We are committed to making a long-lasting, positive social impact in our communities by collaboratively addressing local priorities.
We aim to directly enable £200m of social and economic value by 2030, through our social impact activity and support for SMEs.
We focus our resources on three key areas where we can make a difference, that matter in all our communities: education, employment and affordable space. The way we put these commitments into practice is always place-based – tailored around local needs and opportunities for communities at each place.
1. Education
Goal: Impactful education partnerships, benefiting over 80,000 people by 2030.
Progress: 45,450 people have benefited from our education partnerships since 2020.
We support educational initiatives for local people – helping them unlock their potential, developing skills for the future and raising awareness of career opportunities in our sectors. With awareness of local issues and opportunities, initiatives range from primary school projects and secondary school workshops to college events and university challenges, along with mentoring, site tours, talks and educational events.
People have benefited from our education initiatives since 2020
Our partnership with the National Literacy Trust has been inspiring children to read for pleasure since 2011, working collaboratively with local schools and our customers. It is the largest and longest collaboration between a business and charity to improve literacy in the UK.
British Land has long championed children’s literacy and we are hugely grateful for their support. Since 2011, our partnership has inspired over 68,000 children from lower income backgrounds to develop a life-changing love of reading.”Jonathan Douglas CBE,CEO of the National Literacy Trust
2. Employment
Goal: Impactful employment partnerships, benefiting over 10,000 people with meaningful support by 2030.
Progress: 4,400 people have benefited from our employment and training partnerships since 2020 – with 1,300 successfully securing jobs.
We support local training and jobs through Bright Lights, our skills and employment programme, working with customers, suppliers and local partners. Initiatives include pre-employment training, virtual programmes, mentoring, work placements, graduate schemes, internships and apprenticeships. This helps secure the skills our business, customers, suppliers and communities need to thrive in the future. Applying a robust approach to reporting, we only count people who receive meaningful, life-enhancing support. Many more individuals enrol or engage in other employment activities at our places, such as job fairs.
People have benefited from our employment and training partnerships since 2020
Our Broadgate Connect employment and training partnership with East London Business Alliance (ELBA) connects Broadgate businesses with local talent. It has been helping East Londoners gain fulfilling jobs and apprenticeships in and around Broadgate since 2012, enabling diverse local hiring for our campus customers and suppliers.
I hope that London’s businesses can look to this model and see that investing in skills and wrap-around employment support will provide benefits to them, as well as adding significant value to the economy.”Rajesh Agrawal,Deputy Mayor for Business, Greater London Authority (GLA)
3. Affordable space
Goal: Affordable space at each priority place, with at least £10m of affordable workspace, retail space, community and arts space delivered across our portfolio by 2030.
Progress: £4.8m of affordable space provided to community organisations and enterprises in past two years.
We provide space to a broad range of local organisations on an affordable basis. This draws on our core strengths, providing high quality space to generate social impact, and helps differentiate our places. Affordable space includes workspace, retail space and community and arts space on a temporary or permanent basis, as well as outdoor pop-ups. Reflecting opportunities at each place, our approach includes supporting social enterprises, small businesses, charities, community groups and cultural organisations.
Of affordable space provided across our portfolio in past two years
Together with long-standing partner New Diorama Theatre (NDT) who are based at Regent’s Place, we launched NDT Broadgate to help fuel the recovery of the arts post-pandemic. An independent economic impact assessment revealed that NDT Broadgate generated £40m of additional gross revenue for the UK economy.
NDT Broadgate was one of the most significant engines for recovery across the theatre sector and a brilliant example of the enormous value derived from innovative cross-sector partnerships. At ACE, we witnessed first-hand how crucial this initiative was for thousands of diverse, early-career artists at such a critical moment.”Neil Darlison,Director of Theatre for Arts Council England
Social Impact Fund
Goal: £25m Social Impact Fund investment to 2030, comprising at least £15m cash contributions and £10m affordable space.
Progress: £5.5m of cash contributions and £4.8m of affordable space provided in the first three years.
Established in 2008, our Social Impact Fund provides vital funding for charities and projects in and around our places. All investment is guided by our Local Charter commitments. We focus on initiatives that benefit the communities around our priority assets, particularly supporting people experiencing social or economic disadvantage, or those who may not otherwise have access to opportunities. Working with long-term partners, our funding often makes new things possible.
To find out more about how our Fund operates, please review our Community Funding Guidelines: Policies
Our Social Impact Committee approves all expenditure from our Fund. For our latest data, see our Sustainability Progress Report.
Find out about our Social Impact Committee: Committees.
