We’re dedicated to helping our customers find ways to improve safety, increase reliability and cut downtime across the rail sector and beyond, with a particular focus on sustainability.
We believe that the rail sector should not only be dedicated to providing a high-quality service to rail passengers, but to do it in a sustainable way, and always strive to give more back to local communities than it takes.
That’s why Social Value is so important to us.
What is Social Value?
Social Value is a metric that measures the impact of a business or organisation on society and the environment, factoring in everyday business, schemes, investments and more.
The main facets of Social Value are:
Jobs: does the business employ and promote skills from the local area?
Growth: is it supporting the growth of responsible local business?
Social: is the organisation dedicated to fostering healthier and safer communities?
Environment: does the organisation have a sustainable procurement and production process?
Innovation: does the organisation promote new ideas and social innovation?
These areas are generally measured in terms of their social, economic and fiscal value, to allow organisations – just like us – to identify areas of improvement and make real changes.
What are we doing to improve our Social Value?
Apprenticeships
Since the beginning, apprenticeships have been a big focus for us. We’ve previously partnered with Doncaster National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure (NCATI) and Sheffield University’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to provide fantastic, worthwhile apprenticeship opportunities for those seeking roles in the transport and infrastructure sectors. We’ve also committed to taking on two new apprentices or graduates each year.
You can learn more about our apprentices and our dedication to apprenticeships here.
Supporting our local communities
We know the communities we work in are crucial to what we do, which is why we regularly interact with and support them via school partnerships, Chamber events, and more.
Our Managing Director Nick Andrew recently partnered with the Doncaster Chamber of Commerce to support a mock interview day at Hungerhill School, the comprehensive he last attended in 1989, helping school leavers master their interview skills and get the job they want.
We also attended a Greater Lincolnshire careers hub meeting in June to discuss and agree on ways CWE can further support career events within education.
We’ve worked hard to build new local facilities and solutions to keep our work within the North Lincolnshire region. This not only enables us to provide employment and enrichment opportunities locally, but also to limit the distance our wagons travel for work and maintenance, minimising our carbon footprint.
Finally, we’re very proud of the ongoing efforts we’ve made to make Doncaster the home of Great British Rail, due to the region’s rich rail heritage and skills base.
Sustainable practices
Our whole business model is built around refurbishing, overhauling, and reusing wherever we can, so it might come as no surprise that we have a real dedication to working sustainably.
We encourage our clients to keep rolling stock on the rails by taking a proactive approach to maintenance, and by acting as an experienced maintenance partner to keep existing rolling stock on the rail network.
Learn more about our work in encouraging repair and refurbishment in fleet maintenance here.
Charity and corporate responsibility
In September 2022, we’re holding our first charity golf day to raise money for St. John’s Hospice in Doncaster.
We also sponsor the Doncaster Schoolboys U12 football team, helping fund the team’s kit and contributing to away day costs.
Even more to come
We’re not done yet. At CWE we take our Social Value duty seriously, and we’re always on the lookout for ways we can invest in and improve the communities we work in.
