Glasgow: Combining conservation and open space activities with employment

Abstract:

In 1983 the Wise Group was founded as a nonprofit organisation that provides environmental work mainly for the public sector. After the success of energy-related activities the operational basis was extended to the fields of landscaping, recycling and other services in the environmental sector. The Larchgrove group of companies within the Wise Group adopted the same principles of providing unemployed people with training opportunities and real work experience in the environmental sector. These twin goals lay the foundation for the supply of socially useful products and services to the local community. On the one hand they contribute to the regeneration of the city's natural and open spaces, on the other hand they work as a catalyst to 'warm up' the unemployed for future employment in the first labour market. The case was chosen as an example for good practice in urban development for the following reasons:

• integration of natural and open space measures into environmental improvement projects;
• extension of activities to environmental services which are less often available;
• mutual cooperation with institutions from the housing, commercial or tourism sector;
• development of new training opportunities in the environmental sector;
• professional management structure with an umbrella organisation;
• high level of transferability of the organisational model.

Background and Objectives

Landwise's activity focus on environmental improvements to back court areas in peripheral housing estates on behalf of Glasgow City Council. The programme is agreed with the Housing Department and integrated with other Council investment in local area regeneration. Other environmental improvement projects, which are housing, commercial or tourism related, are carried out for major economic institutions like Scottish Homes, the state-funded housing agency, other councils in the West of Scotland or Local Enterprise Companies which are responsible for coordinating training and economic development in defined areas. Very often single projects are developed in partnership with a number of clients. There can also be private sector involvement.

As in all Wise Group activities there is a standard pattern of conducting training and personal development as part of the worker's stay. Most of the vocational training is delivered by qualified trainers at Landwise's premises and is accredited by national agencies. The training is provided for 10 up to 20 weeks depending on match with the participant’s development and service / product delivery. Trainees can choose from training opportunities in the fields of general building operations, amenity horticulture, estate maintenance, business administration, security, catering and food preparation, and working with children in their early years. Other non-certificated vocational training in each of the skill areas supplements the formal training e.g. fork lift truck driving or training in the use of computers. Training takes place as classroom-based theory, practical training at indoor or outdoor facilities at the Larchgrove premises, workplace assessment on site of projects, or - rarely - as training at a college.

Implementation

Project date and status

The Landwise Ltd. branch of the Wise Group was founded in 1987.

Strategy

The diversification of environmental activities soon became a policy strategy of the Wise Group that started its activities in the environmental sector (cp. case study on Heatwise). The planning and restructing of natural and open spaces was chosen as a second source of income. Landwise Ltd. is the biggest undertaking of the nonprofit branch of the Wise Group, consist of Landwise, Treewise and Wise Recycling. This group of companies is sometimes called the Larchgrove group of companies as it is situated in the East End of Glasgow in a former remand home known as Larchgrove. Landwise branch was originally started as a back court refurbishment activity. However, after ten years of operation this core business contributes only 40% of the output as complementary activities have been established, e.g. recycling or opening a horticulture centre, environmental awareness and education training etc.

Activities

On average Landwise works in four sites per year which corresponds to a direct benefit of improved living environment for approximately 1,500 people.

Treewise operates its own programme of intermediate labour markets in creating an urban forest around the periphery of Glasgow as well as community woodland throughout the West of Scotland. Treewise provides training and employment opportunities in forestry for approximately 60 people per year.

Wise Recycling is engaged in the collection of glass and other materials including aluminium and Tetrapak cartons for recycling. However, current British waste policy does not offer the framework for wide-scale recycling activities and, therefore, no training is available in this sector.

Franchise activities of the Wise Group have been started in the 1990s. Rosswise, in Ross and Cromarty, was the first precursor in Scotland. In England the first branch was Newham in the London area, officially England's most deprived area. As the new Labour government is a keen supporter of the Wise Group model it is likely that further franchises will take place in England. So far the activities have mainly concentrated on Scotland due to different financial arrangements in labour market policies.

Partners

Besides the main customer, Glasgow City Council, Landwise's activities are carried out for Scottish Homes (the state-funded housing agency), other councils in the West of Scotland, and the Local Enterprise Companies, who are responsible for the coordination of training and economic development activities in defined areas. Often single projects are developed in partnership with various clients which can also include private money.

Financing and resources used

As Landwise Ltd. has put into practice diversification of activities it is able to attract funds from a greater number of sources. The training-related funds from the European Social Fund and UK government training money is matched with project-related sources as follows:

Sources of funding for Landwise Ltd.

Source: Alice Fox (business development manager at Landwise Ltd.)

Break-down of costs for Landwise Ltd.

Source: Alice Fox (business development manager at Landwise Ltd.)

Results and impacts

In 1996 the Larchgrove group of companies employed 75 full-time permanent staff and offered another 250 transitional places for people who had been unemployed for at least six months. In total, 480 participants entered or left Landwise Ltd. in 1996. In 1996 the Wise Group as a whole employed 1065 people and is among the top 50 employers in the city of Glasgow.

For 1996 the environment-related figures for the Larchgrove group of companies had the following ecological balance: Landwise completed 127 back courts which led to benefits for 485 households. Treewise planted 105,050 trees on 25.1 hectares, and Wise Recycling collected 2,538 tonnes of glass.

Barriers and conflicts

An important factor in Landwise Ltd.'s financial planning is the great dependency on funding sponsors as there is only low revenue from commercial activities. Due to the dominance of work in the public sector a lot of networking and lobbying is required in order to sustain the level of activities.

Furthermore, certain activities like recycling have no legislative backing as in other countries. So far local initiatives in this environmental sector remain isolated and there is little environmental impact.

Lessons learned and transferability

As Landwise has steadily developed its activities the training opportunities have also become more diversified and even partnerships to the local economy have been initiated, when Landwise became involved in custom-built training programmes for local growth industries such as packaging and distribution, the service sector, electronics and new technology. The advanced level of training can be regarded as an extra benefit for the long-term unemployed as they thus have access to the latest know- how in the field concerned.

Landwise Ltd.'s ten year record shows some features that can be relevant for similar businesses in the field of activity:

• diversification of the business is an important policy element in order to attract a greater number of customers and to strengthen links with the private sector;
• extension of training opportunities improves trainees' chances of gaining more transferable skills;
• the Wise Group model is easily transferable to other municipalities and rural areas.

Source of Information

EA.UE (ed.) 1997: Job creation in the environmental sector. Local employment initiatives in Europe, Berlin

Jacobs, Michael 1994: Green Jobs? The Employment Implications of Environmental Policy. A report for WWF. CAG Consultants, London

Merseyside European Liaison Unit (ed.) 1996: The Promotion of new Employment Initiatives in the Context of a Regional Development Strategy. A Challenge for Industrial and Urban Regions in France, the UK and Germany, Exchange of Experience Project October 1996, Liverpool

Schmid, Günther / Auer, Peter 1998: Transitional Labour Markets: Concept and Examples in Europe, in: EA.UE (ed.), New Institutional Arrangements in the Labour Market. Berlin

Sinclair, Alain 1992: Social Integration and Creation of Urban Activities, in: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, (ed.) 1992: The Improvement of the Built Environment and Social Integration in Cities, Dublin, pp. 221-227

Sprenger, Rolf-Ulrich 1997: Policy background paper on 'Environment and Employment' for the European Conference on 'Environment and Employment' in May 1997, Brussels

The Wise Group 1995: Annual Review 1994, Glasgow

The Wise Group 1996: Annual Review 1995, Glasgow

The Wise Group 1997: People Work. Annual Review 1996, Glasgow

Contact:

Cities:

Glasgow :

Glasgow is Scotland's largest urban centre. It has a long standing role as an industrial and commercial centre and has the infrastructure necessary to support its role as a significant European city. Glasgow has an international airport, is a hub of the national road and rail network, has a significant concentration of higher education institutions and substantial assets in the leisure, entertainment and tourism industry. The city has five institutions of higher education, 45 research institutions and 11 colleges of further education with around 105,000 students and £ 53 million of basic and near-market research, some 36 % of the Scottish total. Glasgow is also of significance in the TV and media industry some of which have their headquarters based there.

The city’s role is crucially important to the Scottish economy: Glasgow provides 18 % of the employment, 20 % of Scotland’s service sector employment and 25 % of jobs in the growing business services sector. The city maintains 14 % of its employment and gross value added in manufacturing, with key activities in food and drink, non-motor vehicle and instrument engineering.

Population:

Project was added at 27.02.1998
Project was changed at 27.02.1998

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