Summary
The Dudley area has seen a significant change in employment focus from manufacturing to the service sector and is keen to ensure that perceptions of the service industry are improved within the local community, to allow tenants to recruit more easily.  The Company has engaged in a variety of partnerships and programmes designed to educate students about the service sector, along with teaching specific skills and generally using the Shopping Centre as a learning resource.

Background
Merry Hill, owned by Chelsfield plc (a property development company, which focuses on delivering large scale urban regeneration projects) is a shopping environment based in Brierley Hill, 9 miles west of Birmingham.  It has 21million visits per annum, houses 220 retailers and is managed by 218 employees.

Responsible business objectives 
The wards within Dudley are very diverse in respect of educational attainment.   Merry Hill has recognised an opportunity to support the Local Education Authority in this area, by utilising Merry Hill as a learning resource through Merry Hill's Educational Policy and programmes. The organisation supports learning through the curriculum, helps educate students on employment within the service sector and the job opportunities that will be created through the regeneration of the Brierley Hill area.

How they do it

• Education and Training

  • Discover Service Project with Pensnett School of Technology - each year some 300 pupils from Year 7-11 take part in a three day programme, consisting of a one day work shadow placement with Merry Hill Retailers and the Merry Hill Management Team and workshops to develop skills.

  • Work Experience - Provision of work experience in relation to business skills.  Merry Hill is used as a learning resource by schools who visit, utilising study trails around the shopping environment.

  • Information provision  -  Information is continually provided to schools and colleges to assist with projects and to inform on the regeneration of Brierley Hill.
    

• Art & Music

  • Christmas Choir Competition  -  Each year Merry Hill holds a Christmas Choir Competition, inviting all schools from Dudley Borough to take part.  At least 35+ schools and over 2,000 students participate with partnership activity from local media supporting the event.

  • Music, Culture and Arts Week - Merry Hill hosts a week long celebration of music, culture and art, profiling local organisations and schools.  Supporting this activity is "Live at Merry Hill", a weekly programme of live musical performances within the malls.

  • Art Displays - Two and three dimensional displays of artworks from the local community are showcased at Merry Hill, with specific commissions also being developed and exhibited.

• Community Safety

  • Community Safety Week - In partnership with a number of organisations, Merry Hill ran a Community Safety Fun Roadshow in July 2002. Awareness was raised of key community safety issues to children, approximately 500 children took part.

• Caring Organisations

• Jubilee Funday  -  A fun day was held to raise £3000 for a local charity - the Phoenix Centre. The Phoenix Centre offers learning resources to young children suffering from mental and developmental difficulties.

• Netherton Park Centre  -  £1300 was raised through a sponsored walk for the Netherton Park Family Centre, which is part of Dudley's Education Action Zone. The centre works with children aged 0 - 8 years and their families.
  

Business Benefits

• Staff development  -  Staff involved in the aforementioned education projects gained a variety of skills including project planning and evaluation, media handling skills, forging mutually beneficial relationships and communication. The development of such skills help employees recognise new potential and long-term prospects for job satisfaction.

• Positive reputation  -  Merry Hill's contribution to education and lifelong learning has raised its profile within the region and the local community.  Free advertising space was given to Merry Hill in all of the News Group's publications, which helped to raise awareness of the Choir Competition. Collectively, all publications accounted for a readership of 187,438 and £2528.75 of positive media coverage. The Imagine Retail project generated £6000 of regional TV coverage.

• Increased footfall within the malls  -  If we increase visitor numbers at Merry Hill, it is likely that potential spend will be increased.   During the Choir Competition 125 people who completed a questionnaire, indicated the reason they had visited Merry Hill was to see a friend/family member in the event.

• Enhanced profile of service sector - working to overcome existing recruitment difficulties associated with the service industry.  This includes the negative perception that retailing involves little more than shelf stacking, till operation and answering the phone. This ultimately assists retailers with recruitment.