Community
As a company and in the work we do we have an impact on wider society. We’re keen to embrace opportunities to give back and generate social value, both through and alongside our work. We are proud to support charities that we believe in and we invest our efforts where we can to help to make a difference.
Our charity work is not the only way in which we can make a difference to the communities around us. Our Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Group was set up with the aim of making Quod more inclusive and diverse and identifying ways to make the industry more accessible. Our Green Team was established to seek to continually improve the environmental performance of Quod and identify how we can make our working practices, projects and the communities around us more sustainable.
Charity
Each year, since 2015, Quod’s staff have elected a charity of the year which we support and raise money for. In addition, staff are encouraged to participate in charitable events, and we are always looking for ways to give back to local communities around us, including through fundraising and volunteering opportunities.
Quod’s chosen charity of 2023 was Crisis, the national charity for homeless people who directly help people out of homelessness and campaign for the change needed to solve it altogether. Quod’s commitment to Crisis raised £14,616.12 during 2023.
We are pleased to announce that Quod’s charity partner for 2024, as voted for by colleagues, is Great Ormond Street Hospital.
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ABOUT GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL
Great Ormond Street Hospital go above and beyond for seriously ill children, enabling kinder and better treatments, and bringing hope for thousands of children each year. Quod are delighted to have Great Ormond Street Hospital as their 2024 charity partner.
Equality, Diversity And Inclusion
Quod is committed to being an inclusive workplace – we want everyone to feel able to participate fully and achieve their potential. Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group was set up in 2019 with a remit to champion diversity at Quod, and in our networks and wider industry.
Quod take part in a number of EDI initiatives aligned with our goals, and we welcome opportunities to broaden our impact where we can, recent initiatives include:
- EDI survey: Quod commissioned its first EDI survey in 2023 to collect data on the company to provide an important baseline, this will be repeated each year to allow for comparison and measure effectiveness of initiatives implemented.
- Promoting entry into the profession: Quod is proud to be a Sponsor and Co-creator of Future of London’s Emerging Talent Programme, providing two years of structured work placements and training for BAME candidates looking to progress with a career in the built environment sector.
- Recruitment Policy: Quod recruitment policy is undertaken through a blind CV process, ensuring there is no unconscious bias at the application stage, with names and ages redacted for all applications.
- Education: Quod has formed partnerships with 2 local schools in Westminster providing work experience, attending careers fairs, mentoring advice, CV writing and interview training to students of a variety of ages.
- Racial Equality Group: Quod formed a Racial Equality Group in 2020 with regular internal events and working lunches taking place throughout the year.
- Disability Confident: Quod is currently in the process of signing up to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme and we are working through its three levels that aim to challenge attitudes and increase understanding within Quod, our networks and communities to remove barriers for disabled people.
Green initiatives
Improving our environmental performance
The Green Team review the work of Quod to continually strive to improve our environmental performance, and contribute to a sustainable future for everyone. This extends to activities such as Quod’s waste management, hosting annual ‘Green Week’ and raising awareness and understanding around how our work can improve the built and natural environment as part of the net zero carbon targets.
Quod is committed to conducting sustainable business for the benefit of the environment, society and local communities, and is advancing a number of carbon reduction initiatives, principally focused on reductions in energy use and sustainable transport modes, but also on our work more broadly as built environment professionals.
Please download our Carbon Reduction Plan here.
Volunteering
As part of Quod’s Charity and Community commitments, in 2020 Quod established a new volunteering programme, through which colleagues will be encouraged to take volunteering days to give back to the communities that they work in.
Quod recognise the value of employees offering their time to support worthy causes in the community, with an ambition to make a meaningful difference to the places within which we operate. Colleagues have the opportunity to volunteer with our charity partner, Crisis, or take on initiatives that they feel passionate about. In the past, this has included the provision of free planning advice to support community-based programmes, offering interview advice and support and volunteering at local charity and community events.
Recently we partnered with Teach First to provide a week of work experience placements to secondary school and sixth form students with an interest in the Planning and Property Industry. Many of our staff volunteered their time to showcase what we do, set tasks and answer questions to give an insight into the world of working in planning and property!
Many of our staff also offer clients help with project based volunteering commitments so that we can really make a difference and give back directly on the projects and communities we work most closely with.
Accreditations, Affiliations & Awards
