British Land : launches Bright Lights ‘Starting Out’ training programme

12 Oct 2017

British Land, in partnership with The Source Skills Academy, is rolling out its training programme - Bright Lights Starting Out - across 13 of its Local and Regional retail centres to help young people find work in the retail, leisure, food and drink industry.

The free programme, which was launched at six centres in 2016, saw a success rate of 75% of graduates securing a job in retail and hospitality.

The aim of the programme is to provide unemployed young people with valuable skills to help them to start to build a career in modern retail or hospitality, combining classroom teaching with work placements. The five week course runs to coincide with Christmas recruitment. Each asset will see 15 young people aged 16-24 years old undertake the course which combines work place experience with the delivery of nationally accredited qualifications. The successful individuals will graduate with a Level 1 in Retail Knowledge, Level 2 WorldHost Principles of Customer Service and Level 1 Health & Safety.

Participants will benefit from coaching sessions with industry experts, support with interview and CV writing skills in addition to a personal mentor to get set goals for the next six months following completion of the programme.

At the end of the scheme, trainees will receive their formal qualifications at an official celebration event.

Charles Maudsley, Head of Retail, Leisure & Residential for British Land, said: 'The retail industry is the UK's largest private sector employer with some 2.9 million people working in the sector; a third of these are under 25 years old. Bright Lights and the Starting Out training programme is part of our commitment to connect with the local communities in which we operate, offering best in class service to help both our occupiers and local people to grow, thrive and gain new skills. The Starting Out programme is providing skills and training to young people, hugely important to help them in their future careers and to achieve recognised qualifications.'

Bright Lights supports people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds and includes apprenticeships, training and work experience, internships, employment programmes and graduate schemes. Through supporting local skills, employment and procurement, British Land is helping local people and businesses grow whilst at the same time creating a skilled workforce needed for the future and nurturing thriving economies around its assets.

The programme is being delivered at Meadowhall, Sheffield; St Stephen's, Hull; Teesside, Stockton; Beaumont, Leicester; Serpentine Green, Peterborough; New Mersey, Speke; Giltbrook, Nottingham; Glasgow Fort, Glasgow; Surrey Quays, Rotherhithe; Ealing Broadway, W5; Fort Kinnaird, Edinburgh; Drake Circus, Plymouth and Broughton, Chester.

Notes to Editors

About British Land
Our portfolio of high quality UK commercial property is focused on Retail around the UK and London Offices. We own or manage a portfolio valued at £19.1 billion (British Land share: £13.9 billion) as at 31 March 2017 making us one of Europe's largest listed real estate investment companies.

Our strategy is to provide places which meet the needs of our customers and respond to changing lifestyles - Places People Prefer. We do this by creating great environments both inside and outside our buildings and use our scale and placemaking skills to enhance and enliven them. This expands their appeal to a broader range of occupiers, creating enduring demand and driving sustainable, long term performance.

Our Retail portfolio is focused on Regional and Local multi-let centres, and accounts for 48% of our portfolio. Our Offices portfolio comprises three office-led campuses in central London as well as high quality standalone buildings and accounts for 49% of our portfolio. Increasingly our focus is on providing a mix of uses and this is most evident at Canada Water, our 46 acre redevelopment opportunity where we have plans to create a new neighbourhood for London.

Sustainability is embedded throughout our business. Our places, which are designed to meet high sustainability standards, become part of local communities, provide opportunities for skills development and employment and promote wellbeing. Our industry-leading sustainability performance led to British Land being awarded a five star rating in the 2017 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark for the second year running.

In April 2016 British Land received the Queen's Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development, the UK's highest accolade for business success for economic, social and environmental achievements over a period of five years.

Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com.

The programme is aimed at those between 16-24 years, with the exception of Drake Circus, Plymouth which has a different local requirement.

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