Our
communities

Our commitments

We are committed to:

• creating bespoke training and upskilling opportunities for all employees, apprentices and work placements delivering our projects
• building on our new Warmstart initiative started in 2021 to create more opportunities for young people and more senior candidates reskilling into our industry
• working closely with partners to support our communities with tailored approaches that suit their needs and leave a real and lasting legacy
• building a network of trusted organisations that can support one another through close collaboration with our key partners and our supply chain
• delivering real added value and maximising community benefits where we can. We do this through providing additional support funds or services for our vulnerable customers, mentoring young people and fundraising for our annual charity of choice
• using a transparent reporting system that shows what we do and deliver through an agreed strategy, action plan and key performance indicators to which both Warmworks and our supply chain work

What we’ve achieved

Our commitment to our communities is about delivering real added value, with approaches tailored to their needs that leave a real, lasting legacy. Here are some of the ways we have achieved that since Warmworks was established in 2015.  We have: 

• delivered over 3,000 new training opportunities in specialisms including renewable energy, first aid, customer service leadership and management, in communities and businesses across Scotland, from Shetland to Selkirk
• created or supported over 700 new jobs, allowing local businesses to grow, and delivering benefits to local economies
• created or sustained over 150 apprenticeships, enabling and shaping a workforce to ensure the legacy of the schemes we deliver can benefit local communities for years to come
• provided over 130 work placement opportunities including mentoring young people through our partnership with MCR Pathways, ensuring that future talent is honed and developed within the industry
• employed more than 10 graduates, supporting them to develop their skills, while pursuing or building on their academic qualifications 

Our partnership with the Trussell Trust and Food Banks 

In 2018, our staff chose the Trussell Trust and Food Banks as our charity of choice and we have developed this partnership since that time. Our fundraising efforts aimed at supporting the Trussell Trust’s vital services have seen us undertaking activities including scaling Munros across Scotland, relays as part of the Trussell Trust’s Race for Hunger, Christmas collections and other personal challenges. In addition, we have donated to the Trussell Trust’s food bank locations across Scotland. 

Warmworks will match funds raised annually to support the charity and the food banks with which we work. You can support our fundraising by donating here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ww-tt-1

Our wider community work

Since Warmworks was established in 2015, we have undertaken a number of staff initiatives that have raised funds for charities across the country. 

Our supply chain companies also deliver a range of wider benefits for their local communities, including through sponsorship of local sports clubs, supporting charitable causes, providing free heating systems for local sports facilities and many more.  We have worked in partnership with MCR Pathways to support a number of young people with face-to-face and virtual mentoring in schools in Glasgow and Edinburgh. We have also participated in several related educational activities aimed at developing the workforce of the future.

We recognise the importance of fire safety in the home and the links with fuel poverty. So,  we have teamed up with Home Energy Scotland and the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service to work more closely together, supporting the referral of vulnerable households for fire safety audits and energy advice and improvements.

Sustainability

Building on our certified Environmental Management System to the ISO:14001 international standard, Warmworks has established an internal Green Team that helps improve carbon emissions from our energy, transport and waste. We were recently recertified as a  carbon neutral business after a thorough assessment from the Carbon Trust, in line with the internationally recognised specification for carbon neutrality – PAS 2060. You can read more in the blog here.

For us, it’s not enough to rely on the outputs of our work as benefiting the environment – we aim to go even further. We aim to lead by example by reducing our own environmental impact at source, while continuing to set the bar high when it comes to delivering a high-quality, first-class service. That’s why we have taken several steps across our business to demonstrate our commitment to carbon neutrality. These include reducing the carbon footprint of our vehicles, installing low energy lighting in our offices to cut our use of electricity, and setting up an internal Green Team to monitor the impacts of our activity.  

We ensure our suppliers are taking similar responsibility, and will be seeking ways to help improve their environmental performance from their own operations even further in the years ahead as we move towards net zero.