VIY launches Impact Report 2024-25

This year’s Impact Report brings together the impact we’re having on NEET and economically inactive young people, and on community spaces in need, as well as the wider ripple effect our work is creating for young people, communities and society as a whole.

We’ve strengthened our place-based approach: from working with a wide range of local youth referral partners and learners, to delivering projects across more regions in the UK and Ireland. This has helped us achieve even stronger hyperlocal impact, the kind of change that communities would struggle to achieve without VIY.

And by working with more partners than ever before, we’ve been able to reach even more young people, improve more community spaces, and create lasting impact where it’s needed most.

Read our Impact Report 2024-25

Headlines from this year’s report:

• Supporting 2,051 young people – focusing on those aged 16+ who are NEET and/or economically inactive
• Delivering 130 community projects across the UK – helping community spaces survive and thrive through improvements that help them better serve their communities
• Awarding 1,620 Entry Level 3 City & Guilds accreditations – giving young people their first step onto the construction career ladder
• 21% of our 16+ NEET learners moving into further education, employment or training (EET) so far already in 2024-25*

*We continue to support and track EET progressions for VIY learners up to 12 months beyond the end of their VIY experience – and therefore the NEET to EET progression rate for all 2024-25 learners will increase over time up to the end of March 2026.

VIY receives Bristol City Leap funding for community retrofit projects across the city

Bristol City Leap is a pioneering partnership between Bristol City Council and private sector partners, working to deliver large-scale low-carbon energy infrastructure and help the city become carbon neutral by 2030. Through the Community Energy Fund, VIY will work with local partners, including Bristol Energy Network, Centre for Sustainable Energy and West of England Combined Authority to identify and support community spaces ready for an energy-efficiency boost.

We’re in conversation with a number of different community spaces across Bristol, from sports clubs, to arts and cultural spaces, to heritage, youth and community buildings. However we’d love to hear from you if you have a project in mind to boost your energy-efficiency. 

Get in touch with Tom Hague, Retrofit & Green Skills Director at tom@teamviy.com 

“I’m delighted to have returned to VIY to lead our all-important work in Retrofit and Green Skills, including in Bristol. So many community buildings struggle with energy-efficiency and high energy bills, and nationwide we need more young people to enter the green construction workforce. I believe VIY is uniquely placed to tackle these challenges by carrying out community retrofit whilst helping young people develop green skills – including accreditations in retrofit and energy-efficiency – through hands-on work experience. And, thanks to Bristol City Leap, it’s incredibly exciting to be developing a programme of six community retrofit projects across Bristol that will do just that. Our work in Bristol will lead the way as we aim to become the go-to nationwide enabler of community retrofit projects. Watch this space!”

— Tom Hague, Retrofit & Green Skills Director at VIY

Empowering young people with green skills and qualifications

Young people involved in these projects will gain nationally recognised green skills qualifications tailored to different levels, including the NOCN Level 1 Award in Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (with units like Environmental Awareness and Improving Energy Efficiency) and the City & Guilds Entry Level Environmental Awareness unit, providing valuable knowledge and hands-on experience that complement their core construction training.

Building on our work in Bristol and retrofit 

This funding builds on VIY’s ongoing work in retrofit, renovation, like our work with Hornsea 3 Community Fund in Norfolk (see more here) and community projects across Bristol and the surrounding region. Like the Amber Foundation in Trowbridge, where we worked alongside young people living at Amber Trowbridge to transform some of their living, learning, and wellbeing spaces using sustainable approaches, from reusing materials to incorporating calming, natural colour schemes with paint provided by our long-term partners at Dulux. Read more about this fantastic project here. 

With Bristol leading the way towards a carbon-neutral future, these projects will help community spaces cut energy costs and emissions, while giving the next generation of tradespeople hands-on experience and industry-recognised green skills.

We can’t wait to get started!