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Canary Wharf: How volunteering for the Green Scheme can help fight food poverty

Canary Wharf Group and The Felix Project launch long-term partnership to get food to those in need

Canary Wharf Group and The Felix Project have teamed up to battle food waste and feed those in need

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Volunteers needed…

That’s the simple message from Canary Wharf Group (CWG) as it officially launches a long-term partnership with The Felix Project – a charity that rescues surplus food and distributes it to vulnerable people through front line organisations, schools and community initiatives.

Together they have unveiled the Green Scheme – an ambitious project to provide more than 1,000 meals a week through around 10 local organisations, saving some 500kg of food that would otherwise have gone to waste. 

To achieve that, they are  looking to recruit as many as 1,500 people to ensure food is collected from retailers, restaurants and office kitchens on the Canary Wharf estate before transporting it to where it needs to go.

“What CWG is looking to achieve is really more than just having a positive impact in the buildings on the estate,” said Jane Hollinshead, managing director of people, culture and customer service at Canary Wharf Group. 

“It’s about how we fit into the wider ecosystem in terms of being a responsible business. 

“We’d had some conversations with The Felix Project about just doing some simple volunteering – that was really a corporate social responsibility thing.

“But this was at the time when the cost of living was really beginning to spiral out of control and there were huge issues around food waste, so I went over to see their warehouse in Poplar and it struck me what a natural partner Felix would be for all of the things that we. as an organisation. value.

Flash Back: How The Felix Project arrived in Poplar

“I thought that if we were to create something more strategic with them, then the reach we would get through their operations would be exponentially greater than if we were doing things on our own.

“From their side, our position as a landlord opens up opportunities for Felix because they are able to meet our customers, many of whom have surplus food at the end of the day – whether they are retailers or restaurants in offices. 

“It’s a really symbiotic partnership – we both bring things to further each other’s purposes.”

While CWG and Felix are still exploring the full extent of what may be possible through their collaboration, the Green Scheme is the immediate priority.

Retailers including M&S, Joe Blake’s and Waitrose have already signed up, with support also coming from the likes of Morgan Stanley and Barclays.

From left, Canary Wharf Group CEO Shobi Khan, The Felix Project CEO Charlotte Hill and CWG managing director of people, culture and customer service
>> “Our purpose is to bring people together to enhance lives now and in the future,” said Canary Wharf Group CEO, Shobi Khan. “Through partnerships like this, we aim to ensure Canary Wharf is more than just a place to live or work, but a place where you can be connected to the local community and can have a positive social impact.


“The business community at Canary Wharf has a big part to play in making The Felix Project a success and indeed some of our local companies are already on board, including Morgan Stanley and Barclays. 

“With such a concentration of retail and office businesses on the estate, a key part of our role as partner will be to introduce the charity to our wider community and bring the scale that’s needed to have a real, lasting effect on local people’s lives. 

“We have so many people who can play their part, whether they work, live or regularly visit here – I urge anyone willing to spare a couple of hours to sign up to volunteer and help us get surplus food to those who need it most.”

The partners are now keen to attract more businesses and, crucially, volunteers to drive the project forward.

“For the Green Scheme, we will act as the hub,” said Jane.

“That makes sense because we can keep the food fresh on the estate and then get it out faster than if it were sent to a warehouse first. 

“It’s also about bringing the individual volunteers out to the organisations that we and Felix are supporting.

“What happens is that the food is collected from the retailer or office restaurant by the volunteer who then delivers it. 

“We wanted that to be done in a sustainable way so it will be either on foot, by bike or via a dedicated electric van that we’ll charge up in our car parks.

“We are looking for anyone at all to volunteer for the Green Scheme – you might work or live in or near the Canary Wharf estate, or be a visitor.

“There are no boundaries when it comes to this kind of activity and we see it as a really good way to build relationships with the local community.

“We want as many people to help as possible – all volunteers have to do is to pass a health and safety induction and be able to carry a takeaway delivery service-style rucksack.”

CWG is clear. This latest initiative is very much looking beyond the borders of the estate in a bid to get as much of the community involved as possible.

Charlotte and Shobi load the dedicated electric van with surplus food
>> “In the UK, 4.7million people are struggling with the cost of food,” said Charlotte Hill, CEO of The Felix Project. “This is an issue we cannot afford to ignore and the situation is critical as the cost-of-living crisis intensifies. Many Londoners are trying to feed themselves on less than £3 a day.



