Octavius’ annual Leaving a Legacy initiative is this year focused on Weston-super-Mare’s Bournville area. While the company adheres to firm social value targets in all of its projects, Leaving a Legacy takes this to the next level by channelling significant resources into a project that will create meaningful, lasting improvements for a community in which the company is working.
Leaving a Legacy’s contribution was a package of practical projects which enhanced the physical fabric of some of the area’s principal community resources:
- Rejuvenating community spaces and renovating the playground at the For All Healthy Living Centre
- Renovating the Great Rhyne Garden Allotments communal space through the installation of a fire pit, walkways and raised beds
- Developing community allotments in Coleridge Road by clearing land and building a shed
- Enhancing planters with plants to be used in Design & Technology classes and to enliven Windwhistle Primary Schools garden areas and paint to renovate Cadbury Gardens
The projects were delivered over the course of four weeks, in partnership with social housing provider Alliance Homes, the For All Healthy Living Centre and Windwhistle Primary School. Between Octavius, the partners and Octavius’ supply chain, the initiative mustered an army of 85 volunteers to do the work, who collectively contributed 990 volunteering hours – including professional services hours. Their hard work was supported and enabled by £18,000 in donations from Octavius, Little Wood Group, Ramboll, Travis Perkins, Speedy Services, Welfare Hire and Adey Steel. Together £40,000 of social value has been delivered to date.
Although the formal Leaving a Legacy period has ended, the Winterstoke Bridge project team remains committed to supporting the local community and is continuing to build on the relationships and opportunities created through the initiative. As a result, further activity and outcomes are expected, and the figures reported to date do not represent the final impact of the initiative.
Leaving a Legacy, is one part of Octavius’ much broader commitment to the communities in which the company works. Octavius has set itself the target of delivering social value equivalent to 30 percent of turnover, which it has exceeded for the last two years. More than £116 million of social value was created in the financial year 2025 – 2026. Octavius uses the Impact Evaluation Standard to set the framework for our social value plan, we record and measure social value using the Thrive social value platform.