Award-winning Shropshire construction company, McPhillips, today launched a new fund to build stronger communities as it marks its 60th birthday.

The company, which was incorporated six decades ago on December 3, 1964, has developed the McPhillips Community Fund in partnership with Shropshire Community Foundation.

McPhillips’ managing director Paul Inions said the fund, the first of its kind to be launched with the foundation, would be used to support fantastic projects across Shropshire which makes a positive impact on community life.

Paul said: “We are very proud to be a Shropshire company and that 80% of our 240-strong team lives within a 20-mile radius of our Telford headquarters. Last year, we spent 73% of our budget with suppliers within 20 miles of our West Midlands sites, meaning that our success very quickly becomes the region’s success.

That’s why we’ve woven social value into the very fabric of our work and why we are launching this fund with Shropshire Community Foundation.”

He added: “As Shropshire’s largest construction firm and a Shropshire Investor in Community, we have been supporters of the work of the foundation for some time and when the opportunity arose to create this dedicated fund we were delighted to seize it.”

The fund will be used to support projects and initiatives that empower people to improve their mental health, reduce social isolation and promote long-term well-being.

McPhillips company secretary Val Hardy, who has been with the company for 30 years, will be helping to coordinate the fund on behalf of the two organisations.

She said: “This fund will ensure that the benefits of our success at McPhillips are shared with those communities, groups and organisations which most need our support and will ultimately help build a stronger region which is good for all of us.”

Shropshire Community Foundation trustee Sonia Roberts said she was delighted to extend the foundation’s relationship with McPhillips.

She said: “Shropshire Community Foundation already supports groups such as the Multi Talent Youth Organisation, which trains marginalised and disabled groups; the Park Lane Centre, which provides resources to refugees and the CultureKind Chinese Community.

Through the McPhillips Community Fund, we will be able to extend our work to support many more community groups and organisations in a way which will help transform very many lives.”

McPhillips, which employs more than 240 people at its Hortonwood headquarters, has delivered more than 140 projects as principal contractor with a value of £300 million in the last five years.