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Corporate Citizen
We believe that responsible investment is key to fulfilling our purpose to foster sustainable development of new infrastructure. By managing sustainability risks and considerations throughout the investment cycle, we can create shared value for our stakeholders. We approach these risks to both minimise the downside as well as maximise the opportunities associated with these investments, with our ambition to improve the lives of communities around the world as we invest in infrastructure projects which respond to public needs.
COVID Communities Response Fund
At John Laing, aligned to our purpose of delivering value to all stakeholders, we support charitable initiatives targeting the communities in which we live and work. Throughout 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was at the forefront of our charitable giving. We identified key organisations to support, concentrating our efforts on the consequences of lockdown.
In April 2020, we established the John Laing COVID Communities Response Fund (the ‘Fund’) to target organisations based on four pillars of need and experiencing increased demand as a result of lockdown as well as a reduced ability to fundraise. Alongside the Fund, we continued to fundraise for other important causes and were fortunate to partner with the John Laing Charitable Trust on a number of initiatives.
The Fund’s donation strategy was focused on four pillars: (i) food poverty, (ii) homelessness, (iii) mental health and (iv) supporting others in need. Under these pillars, John Laing employees selected charities that offered services to groups and communities affected by the far reaching impact of the pandemic. We are delighted to have had the support of the Trust, who donated an additional £210,000 to a number of organisations in receipt of John Laing’s COVID donations.
In response to the pandemic, John Laing pledged £500,000 to a number of organisations, a few of which have been highlighted below:
Food Poverty
“Your offer of support could not come at a more appropriate time, as the latest figures from food banks in the Trussell Trust network show that during April 2020, there was an 89% increase in need for emergency food parcels compared to last year.”
The Trussell Trust, UK
Action Against Hunger delivered over 2,150 nutritional food packages to those vulnerable to food poverty with the help of John Laing’s donation.
Our donation supported over 3,000 people across 50 communities in the Ruta del Cacao region of Colombia.
“The need for food assistance is incredibly high at this moment, as the state unemployment rate has surged over 20%. Thank you so much for your support of Food Forward. Your generosity has made a huge impact!”
Food Forward, Los Angeles
Homelessness
“The generous donation from John Laing will ensure that Rosie’s is able to get back out onto the streets with vans packed with supplies to assist people who are at their most vulnerable. COVID-19 has reinforced social isolation and loneliness for many.”
Rosie’s Friends on the Street
“Your funds will help us to build a new refuge in the west of Melbourne, giving 15-24 year-olds the chance to grow into adult independence.”
Melbourne City Mission
Mental well-being
Our donation was used by Mind to help provide services during the year such as its Coronavirus Information Hub which offered guidance on maintaining mental well-being during the pandemic.
Others in need
“It was amazing to see how fast you acted and donated laptops for our children... Because of your help we are in more frequent contact with our children and also their regular school education got a boost because they are in the possession of a laptop now.”
Barnardo’s estimated an increase of approximately 30% in the registration of young carers to their services in 2020.
John Laing’s donation enabled Barnardo’s to recruit a new case worker for their Young Carers group in Lancaster.
We are an investor in Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, one of the largest children’s hospitals in Europe.
We participated in their COVID-19 appeal to fund a 24-hour counselling and support service for all Alder Hey staff throughout the pandemic.
Working with our partners
We are pleased to have worked closely with our partners and clients to keep critical infrastructure providing essential public services running throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commuter rail
The Sydney Light Rail and Denver Eagle Commuter Rail lines continued to operate during the lockdown allowing essential workers to use these services to travel to work. The rail operations introduced heightened COVID-19 healthy and safety protocols to protect both passengers and staff.
Hospitals
The Royal Adelaide Hospital provides clinical care for approximately 485,000 patients every year. The 800 single-room facility treated COVID-19 patients and provided rooms for those in isolation. Their dedicated clinic and in-house pathology service also processed state-wide diagnostic tests. During the peak of the pandemic their clinic saw on average 200 patients a day.
Alder Hey Children’s Hospital cares for more than 330,000 children and their families every year. As a result of the influx of patients, the hospital also treated adult COVID-19 patients. The hospital educated families on virus prevention through comprehensive guidelines and support hotlines.