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Environmental, Social & Governance

We predominantly work in the social housing sector because our team believes passionately that everyone deserves to live in quality homes in great communities. Delivering social value is really important to us and we are always keen to focus on this.

We care about the people we work with and the environments we work in – we will be supportive, treating everyone with respect and empathy.

Here are some of the ways we demonstrate social value:

  • We are measuring our carbon footprint, supported by Energy Saving Trust, through the implementation of their Measure carbon reduction planning tool, and we are developing our strategy to become net zero.
  • We will roll out Carbon Literacy training for our whole team.
  • We support a variety of charitable causes. In the last 3 years, we have raised almost £5,000 for Shelter, Shelter Cymru and the Trussell Trust through our annual team walking challenges. We have also donated to causes such as Black Country Talent Match and St Basils.
  • We are a leading provider of assistance on social investment and social enterprise. ARK has experience in measuring the impact and social return on investment of training and intervention activity using the HACT methodology. For example, our work with Liverpool City Region Talent Match Plus where we assessed the outcomes in relation to skills, employment, life circumstances and future prospects.
  • A local social enterprise provides cleaning services for our offices.
  • We support local – our team will support local businesses wherever they are working to give back to the local economy, wherever possible.
  • We have a strong relationship with a local university, for whom we facilitate MBA internships. We have supported a total of six interims to date.
  • In its wider role, ARK provides business management services to CHIC (Communities and Housing Investment Consortium). CHIC is a consortium of housing associations and local authorities with an overarching aim to secure efficiencies and savings for members through their asset management activities.
  • The charitable arm of CHIC (CHIP) focuses on social return on investment. We ensure that employment and skills opportunities within the consortium are maximised with a focus on creating new jobs, training, up-skilling, and new entrant/apprenticeship opportunities.