Providing vital online access and technological support for those in need, McLaren Construction is launching a new initiative to donate repurposed laptops to charities across the UK with the first donation taking place in the Midlands and North.

Kick-starting the initiative, 20 repurposed company laptops were donated to the St Helens-based Martin Murray ThinkFAST academy, providing young people with online support to help with educational development.

McLaren Construction Midlands and North has a long-standing relationship with the Martin Murray academy, which aims to help young people with high-quality social support and development through the discipline and ethos of boxing. The laptop drop off is the latest support initiative for the academy and it follows a joint donation of £30,000 that was provided in 2023, by the contractor and Miller Developments.

As part of McLaren Construction’s commitment to giving back to the communities in which it operates, alongside its sustainability strategy for 2025 – legacy computing assets that are fit for reuse will now go through an IT repurposing programme instead of secure disposal, to enable monthly laptop donations by the McLaren Construction Group.

The new scheme will see approximately 250-400 laptops repurposed and donated annually to chosen charities across the UK and drop-offs will include protective equipment alongside the laptops to ensure longevity. The next donation will be a drop-off to Sele SEND School in Hertford and the ‘London & South’ region.

Gary Cramp, managing director of McLaren Construction Midlands and North, said: “We are proud to be kick-starting our laptop donation initiative with our first drop off of the year at the Martin Murray academy in St Helens – helping young people and offering online and technological support at a fundamental time of their lives.

Martin Murray, founder of the ThinkFAST academy, said: “The opportunities that can be harnessed through having laptop access cannot be underestimated and we can’t thank the team at McLaren enough for the laptops and their continued support over the past couple of years. The joint donation that we received from them along with Miller Developments in 2023 has helped to ensure that our academy can keep on doing the much-needed work that we do.

“These laptops will provide access to a vast amount of information, enable interactive learning experiences and will be used to personalise learning, dependent on the young person’s individual needs.”

Dan Blackman, Group IT and Security Director at McLaren Construction Group PLC, said: “Launching this initiative will enable our high-quality fit-for-use legacy assets to be repurposed and donated to those in need, and we are delighted to be contributing to our communities in this way, providing online access and a resource for educational development, to change lives for the better.”

Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals