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Fort Kinnaird Shopping Park

• Property overview

  Fort Kinnaird near Edinburgh has been in the British Land portfolio since 2005. The Park is home to 48 shops, attracting 12 million visitors a year and bringing up to 2,300 jobs to the area at peak times. It is managed by an on-site team, with Montagu Evans acting as managing agents.

  
• Our customers and us

  1,300 people attended our annual recruitment event, enabling retailers to fill 547 vacancies at Christmas. The five-week event was organised in partnership with Fort Kinnaird retailers, Jobcentre Plus and Worktrack, a local community organisation. Advice and guidance was available to support job seekers at various stages of their careers, as well as help with form filling, training opportunities, benefits and childcare advice. 65% of the people who gained employment were still working at Fort Kinnaird in March 2009.

  
• Our communities and us

  
  710 children in Edinburgh got to choose and keep books, thanks to funding from British Land. This was part of a year long project to inspire a love of reading, through the National Literacy Trust's Reading Is Fundamental initiative. The project involved three local primary schools, Broomhouse, Leith and St David's, as well as the Family-Based Care Services Team and an afterschool programme, the BIG project. At one event at St David's Primary School, parents and teachers read excerpts from a range of their favourite stories. Each child chose four story sessions to join for 15 minutes before selecting a book to take home and keep.

  At an event with the Family-Based Care Services Team, families came together for an outdoor picnic with games, food and entertainment. Team member, Alma Cope, commented afterwards: "It was amazing, even the older children, who I thought might be reluctant to get involved, got caught up in choosing books - nobody opted out, and it was a great reminder to the adults present of the power and motivation of reading and books."

  This has been an absolutely fantastic treat for everyone involved. There's been a real buzz about reading at St David's as a result of our Reading Is Fundamental event. It was a superb day for everyone involved and the children still talk about it even a term later. Terrific.

  Rosemary McMillan
  Headteacher at St David's Primary School

  Children at the BIG project are often from the neediest of homes, where parents work extended hours to provide for their family's basic needs. They enjoyed going to a bookshop to attend a book signing by recent Scottish Olympic star, Chris Hoy.

  Children who engage in reading have better life chances than those who don't, in terms of their social skills, how they feel about life and how they engage with their community.

  Caroline Sence
  Reading Is Fundamental

  The Shopping Park team developed closer relationships with Lothian and Borders Police Force. Over the Christmas period, two officers patrolled the Park and the team provided the local police with use of the conference facilities on-site. Other organisations who benefited from free use of facilities included the Youth Action Team and the local residents' association.

  Fort Kinnaird provided use of space to a number of charities and local organisations, enabling them to raise both funds and awareness. These included Kidney Kids Scotland, Marie Curie Cancer Care and Gorgie City Farm, a community-based project for disadvantaged children.