Groundwork East

Who we are

Groundwork East is a community and environmental charity working across the East of England to change places and lives. We have been championing practical community action that benefits the natural world since 1985, running programmes to transform unloved green spaces, get people outside enjoying the natural world and supporting businesses to reduce their environmental impact. 

Our work is diverse and designed to create real change that:
• Builds people's skills and improves job prospects 
• Redesigns neglected green spaces
• Helps people make their own decisions about their area 
• Supports and creates opportunity for young people 
• Promotes greener ways of living and working 

We know we’ll only achieve our vision by working with passionate individuals, proactive public services and innovative parts of the private sector.

Our History

The Groundwork movement was established more than three decades ago to galvanise communities, businesses and government in a joint effort to improve the quality of life and promote sustainable development in places that had become run-down and neglected.  It has since grown into a national network and international movement of independent Groundwork Trusts which is collectively one of the UK’s largest charities and social enterprises. 

Every Groundwork Trust is rooted in the area it serves. Each Trust’s programmes and services are tailored to the needs of partners and communities in their locality. When all that local activity is added together, it becomes a major national force for change.

Our culture and values

Our Vision

We work across the East of England to create a fair and green future in which people, places and nature thrive.

We want places to look better, streets to be safer and outside areas to be green and beautiful. We want people of all ages to be able to do things together to make the best of where they live. We want to improve job prospects by offering training in green jobs. We want to show people how they can make their homes more energy efficient and support businesses to reduce their environmental impact.

We work towards a vision of a society of sustainable communities which are vibrant, healthy and safe, which respect the local and global environment and where individuals and enterprise prosper. Creating these sustainable communities means developing initiatives which cut across economic, social and environmental issues.  Our work is diverse, but it all helps to achieve our vision.

We focus on three major areas of activity:  
Creating better places
Encouraging greener living and working
Improving people's prospects

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

The aim of this policy is to ensure that no job applicant, employee or service user receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, sex or sexual orientation.  

We want you to be yourself at Groundwork and we value everything that makes you unique. We recognise and celebrate your difference and together we make Groundwork a special and great place to work. As a Disability Confident employer we offer a guaranteed interview to applicants with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role.

At Groundwork we ensure that we provide a safe environment for adults, children and young people to take part in any activity or service that we organise. We are committed to creating a culture that promotes safeguarding and the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk. Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and comprehensive process of obtaining, collating, analysing and evaluating information from and about candidates to ensure that all the people we appoint are suitable to work with our children, young people and adults