Building cabins and building up communities

Starship Modular build the bespoke cabins you love to stay in when you visit the forest. But they do much more than just provide us with beautiful log cabins. 

As well as partnering with their local construction college, providing apprenticeship opportunities, Starship Modular also works with a local employment charity called Nobody Left Behind (NLB). 

NLB’s work is focused on young people and adults, care leavers and ex-offenders who often face multiple layers of disadvantage and feel left behind by society. Typically living in some of the UK’s most deprived communities, they often face extra barriers to education, training and employment, and may be at risk of harm and exploitation through violence, drugs and crime.  

They provide pathways into employment through sports and wellbeing, learning modules and employment experience. Nobody Left Behind has supported over 100 young people in the last 15 months from a range of backgrounds – from care leavers, some who have been involved in the criminal justice system and some who simply feel lost and unsure of their life and career path. Their three to six-week turnaround of programmes finishes with employer mornings, giving students the chance to meet recruiting employers and – hopefully – secure a job. Starship Modular is one of those employers, working frequently with NLB. 

The next draft of new recruits have started in Starship Modular's manufacturing campus. Having  interviewed 10 potential employees, five were selected for full time employment. And these new recruits will be manufacturing Forest Holiday cabins  

It’s through our supplier partnership that Starship Modular are able to offer these opportunities to young and disadvantaged people, and we’re proud to be contributing to such an amazing scheme with real social benefit. Through recent research into their societal impact, NLB have shown that for each £1 invested in their charity, at least £5.30 is returned to the wider economy each year – and the benefits keep growing annually, socially as well as financially. From reductions in the criminal justice system to securing employment, qualifications and transition into education, NLB has shown that creating opportunities for these communities is something we should proudly continue to do, and do more of.