Last year, over 60 property industry organisations stepped forward to offer their time and skills to 92 different charities through LandAid’s Pro Bono programme, resulting in over £700,000 worth of professional support for disadvantaged young people and families throughout the UK.
LandAid’s Pro Bono programme matches the knowledge and professional services of property companies with not-for-profit organisations. From architecture and engineering, to marketing communications and legal services. This allows charitable organisations to provide support and services across the spectrum of those in need, creating stronger communities across the country.
Just over half of the total value was generated by one large project. Youth homelessness charity, Centrepoint, requested support with surveying 450 units of accommodation within 182 of their properties across the UK. This work was undertaken by Knight Frank with support from Paragon, with an estimated value of £360,000.
Ed Tytherleigh, Director of Support and Housing at Centrepoint said: ‘It was absolutely brilliant. We had two partners of LandAid, Knight Frank and Paragon, carry out full stock condition surveys across all 65 supported housing schemes that Centrepoint runs and owns, as well as their near-300 self-contained flats (mostly in London and Manchester). The work was done excellently and we now have all the data about our properties which has helped us to design a 7-year programme of works to bring our properties up to our Centrepoint Property Standards. This will be a considerable investment programme and a step change in the provision that we are able to provide young homeless people across the country.’
Puneet Vedhera, Associate at Knight Frank said: ‘Providing pro bono support through LandAid was a satisfying experience. We thoroughly enjoyed working with Centrepoint and we are very happy with the result and keen to be involved in the next steps.’
The Pro Bono Programme at LandAid, whose mission is focused on ending youth homelessness, is offered to any not-for-profit organisations supporting a wide range of causes.
Another charity who has benefitted from such support is James’ Place, a charity providing services for men in suicidal crisis. They received professional expertise via LandAid from Webb Yates in providing a building condition survey.
Rosie Barrett, London Centre Manager at James’ Place who worked on the project said: ‘The building condition survey carried out by Webb Yates was an essential piece of work required for the development and design of our new therapy centre in London. Securing a timely structural condition report from such a high-quality surveyor has ensured that any issues have been identified early and we have received appropriate guidance around how to rectify them. This is crucial for the ongoing safety of our staff and clients as well as the financial stability of the organisation.”
‘Securing this survey free of charge frees up vital funds that we can use in other areas of our service delivery so we can support more men in suicidal crisis. The Webb Yates team were very helpful throughout the process, kept us updated and arranged the survey and subsequent report very promptly. We are very grateful for their support. We are also very grateful for the support we received from LandAid’s support brokering service and would like to pass on our thanks to the team.’
LandAid’s Pro Bono Programme is supported by four founding partners, without whom the delivery of support could not run. They are Newcore Capital, Savills, JLL and CBRE. The charity is grateful for all of the financial and practical aid with running the programme, and to its campaign partner, Nuveen.
Paul Morrish, LandAid CEO said: ‘I am very proud and inspired by the progress we have made with our Pro Bono Programme over the last year. We work with some brilliant property partners across the industry with a multitude of different skills. These skills hold considerable value to not-for-profit organisations. Where both these skills and time are connected with those who need it most, we see wonderful things happen. It has a huge impact on the work and ability of charities in supporting the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in communities across the UK. A huge thank you to the property industry!’
Next year LandAid hopes to raise the bar even further, setting a target to broker £1million worth of free support per year, by 2024.
To find out more about the LandAid Pro Bono Programme and to get involved please see below.
For property companies to sign-up to receive notifications about new pro bono requests
For charities to submit requests for support
To see all current live requests
Or contact Gareth Pettit, Pro Bono Programme Manager at gareth.pettit@landaid.org