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Amanda spent the day volunteering at one of Wheatley’s retirement homes in Edinburgh in the company of residents and staff of the complex.

With the help of volunteers, the day involved carrying out a variety of different activities to improve the communal areas by planting a range of flowers, pressure washing surfaces, removing litter and weeds and tidying up the garden in preparation for the better weather coming in.

The Quarries is a retirement home in Gilmerton, Edinburgh for adults aged 55 and older with the variety of amenities available it encourages residents to live independently for as long as possible. The complex features 58 one-bedroom flats each with its own living room, kitchen and bathroom. Including a range of communal facilities such as a lounge, laundry and courtyard.

Each SPA team member is allocated 1.5 days to use for personal volunteering. An additional day is allocated for team volunteering. This allocation is refreshed annually and helps our team get out into local areas and get stuck into community-orientated activities supporting housing associations, local authorities, charities and community groups.

The allocated volunteering days form part of our 3-year Social Value Strategy that was published in late 2024. It demonstrates our commitment to social value encompassing three fundamental areas that build on the progress of community development and transformation.

The three impact areas cover our commitment to embedding and measuring social value across our frameworks, our community benefit fund and the local impact from allocating time for our team to help out in the community to contribute time to help meaningful activities.

Download our Social Value Strategy here https://bit.ly/4a4A7X4