British Land - Bright Lights Programme
The Launch Group is a proud partner of British Lands Bright Lights programme. TLG has delivered the Bright Lights programme since 2018 across multiple British Land locations.
What is the Bright Lights Programme?
British Lands supports local training and jobs through Bright Lights, a skills and employment programme, working with customers, suppliers and local partners. Together, we develop skills and empower local people to access opportunities at British Lands places and in our supply chain.
Depending on the place-based situation, employment activities may prioritise youth opportunities, adult skills, long-term jobseekers or other groups. Initiatives include pre-employment training, virtual programmes, mentoring, work placements, graduate schemes, internships and apprenticeships. This all helps secure the skills our business, customers, suppliers and communities need to thrive in the future.
Goal
Impactful employment partnerships, benefiting over 10,000 people with meaningful support by 2030.
Progress
Over 2,150 people have benefited from our employment partnerships since 2021, with more than 700 successfully securing jobs. Through our robust approach to reporting, we only count people who receive meaningful – that is, potentially life-enhancing – employment support. Many more individuals enrol or engage in other employment activities at our places, such as job fairs.
Adapting employment programmes for different communities
David Cooke of The Launch Group:
“We work with British Land to run employability programmes that give local residents the skills to land sustainable jobs, including ring-fenced opportunities with businesses at British Land’s places. Since we’ve began delivering the Bright Lights programme, we’ve engaged many residents local to their respective British Land site, providing employability training and one-to-one support. This has resulted in participants gaining employment in a range of sectors.
At every site, we connect with British Land’s local partners, from small community organisations to council-led employment services. This helps us identify the local people who need the programmes most. There’s good communication with British Land’s site teams too, so we understand local needs better. Together, we analyse the programme and adapt it to be as strong as possible for different communities.”
Boosting social mobility at Paddington Central
Fusnara Begum of Paddington Central:
“Local people can provide a huge amount to a company in terms of local knowledge, strong community ties and language skills. It’s been incredible to be part of participants’ journeys through our programme, as they grow in confidence and secure employment. When you change a person’s life in this way, it boosts social mobility. We couldn’t do this without our local partners – collaboration is key.
At the heart of our communities – Meadowhall
Darren Pearce, Centre Director at Meadowhall:
“There are huge opportunities at Meadowhall, but some people need additional help to build their confidence and skills so they can take up those opportunities. Working with local partners on employment support programmes, we cut down the barriers that prevent people from accessing the job market. This makes a huge difference to people’s lives, health and wellbeing. Promoting employment opportunities through our communities is one of the highest things on our agenda at the moment, together with Covid safety. To maintain the strength of our offer and the Centre’s high customer satisfaction scores, we need great people; and in this challenging period of history, it’s essential that organisations like Meadowhall – which are at the heart of our communities – connect and support people for their wider wellbeing.”
Abdullah - London
The Bright Lights programme was fantastically delivered by Francesca. During the course of the two weeks, I have learnt so much about general employability skills and more specific areas with regards to the three sectors we have been focusing on. Francesca gave a lot of information about communication, customer service, team work, employers and the employee, CVs and interviews. There were interactive sessions; Francesca drew a lot on her expertise, giving general and individual advice suited to us and answering our various questions. Polite and friendly in her personality, but professional in her teaching. She was the key to making this course really work and I believe she has definitely been more than successful in doing so. The whole experience was educational as well as enjoyable. I have benefited and taken away a lot from it. Finally, I highly recommend this programme and think it was worth the two weeks with the three days’ work experience and subsequent guaranteed interviews at the end of the course.
