Property consultants Vail Williams team up with charity Smart Works to help women get into business

The firm, with its Portsmouth office at Lakeside North Harbour, has forged a partnership with the charity Smart Works which provides clothing and coaching for unemployed women to succeed at job interviews and beyond.

Vail Williams’ clothes donation initiative is being rolled across the firm’s 11 offices and runs throughout March.

Based in London, the charity has since opened 10 regional centres and has helped more than 25,000 women.

Learning and development manager at Vail Williams Tanya Horscroft said: ‘Smart Works is a UK charity that exists to give women the confidence they need to reach their full potential, secure employment and change the trajectory of their lives.

‘The women who are helped by Smart Works are referred from Job Centres, mental health charities, women’s refuges, homeless shelters, the prison service, care service and youth organisations. As a responsible employer, we always endeavour to deliver a valued contribution to our wider communities – on this occasion by supporting Smart Works, we hope to play a small role in this charity’s work to support around 5,000 women a year across the UK.’

Clothes can be dropped off at any Vail Williams office in Portsmouth, Southampton, Crawley, Brighton, Birmingham, Woking, Heathrow, Leeds, London, Reading, and Bournemouth.

The drive was launched to tie in with International Women's Day, which has been observed around the world since the early 1900s, and has the theme #EmbraceEquity for 2023.

Vail Williams’ full-service property advice includes commercial agency, investment and development advice, building consultancy, property valuation, planning, lease advisory, property asset management, business rates and occupier consultancy.