The climate is changing – and we’re not just talking about the weather. As a new generation of decision makers push their way to the forefront of business, there has been a clear change in mentality when it comes to value. Regardless of politics or belief there is no doubt that grass roots community support and environmentally friendly practices are as crucial as ever and the new guard is coming to the table.
Community is at the heart of everything we do; whether it’s fostering community within our properties and guardians, in the company culture or in the broader population in the places we work. At LOWE we have supported various charities across our four years. In 2019 we were partners with LandAid and we have made ongoing donations to St Mungo’s, and worked with New Horizons to help house those in need. This year we decided to support two charities to address the issues closest to our heart – homelessness and people at risk in the city, and environmental sustainability.
We will be employing a Buy One Give One scheme where every set of keys we hand to a guardian, we will donate £10 and for every building we take on to manage we will donate £500.With so many people doing valuable work throughout London it was really difficult deciding who to work with, so we put it to our guardians to decide. It was a predictably tight race, but we are very pleased to announce that the winners are Spires Centre Streatham, and Plastic Oceans UK.
SPIRES
To be the best support we can in helping people move from lives of distress, isolation and insecurity to a future of greater stability and hope.
The seed of Spires was planted in 1989 with a temporary Christmas centre that was jointly organised by the congregations of English Martyrs and St Leonard’s churches in Streatham, with the support of the local community. It quickly became clear that there was a great demand for their service, and as such they established a permanent service that found its current form as ‘the Spires Centre’ becoming a registered charity in 1993.
Spires offer a wide range of services for people in need. The Rough Sleepers’ Space offers facilities to anyone sleeping rough by providing access to washing machines, breakfast, hot showers and clean clothes. This space also provides people with access to long term solutions through housing advise and employment and benefit advice. The Spires Streetlink service offers a Women’s Space and outreach for female and transgender sex workers, with the ultimate goal of enabling people and giving them the necessary resources and support to leave sex work. Finally, the Spires Adult Learning Centre offers a wide-range of drop-in classes such as computer literacy, English language courses, music sessions and sewing lessons.
PLASTIC OCEANS UK
Our mission is to stop plastic reaching the oceans within a generation.
Plastic Oceans UK was born with the success of the critically acclaimed 2016 film A Plastic Ocean. This film proved to be the much needed eye opener for the general public, and ever since Plastic Oceans has been working to capitalise on the awareness and encourage people to take real action in their day-to-day.
There are two primary prongs to Plastic Oceans UK’s initiative: education and support for businesses to make change. Their website is chock-a-block with educational pamphlets that cover everything from environmentally friendly glitter to science backed articles on plastic and global waste. They recognise that change needs to come from the individual and so alongside their large corporate relationships with companies like GSK, they use donations to go to schools and educate the leaders (and consumers) of tomorrow.