Parking in the Community: Marston Holdings, NSL and Social Bite

British Parking Awards 2024

Parking and enforcement services supplier Marston Holdings operates nationwide and is committed to the delivery of social value activities across its business, supporting local communities and national initiatives. The company has, in particular, been concerned about why homelessness continues to grow and can be clearly seen on the streets every day.

Over the past four years Marston has built working relationships with a number of homeless charities and third sector recruiters, helping support those furthest from the job market back into employment. It has worked with organisations including St. Mungo’s, Radical Recruit, Beam and Social Bite.

Social Bite provides the support required from the homeless community to become work ready. It is not simply the case of preparing a candidate for an interview, it is far more than this, a safe and supportive environment in a setting in which everyone can feel socially, emotionally, and physically safe and valued. It creates the framework for personal growth, leading to a more positive mindset. Creating work environments that support our three basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness, benefits both the employer and the employees.

Marston’s work with Social Bite was driven by Vanessa Bartie, HR and payroll manager on the NSL Edinburgh contract and Paolo Orezzi, service director on its Westminster contract.

Bartie says: “A significant catalyst for the Social Bite project was the fact that through our day to day job roles we see the increase in the numbers of individuals sleeping rough on our streets. This is only the tip of the iceberg and there are thousands more individuals with no permanent home either sleeping in hostels, homeless shelters, emergency accommodation or sofa surfing. Without the likes of Social Bite, employers cannot work alone in supporting the homeless community back into work..”

To date, 12 candidates from Social Bite have now joined front line teams at Marston Holdings working on contracts including Edinburgh, Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea.

Marston’s Paolo Orezzi says: “The project shows Marston’s parking teams that the company is doing something practical and proactive to help reduce the high levels of homelessness in our towns and cities. It has also helped to develop the skills of those individuals the company has recruited, none of which had previously worked in parking, but have demonstrated they have the transferable skills we look for such as working in a team, working with customers and working in a sometimes stressful environment. Most importantly, they are streetwise and know what to expect based on their own experiences.”

Further benefits were derived by existing parking teams working on contracts for Edinburgh, Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea. Social Bite played an important role throughout the project by assisting with the recruitment and training of the new employees as well as providing additional ancillary support for those returning back into the workplace. This gave existing staff a personal stake in ensuring the success of this project.

Emma Colgan-Blair, programme co-ordinator at Social Bite, said: “Social Bite and Marston Holdings have been partnering on the Jobs First Programme for two years. Marstons fully embraced the programme there too, engaging their team in training so that line managers can assist employees throughout their journey. We’ve always found Marstons to be non-judgmental, compassionate and committed to helping people succeed.

“To date 12 people have been supported into employment with Marstons and there are five people currently in active roles. We have seen employees continue to thrive with Marstons once the programme has finished: some people have received promotions, others have become financially stable, and many have begun to build the lives they want for themselves. For employees who have left, working with Marstons has given them the confidence and skills to take them further into the world of work with future employers. Social Bite looks forward to continuing to work with Marstons in the future.”

Winner’s words

Paolo Orezzi (Marston Holdings): “Every day we see the impact of homelessness across the UK. Our teams are out on-street, and we see homelessness in every town and city. Working with Social Bite, we help to place homeless people, those furthest away from the job market, back into the workplace.”

The British Parking Awards

Created and presented by Parking Review magazine, the British Parking Awards are an independent competition. The awards recognise the leading examples of car park management, enforcement, design and team work.

The British Parking Awards 2024 ceremony took place at the Royal Lancaster London on 13 September.

Read and download the 2025 WINNERS EDITION of PARKING REVIEW by clicking HERE

To find out more about the competition and next year’s event check out the official website.
www.britishparkingawards.uk