If we are serious about driving the best social value outcomes from our projects, then we need to bring more rigour to the evaluation process
The increasing focus on social value outcomes of construction activity is a step-change in how our industry records and reports on its positive impact on local communities. This is a highly positive move that interestingly has been driven simultaneously by customers and forward-thinking contractors, determined to generate a lasting social legacy from their activities.
But just how much value are we actually delivering? For many years the economic multiplier effect of construction activity, what we now describe as social value, was variously calculated as somewhere between £2 and up to £2.84 (from a RICS study in 2011) for every pound spent. The problem is, that as more sophisticated ways of measuring social value have developed, those historical figures seem very optimistic, to put it mildly.
Using local supply chains had the most impact on maximising social value
ISG has worked in partnership with the Social Profit Calculator to develop what we believe is the most comprehensive and accurate measure of recording social value for projects, both during constructio