“We’re thrilled to partner with Canary Wharf Group as they’re in the unique position to be able to convene the hundreds of businesses, retailers, employees and residents on the Estate to tackle this issue together, meaning we’ll have a much greater social impact than we would otherwise. 

“They have the access and logistics that we need to make the scheme a success at a time when the need is so high, and are committed to the same long-lasting, sustainable and meaningful change that we built our charity for.”  

“I think the benefit from the volunteers’ perspective is that they will be achieving something that’s meaningful,” said Jane. 

“That comes back to what I increasingly see from our own employees and customers. 

“When people come to their workplace, they want to feel they are doing something that really has value.

“When you have this huge cost of living crisis and you have in-work poverty – people who are relying on food banks even though they have jobs – then a partnership like this fulfils a purpose that is twofold. 

“Firstly, it’s reducing food waste, because there is so much that would otherwise be thrown away. 

“Secondly, because of the significant challenges the UK has faced over the last few years, food poverty is also coming through as an immediate crisis.

“The next generation particularly want to feel that they work for organisations that share their values. Part of that is having an impact in the community and a strategy for that.

“Here we are delivering something that works for our people and has benefits for CWG and our customers but also for the Felix Project and all the people and organisations it helps.”

While the Green Scheme itself is an ambitious project, Jane said it only represented the start of the collaboration between Felix and CWG – something that would grow in the months and years to come.

Volunteers will deliver food direct from Canary Wharf to the organisations supported by the Green Scheme

“We want to see how we can use the assets that we have as an organisation and explore how else we can help the charity,” she said.

“We’re looking at working with our office clients to see whether we can help them create a more diverse group of volunteers down at the Poplar depot.

“We’re talking to Morgan Stanley – which has a very effective volunteering strategy – about how that best practice can be shared.

“We’re also investigating how we can encourage people who are experts in their particular sector such as sustainability or professional services to volunteer their time to help the organisation.

“There’s a contribution of expertise, so it’s not just about the Green Scheme. It’s really about sharing knowledge and asking how we can involve our supply chain. 

“Can we make use of small businesses locally to help them deliver what they are doing, for example?

“The partnership is very much about setting out our stall to the outside world as an organisation – what our values are and what we stand for.”

Those interested in volunteering with the Green Scheme should sign up online to find out full details of the project.

Read more: How Padium is set to bring padel tennis to Canary Wharf’s Bank Street

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
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Canary Wharf: How Canary Wharf Group’s Junior Board works to shape estate’s future

Initiative provides a forum for idea generation, communication across the business and mentoring

Canary Wharf Group's Junior Board
Canary Wharf Group’s Junior Board

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Canary Wharf has been in a constant state of evolution since it was created.

The mix of companies on the estate has changed with financial services and media giants joined by technology firms and an increasing number of organisations working in healthcare and life sciences.

It’s become a place to live too, with homes made available for both private sale and to rent at Wood Wharf and more residential expected at North Quay, Canary Wharf Group’s next major phase of development adjacent to its east London heartland.

Alongside these changes, the company that oversees the estate is also embracing the future, increasingly looking to younger staff to ensure it’s heading in the right direction.

Given the timescales involved in development, it makes sense to consult the people those future phases of regeneration are aimed at and to make certain the existing estate is on point to attract people of all ages.

To that end, Canary Wharf Group appointed a Junior Board in January to generate ideas, serve as a sounding board for the company’s leaders and help shape the future of the business.

Originally 13 – now 11 due to a couple of departures – for nearly eight months, it’s been doing just that, so I sat down with recently elected chair Julie Dang and board member Dan Pereira to find out more. 

Canary Wharf Group Junior Board chair Julie Dang

who are you, what do you do?

Julie: I work in the corporate social responsibility department as a programme coordinator and I’ve been in the company for about five years. I work to engage with our stakeholders, with young people and schools, to help them with their career aspirations and future employment.

We’ve run job fairs, insight days, where we invite people into the business and get our staff volunteers involved, to tell the young people what their jobs are, how they got to where they are now and what they actually do.

Dan: I work in the IT department as an infrastructure supervisor, helping look after Wi-fi, satellite, phones and TV across the estate, for the tenants in the buildings, the restaurants and the retailers. 

