A sleep in the park

The Social Bite Village in Granton, Edinburgh offered a unique opportunity for solicitors to give something back.

The village, an alternative to temporary accommodation for homeless people, is a community supporting up to 20 people at any one time. The project also provides a support network to help people to live independently and access work.

To make this happen, architects, engineers, academics and lawyers agreed to work behind the scenes for more than a year. The team included Anderson Strathern, which believes in making a positive contribution to the community and in taking an ethical approach to law.

Anderson Strathern donated the time of a team of partners and solicitors from its commercial real estate, construction, corporate and social housing areas. The firm helped Social Bite navigate the initial planning process and with ongoing advice on planning, essential due to the unique nature of the village, as well as leasing the land for the pod-type accommodation, construction aspects, governance issues and liaising with City of Edinburgh Council to secure the land.

This was a rewarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) project for Anderson Strathern’s lawyers, who committed substantial time to the village and were delighted to see the finished accommodation.

Social Bite is on a mission to bring Scotland together, to build a collaborative movement to end homelessness here. Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney were so impressed with its work that they flew to Scotland to see it for themselves.

Support with a night out

Solicitors and paralegals have an opportunity to support Social Bite’s fantastic work by taking part in the world’s largest sleepout, Sleep in the Park. Social Bite is looking for 12,000 people to sleep out in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow on 8 December 2018. Many law firms and in-house legal teams have already signed up. Funds raised and publicity from last year’s event resulted in 500 houses being made available to rough sleepers and homeless people, 160 jobs and 35 spare rooms being offered, and homelessness being front and centre of political attention in Scotland.

Twenty people from Anderson Strathern, as well as colleagues from CMS, will take part. Chris Rae, CSR partner for Scotland at CMS, affirmed: “We’re pleased to be joining in this year’s Sleep in the Park, sponsoring sleep zones in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen with 200 CMS staff and family members taking part in the event. We are proud to support a great initiative that raises awareness and funds to develop longer term solutions to help tackle homelessness.”

Thorntons will be joining them. Managing partner Craig Nicol commented: “We admire the ambition of Social Bite and the aim to end homelessness, so we are proud to continue our support for Sleep in the Park. It’s an integral part of our strategy as a firm to be invested in the local areas where we operate.”

Stephen Gibb, chief executive of Shepherd & Wedderburn is another big supporter. “We are proud to support Sleep in the Park. Shepherd & Wedderburn is absolutely committed to making a positive contribution to our local communities. Last year five of us slept out in Princes Street Gardens (in -6°C!), raising more than £9,000. We’re gearing up with enthusiasm to do the same again this year in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.”

Josh Littlejohn, co-founder and CEO of Social Bite, added: “We are delighted to have the support of many solicitors and law firms who have already registered for Sleep in the Park.”

Will your team dig out their sleeping bags, don their woolly hats and bring their tea flask, and join them? You can sleep knowing you are contributing to your organisation’s CSR, while trying to end homelessness in Scotland.

Visit www.SleepInThePark.co.uk to find out more and sign up today.