PeoplePlus and Sacyr at Velindre
October 23, 2026Posted by:
Hundreds of people are building the new Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, and many of them came to the site through PeoplePlus as participants on The Restart Scheme and Jobs Growth Wales+.
Last week, members of the PeoplePlus senior leadership team visited the site with our partners at Sacyr to see how the build is progressing ahead of completion in spring 2027, and to meet some of the people working on it. The visit was a chance to see first-hand what a social value commitment looks like when it moves off the page of a contract and onto a live construction site.
A partnership built around the contract's social value commitments
Sacyr UK is the main contractor building the new Velindre Cancer Centre for Velindre University NHS Trust, as part of the Acorn consortium responsible for designing, building, financing and maintaining the centre, which will serve around 1.7 million people across South East Wales. The contract to build the new Velindre Cancer Centre includes significant social value clauses, with clear expectations on creating opportunities for people who are long-term unemployed, young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), and others facing disadvantage in the labour market.
Sacyr appointed PeoplePlus as its Social Value Lead Partner on site to help meet those commitments. Over the past few years, that partnership has connected people from PeoplePlus employability programmes in Wales, including The Restart Scheme and Jobs Growth Wales+, with roles across the project, while helping Sacyr and its supply chain recruit in a way that reaches beyond the usual candidate pool.
Embedded on site
PeoplePlus Head of Employer Social Value Wales, Hannah Jenkins, who is seconded into the Sacyr team works alongside Sacyr's own staff and its subcontractors day to day, helping them recruit people who are often overlooked and supporting them to make those jobs last. This approach has helped people access meaningful employment, and it has helped Sacyr meet its workforce and social value objectives as a contractor.
What Sacyr says
Katie Hathaway, Stakeholder Engagement and Community Benefits Manager at the new Velindre Cancer Centre, said:
"Our partnership with PeoplePlus has been one of the most rewarding aspects of delivering the new Velindre Cancer Centre project. Hannah has become a valued member of the wider Sacyr team, embedding herself with both our staff and subcontractors and supporting them throughout their own learning journeys. She has challenged perceptions, built confidence and helped many individuals and businesses recognise the value of creating opportunities for people who may previously have been considered furthest from the labour market, including those who are long-term unemployed, not in education, employment or training (NEET), or facing other barriers to work.
"Through her passion, commitment and dedication to supporting others, Hannah has helped turn ambition into action. We have created meaningful employment opportunities, changed lives and demonstrated what can be achieved when social value is placed at the heart of project delivery. We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved through this partnership and excited about the legacy it will leave for future projects and communities."
A legacy beyond the build
Social value clauses are a promise to the community a project serves. At Velindre, that promise is being kept by people who now have jobs, new skills and a part in building a cancer centre that people across South East Wales will rely on for decades. PeoplePlus and Sacyr are now looking at how the knowledge gained on this project can shape future opportunities, so that more contractors can recruit inclusively and more people furthest from work can find a route into construction.
We would like to thank Katie and the Sacyr team for hosting our visit, and Hannah for the work behind all of it.
October 23, 2026Posted by:
