Meet the women making Canada Water work for them

We are proud to be working with organisations across all sectors and with people of all backgrounds to create a new town centre for the local area – the Canada Water development. We want people living, working and spending time here to be able to have access to opportunities no matter what their background, ability or gender.

In the second of our video series “Women of Canada Water”, we speak to four women working hard in their local community to maximise the opportunities the area has for women, and what’s coming as a result of it.

Julie Hutchinson is Strategic Lead for Canada Water Connect (CWC), a partnership between British Land and ELBA, a charity with 30 years’ experience in enabling businesses to support their local community. For our local community, CWC is a free service connecting local people to the new opportunities being created by the Canada Water development including new jobs; new learning and skill development opportunities; new community initiatives; and support for local entrepreneurs and businesses to grow. To find out more about Canada Water Connect click here.

Caption: Canada Water Connect’s Julie Hutchinson

April Collins works at Tree Shepherd, a charity that is helping local people establish their own business enterprises through a free-to-use business mentoring service, training courses and affordable workspace. Tree Shepherd’s affordable workspace, Thrive, has just moved into new premises in the heart of Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, and hosts monthly markets where its member businesses sell their wares. For more information, visit Tree Shepherd’s website here.

Emilie Mendy is the founder of Bizzie Bodies, a Community Interest Company based in SE16 that teaches science, technology, engineering, maths and languages to 6 to 11-year-olds through creative play. Visit Bizzie Bodies’ website here to find out more about the work they do locally.

Also featured is Canada Water’s Communications Manager Laura Sears, who talks about understanding the scale of the development and the opportunities it offers the local community.

To watch episode 1 of the series, which looks at some of the women making waves in the traditionally male-dominated construction sector, click here

Find out more about how we’re working with local community groups here.