How P+S makes a positive difference: locally, regionally and beyond
How are Proctors making a positive difference?
At P+S we're incredibly proud of our heritage. Born and bred in Bristol, P+S is proud of our South West heritage and our local community: the spirited, colourful and character-filled district of Easton. And we’re determined to give back to it where we can.
For us, community engagement is less about one big, all-singing, all-dancing project we can wheel out to justify how righteous we are. It’s about creating genuine connections, making lots of small but deeply significant contributions, and taking consistent actions that encourage lasting change.
Proctors at the heart of the community
From our daily milkman (shout out to Dave!) and our local suppliers, to the community centre, restaurants and cafes that provide our client dinners, our staff lunches, and weekly pop-up food events, at Proctors, we support local businesses every day.
Charity begins at home too. Last year, we donated to both a local food bank and a homeless organisation in a more worthy spin on the tired office Secret Santa affair. And all the costumes, toys and props from our last annual Christmas video were given to a much-deserving nursery in Easton.
Our snack honesty box has also provided some decent returns for neighbouring charities, including the inspiring Lawrence Hill and Easton community-action organisation ‘Up Our Street’.
We don’t just donate from our high castle either. We like to be actively involved in events when we can. Take the Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier Challenge at Bristol Harbour Festival, for example. Not only did we sponsor the race, we donated our office space for ship-building purposes to teams taking part in the competition.
And in a last-minute act of bravery (or insanity), we also agreed to take part ourselves. Cue late nights of sticky-taping, spray painting, laminating and sailor-worthy swearing by the P+S motley crew of not-so-naval experts.
Sadly, when it came to the day of reckoning, our valiant vessel ‘Ships and Giggles’ was unable to finish the event due to men overboard…and impossibly-soggy paddles. Check out how we got on here.
Roger that. Doing our bit regionally.
Ah Roger Proctor. Our intrepid founder. Veteran of the design industry. Award-winner, and much-revered MBE possessor. He’s a big character in the design community, with an even bigger heart. Even after four decades in the industry, he still cares about helping the people in it, and the future generations who’ll join it too.
His unwavering passion has infected many of us here at P+S, and we give back as much as we can to the new and uninitiated in our field.
So, from performing portfolio reviews at Bath Spa University or acting as ‘Design Buddies’ for third-year UWE students, to mentoring and leading at Bristol’s Werkhouse – we’re giving up-and-coming talent a leg-up into the industry. We also contribute to DMA’s ‘Young Blood Program’ and guest-lecture at the University of Bath.
Awards with real purpose
And of course, there are the P+S ‘South West Design and Digital Student Awards’. Created as part of Rog’s campaign to tackle how institutions approach design education, and to plug the gaps in graduates’ commercial skills, the SWDDS Awards support, challenge and encourage university students in the South West of England and Wales.
The winners in each category – digital design, graphic design and creative digital development – receive £1,000; the overall creative champion receives a further £3k and a three-month paid work placement at P+S. Check out last years’ event here.
The global community. Sustainability at every step.
Here at P+S, we try to be part of the solution in all we do.
So, yes, we do the usual – we recycle, use sustainable materials, consume fair trade hot beverages, and aim to become plastic free, and energy efficient. But we try to go further than just ticking boxes.
Our building was resurrected from the ashes of an old printworks, and every facet of its rebuild in 2017 was centred on sustainability. Not only did we retain and upcycle many of the printworks’ original characteristics, we added our own eco features too.
Our state-of-the-art 30-kilowatt photovoltaic roof system produces 30,000-kilowatt hours of electricity per year, reducing the building’s carbon footprint by 15,000 kg of CO2.
We’re also the first business in Bristol, and only the second in the country, to have coated our building in an active air-purifying substance that absorbs NOx – particularly important in built-up areas.
We even have ‘living walls’ of plants to suck up more of the bad stuff from the atmosphere.
Add that to our cycling and our EV and hybrid company car schemes, and we’re taking sustainability seriously.
Working for better
We also try to make a difference through our clients too.
We work with one of the first non-profit female universities in the Middle East; a modified timber organisation with a mission to eradicate the need for hardwood and thus, deforestation; an electronics company set to revolutionise eco-printing, and a finance house that specialises in ethical and sustainable investment.
And we don’t intend to stop
Our Corporate Social Responsibility Board is constantly finding new and better ways for us to contribute to our local, regional and global community.
So any actions we take will encourage continued business for neighbourhood companies, fuel the fires of the local economy, improve the lives of those on our doorstep, champion future generations, and leave a global environmental legacy Bristol can be proud of.
If you have any queries about the content above, contact us at marketing@proctors.co.uk for a no-obligation discussion - we would be happy to help!
