How Centre:mk worked with a charitable tenant to make an impact in the community
Whilst charitable causes and non-profits are often found in retail centres across the country, it’s rare that they ever take centre stage.
However at Centre:mk in Milton Keynes, a new initiative saw the scheme dedicate mall space, time, and personnel to a local charity focused on raising awareness and donations for those trying to get back into work.
At the end of June, the shopping centre held a three-day event in partnership with local charity partner Works For Us (part of Citizens Advice), which aims to help disadvantaged people get back to work with employment assistance and digital training.
The charity’s headquarters – which is based within the shopping centre’s management suite – promotes social inclusion by helping people to make informed choices about employment and training needs, providing them with a pathway to paid or better paid work. Works For Us enables people to access vocational guidance, training, and volunteering, helping them raise their skill levels, qualifications, motivation, and confidence to help them to compete more effectively in the labour market.
Running from 28-30 June, the ‘Retire Your Attire’ event saw local residents and workers donate over 400 items of clothing to help those in need.
Kelly Murdoch, team manager at Works For Us, said the event played a “crucial role” in collecting professional clothes donations, helping people to present themselves confidently at interviews.
“We have a lot of people that come and use the service, many of which are long-term unemployed, have been made redundant, may not have English as their first language, or homeless, and when you’ve not got the means to present yourself effectively at interviews it can be a real hurdle”, she added, “so the clothes donations can be really helpful.”
She works closely with Stephanie Glendinning, retail relations manager at Centre:mk, who said the idea arose during one of the pair’s regular catch-up conversations:
“Kelly mentioned to me that they were struggling for donations for the work wardrobe, so we had a little bit of a brainstorm and I thought, why don’t we give you some mall space?
“We worked really collaboratively. We planned the event, set up the area on the mall and provided any equipment that they needed to facilitate. We also liberated some fixtures from some of the retailers all of whom were really supportive.”
Stephanie Glendinning (left) and Kelly Murdoch
Many retailers within the centre took part in the event, donating excess clothing such as suits for people to use in job interviews. One suit and workwear retailer – which has a local warehouse – is now working with its distribution centre to put unwanted stock into a donation box.
“We pride ourselves on our relationships with all of our strategic partners and not just our retailers. We organised it, executed it, and ensured there was effective communication to our visitors ensuring they were involved. The quality and volume of donations were beyond expectation”, said Glendinning.
She added that the scheme opted to host the event during June, not only a busy month, but also choosing a pay weekend to take advantage of the regional footfall.
Glendinning said that while the initiative provided benefits to people who use Works For Us’ services, it also proved valuable to Centre:mk itself:
“It perfectly aligns with our ESG strategy”, she said, “supporting the charity and community organisations fits with this whole circular economy that we have at the moment with reused, recycled, and preloved clothing.”
Opening in 1979 as one of the first buildings in Milton Keynes, Centre:mk was completed as a catalyst for growth of the new town. 45 years on and now with city status, Milton Keynes is one of the fastest growing economies in the UK. Centre:mk, with its location in the middle of the city, is dubbed by Glendinning as “the heart of the city”.
She added; “As a top 10 regional destination, Centre:mk is highly successful and has one of the wealthiest catchments and fastest growing populations in the UK, but in any community there are aspects of deprivation and social anxiety which is a key preventor of social mobility. Initiatives such as this can make a real difference to people’s lives and that matters.”
This was supported by Murdoch, who described centre:mk as “the perfect location” for the Retire Your Attire initiative. Since moving to the scheme, Work For Us’ client base has tripled, she said:
“We’ve been able to support 500-600 people on average a year. It’s still growing because we’ve got a really lovely space, accessible all year round, that we can help support people in and help them feel confident. They also feel secure because it’s private, on the first floor, and it’s a nice, well-presented space.”
Centre:mk
When quizzed on whether Centre:mk and Works For Us would do something similar in the future, both Glendinning and Murdoch were certain the two would work together again on more activations:
“We will do it again next year, we’re looking to try and do it at the same time”, said the former, “and if we can squeeze in another one we absolutely will.”
Works For Us is now set to have a permanent donation box in the centre, allowing people to make contributions all year round.
Committing this many resources to a charitable tenant is unusual for retail assets. For Centre:mk, however, providing Works For Us with this much support has benefits of its own, argues Glendinning:
“The work that Works For Us do is amazing so it’s great for us to get behind it in a different way, not just supporting them with space within the management suite, but also delivering a consumer-facing event that drives participation and showcases to other retailers how they can also support.
“For me, it is really about the social impact that centre:mk as a leading retail destination can deliver. As part of our social value strategy, this supports our Social Value UK accreditation as the only shopping centre in the UK to achieve this.
“Strategically partnering with Work For Us has been a huge success, both for the charity and for us. This is a perfect example of how landlords can creatively utilise back of house office space and develop mall initiatives that inspire the public to get involved and truly make a difference.”