Marlborough Highways has teamed up with the fantastic charities Smart Works and Suited & Booted to donate over 100 items of professional work wear, which will be worn by under privileged people in search of employment. The clothing drive forms part of Marlborough’s commitment to playing a meaningful role in the communities that it serves and is the latest initiative to be promoted by the company’s dedicated social value team.

Marlborough had a fantastic response to its request for donations of men’s and women’s clothing from its staff. 114 items were received over a one-month period, with an estimated value of £2,675. The work wear consisted of formal trousers, blazers & jackets, shoes, dresses, bags, scarves, belts, cufflinks, coats and more, with collection points at Marlborough’s Chelmsford, Brentwood, Southend-on-Sea and London offices.

Nula Krawczynski, Marlborough’s dedicated Social Value Coordinator, delivered the donated items in a fully electric company vehicle to the offices of Smart Works in Islington and to Suited & Booted in the City of London. Both organisations help vulnerable people seeking work by providing them with interview ready outfits and by offering them valuable career guidance and advice. While Smart Works supports women, Suited & Booted assist men that are either unemployed or on a low-income.

Marlborough is a dynamic civil engineering company that specialises in highways maintenance, traffic management and infrastructure projects. The organisation is responsible for maintaining and improving many of the roads in London and the South East, and is regularly involved in initiatives that seek to improve the urban environment and to better the lives of residents in the communities that it serves.

Isabel Duce, Senior Partnerships & Development Manager at Smart Works said “‘Smart Works is a community dedicated to supporting and empowering unemployed women through the transformational power of coaching and clothing. This is in part thanks to our corporate partners who kindly support us with clothing donations throughout the year. We have ambitious plans to grow our service and double the number of women we help, reaching 10,000 per year by 2025. The help of Marlborough Highways will play an important part in allowing us to achieve this.”

Nula Krawczynski added “We had the best day delivering the clothes donated by the wonderful Marlborough employees. Smart Works and Suited & Booted are two brilliant charities, both helping people into employment by providing them with professional workwear for their job interviews. It was great to meet the teams and volunteers at both organisations and to see the fantastic work that takes place behind the scenes.”

(Pictured: Nula Krawczynski and Tom Johnson at the offices of Suited & Booted)