Aileen McDonnell : B4Box Ltd
What is B4Box Ltd all about?
B4box is a construction company delivering standard construction services. Mainly house repair/renovation and refurbishment to excellent price, quality and time standards. The company guarantee that 80% of the workforce is recruited from people on benefits, local to the work. Once recruited, they are trained to a high standard. The building work is primarily from public contracts and the clients choose B4box because they guarantee to assist with the local economy by employing unemployed residents. B4box expects and achieves productivity from day one. The trainees include people distant from the labour market- women, disabled people, ex-offenders and older workers.
What is the social impact?
B4’s model addresses resident unemployment, use of local supply chains, and "home grows" future repair and construction skills for the local area. B4Box guarantees that all staff on their construction sites will live within a 5-mile radius of the site. This promotes local pride, a sense of ownership, low theft, low vandalism, and low Carbon. To date all B4 trainees have permanent employment. Every pound spent on Construction with B4box produces 2-8 pounds additional economic benefit.
Who are the people involved?
Aileen McDonnell is a housing/construction professional with 25 years experience in UK housing/construction/social enterprise, as a CEO and Consultant. She founded B4box in 2008 to use her experience to maximise construction spend for the benefit of her local community. As the reputation of the business grew so did the demand from around the UK. Recognising the market opportunity Aileen gathered political, and Industry support to expand her vision. The management team led by Aileen includes a Non executive director, Financial Controller, Construction Manager, 5 Supervisors and 2 Administrators.
What are the future plans?
There is a skills shortage of 750,000 in the construction Industry, and over 2.5million people unemployed in the UK. Many major public contracts do not employ or train local labour; meaning funds, which could help local regeneration, are taken away to more affluent areas. B4Box intend to refine their business, to create a transferrable template, and a national model. Demand for B4box is coming from Local Authorities, Housing Providers and large construction companies.
www.B4box.co.uk based in Manchester.