say I am excellent. I think this is because I know about the health & safety really well because of my CSCS card course." - Teejay - S5 pupil 

"I have really enjoyed learning about the construction industry. I get almost 100% for every test I take. My main interest is ICT and I would like a job in this area in the future. There is a lot of ICT in the construction industry which I didn't realise before. I think this will help me in my future." - Stephen - S5 pupil

"I am proud to have played a part in the New Supply Team helping North Lanarkshire achieve it's aim of increasing the number of Social Housing across North Lanarkshire by Project Managing the development of 20 units at Waterloo. This brownfield development is a good fit with it's immediate environment and I'm confident the new residents will integrate well into the wider community. During the build period, our contractor for this project, McTaggart Construction, provided employment opportunities for local residents as well as helping local social enterprise by donating their time and excess materials." - Douglas Lorraine, Project Manager - North Lanarkshire Council

"We were pleased to support a number of local recruitment projects on the Burnhall site. Through support and supervision on site we were able to support the creation of jobs for young people knowing the struggles they would face after Covid. For the size of the project we are very pleased to have created so many job opportunities and pleased to see so many sustaining employment after the project completion." - Jim Huxtable, Site Manager - McTaggart Construction

"Burnhall Place was a challenging project, as we emerged from Covid-19, being unable to progress work experience and schools initiatives meant that we had to take a different approach to supporting young people and creating opportunities for jobs and training to that we originally proposed. However, through adversity comes opportunity! Supporting new initiatives such as Kickstart meant that we could assist in the creation of more jobs for young people than proposed as well as working with Education Services to develop opportunities for experience in the construction sector for young people with complex needs ensure that the impact of the site went far beyond the bricks and mortar." - Ross Hammell, Community Benefits Manager - McTaggart Construction