I used to be an electrician here working day and night shifts – a different world to 8am-5pm.

That means I can help people understand that you can come from that background to a role like this. My background benefits me because I can collaborate with people on the ground.

why apply for the junior board?

Dan: When I was working shifts, I kept coming up with all these ideas, but had no-one to share them with.

I’d see things in the malls, listen to people’s conversations and wonder what I could do with them.

That’s why I applied – I thought it would be good to have someone on it from a maintenance background. 

I didn’t tell a soul because I was scared what people might think of somebody in my position applying for something like that. It’s turned out pretty well.

Julie: I was the opposite, I wasn’t going to apply at all because I thought I wasn’t good enough, but I talked to one of my mentors who thought I was.

So I applied because my role is all about raising others’ confidence and trying to improve the lives of stakeholders and employees.

what are the board’s ambitions?

Julie: After many discussions, we decided to focus on three main areas – pay and progression, how to improve internal culture and collaboration in the business and how to change external perceptions of Canary Wharf and Canary Wharf Group, which is very important to us. 

Within those areas there are different projects, such as the introduction of ‘coffee roulette’ where two people working for the business meet for half an hour and get to know each other. 

Dan: I’ve been on a couple already with people from the legal and construction departments and it’s amazing – a chance to understand what people do in different areas of the business.

Julie: Building relationships is so important for an organisation and this aligns with one of the company’s values, which is cooperation.

I met someone from the residential sales team and went on a tour of One Park Drive in Wood Wharf, which I hadn’t seen before. Half an hour wasn’t enough so we’ve put another date in the diary.

Canary Wharf Group Junior Board member Dan Pereira
Canary Wharf Group Junior Board member Dan Pereira

what’s the benefit to the business?

Julie: I think the biggest thing is the culture change. Not a lot of companies have a junior board but it means that decisions are not just top-down.

The management board come and ask us if they’re doing things in the right way. 

It’s being taken seriously. We’re each paired with a member of the board and reverse-mentor them on a regular basis.

Dan: We rotate after six sessions, which means we get someone different and that means new opportunities to learn.

At the moment I meet the CEO – Shobi Khan – once a month. He’s kept every appointment and we discuss things that need improving and I give him my opinion.

We go on walks, which means everyone knows who I am now, and he gets a different understanding from me. 

I try to be completely honest – if he says something I don’t agree with I’ll say so and there are things I mention to him that he won’t have heard about before.

For example, I took him down to my old mess room underground and he’s looking at relocating those facilities so managers and engineers can work more easily together.

That’s given me a sense of confidence that I can talk to anybody. Being able to spend an hour with the CEO and feel comfortable puts you in a good position.

Before joining the board I hardly spoke to anybody and kept myself to myself.

Julie: For me it’s been a chance to learn about other areas of the company, understand the issues they face and what could be done differently.

I’m paired with Alastair Mullens who is head of Canary Wharf’s build-to-rent business Vertus and he’s a  very inspiring person.

how do you want to change the perception of Canary Wharf?

Dan: We want to make sure people know it’s available for everybody, not just those in suits.

We want families and tourists to visit, for it to be seen as a great place to come, with so much to do. You don’t have to spend money here – you can come here with nothing and still have a great day out. 

There are parks and great views.My favourite thing is to watch the sunset at Canary Riverside. I take my camera and it’s great.

We want people to feel they’re welcome. I recently spoke to some school kids, and I asked them if they could see themselves working at Canary Wharf, and they said they would need a degree – but I was able to tell them that’s not true, it’s not the route I took.

Julie: We want to emphasise that there are lots of arts and events here that are free. We’ve got the largest public art collection in the UK.

One of my favourite places is Crossrail Place Roof Garden, which is really cool in the summer – you can relax and enjoy the scenery.

As members of the Junior Board we can contribute to how this place develops.

For me, there are two areas we should focus on – ensuring Canary Wharf is inclusive, that there are people working here and visiting from different backgrounds and I think we are already well on our way there.

I also want to see more competitive socialising in the retail element of the estate.

Dan: I think Canary Wharf Group needs to keep doing what it’s doing at the moment – adding more things to make the estate better.

We have lots of open green spaces and now there’s the option to go open water swimming in Middle Dock too.

Read more: Discover newly-opened M restaurant in Canary Wharf

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
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