Big Local Works

Who we are

Big Local Works is a community-focused economic inclusion and regeneration charity based in the highly deprived South Bermondsey area of South East London. We want to help create a thriving, inclusive local economy and community in which everyone can participate.

To make this happen, we maximise local people’s financial and economic wellbeing to reduce poverty and hardship, and give them support to find sustainable, active routes out of poverty, including through employment and enterprise. In order to make that possible, we help to build a thriving local economy that works for all, during a time of intensive local regeneration. Additionally, we aim to encourage and grow a more integrated, connected and tolerant local community.

Established in 2017, as a legacy project of the 10 year Big Local South Bermondsey Partnership, we have come a long way. We started by offering welfare and benefits advice in a small shop in a longneglected market square. In the past 6 years we have expanded our services to focus on truly local employment, offering holistic employability skills, and small-scale start-up enterprise support. Then, in 2019, we received £2m from the GLA Good Growth Fund to redevelop the 150-year-old Blue Market, a forgotten hub for the local community, which we now manage as an outdoor community space for the benefit of local people. As well as continuing to offer an ever-wider range of individual support, we now have a vision of creating a ‘people-powered regeneration’ in an area already undergoing massive redevelopment by property developers. In our work, the market, and our other built environment projects, create a sense of continuity with the rich local history, as well as showcasing a vision of a better future: a more prosperous, resilient and connected local community where people come together to trade, socialise, and celebrate across the diverse boundaries. As with the original national Big Local programme, of which we are a legacy project, we seek to empower local people, encourage enterprise and community activity, and support the regeneration of an area which has long suffered from the effects of deprivation.

Our culture and values

• Human – People have unique and often complex stories. We take time to listen and understand before we offer our support
• For locals by locals – Our priorities are determined by the real needs of the people we serve
• Committed – We really DO care
• Dependable – Our support and information helps people solve urgent challenges.
• Honest – We aim to give honest information to clients
• Non-judgemental – We focus on giving the right advice rather than judging the people or the organisations that need it.
• Bespoke – We treat people as individuals with individual needs. We help people develop their skills and knowledge so that they’re equipped to solve their own problems and the problems of their communities. 
• Inclusive –  We work with anyone who shares our vision or helps make change happen for communities and the people within them.
• Relevant –  We adapt to changes in policy and the law so that our support and information is as helpful as it can be.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Big Local Works is committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our workforce, and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. The organisation - in providing goods and/or services and/or facilities - is also committed against unlawful discrimination of customers or the public.