Northstone Support Simon Community
Northstone (NI) Limited has always supported the local communities in the areas in which it operate by way of its commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility. Through CRH plc, Northstone formed a strategic partnership with the Simon Community Northern Ireland to promote and encourage safer workplaces across the Company while at the same time supporting the Simon Community in its invaluable work with the homeless in the Province.
The reason why Northstone chose Simon Community as a partner was that they both have similar aims i.e. the construction of shelters and buildings.
A suitable initiative called the Simon Safety Challenge was devised to meet these two objectives and launched in July 2007. It guaranteed the Simon Community a sizable donation for every accident free quarter achieved by what were known as participating locations in Northstone. In total there were 24 locations across the Company which included every employee and sub contractor who worked there. A total of some 1600 people approximately were involved.
As a result of the success of the Simon Safety Challenge, Northstone donated £180,000 to the charity for the year 2007/08. The monies were used to furnish a 24 bed hostel in Londonderry which has supported 300 homeless people since opening.
As well as raising awareness of the causes and social issues of homelessness with all of those employed by Northstone, the Simon Safety Challenge has also provided a direct benefit to those seeking a support from the Charity.
The resulting media attention generated by the Simon Safety Challenge has also helped to further raise public awareness of their work within Northern Ireland and their work with the most marginalised members of our society.
