July 26 2017 Membership
Call us
0845 1547188
Get In Touch
enquiries@spra.co.uk
Are we falling behind on the Social Value agenda?
26/07/2017
Are we falling behind on the Social Value agenda?
Mark Castle, deputy COO of Mace, says social value needs to be taken seriously or the industry will be left behind… again. The construction industry has always seen itself as a tool for unlocking growth. We know that for every pound you spend on construction or infrastructure, the wider economic benefits are multiplied many times.
That self-perception as the ones who allow other businesses to grow and the economy to prosper is important to us, isn’t it? The industry considers itself as a core driver of UK economic activity – a big and important cog in the system. While it’s undoubtedly true, it hides a more concerning truth: we’ve allowed ourselves to fall behind on a crucial agenda.
Social value is a concept that has been gaining momentum across a number of sectors – and at its heart it is the idea that all procurement spend should be measured on the social outcomes it delivers as well as the more tangible ones. That means that the value of each pound spent isn’t just considered in terms of economic growth – it’s about ensuring that it has the maximum social value as well.
Does the project deliver apprenticeships and training for local workers? Are the local community engaged and invested in the programme? Are you meeting or exceeding sustainability targets? How much of what you spend is with local SMEs?
In the current construction sector, such thinking is often relegated to a “check-box” exercise around meeting arcane requirements set out in the final appendix of a contract hundreds of pages thick. The public sector is leading the charge on this as it’s a mandated element of all public-led projects, but there’s no agreement across the public sector as to how social value is measured, let alone how the efforts of the sector can be effectively coordinated to maximise the benefit delivered.
At Mace, we wanted to dig deeper into the issue, and it became clear to us that putting social value front and centre of our agenda for the future isn’t just a “nice-to-have”, it’s vital if we want the sector to continue to be able grow sustainably. Everyone in the industry recognises that we face a multitude of pressures, whether that’s accessing the skills we need, improving our poor productivity ratings or ensuring we have the diversity of ideas around the table to keep innovating. It’s harder to admit openly that if we don’t solve at least some of those issues soon, then the hill will become steeper. At the moment we’re going to struggle to find the manpower to build the infrastructure projects currently on the table across the UK, let alone the ones that haven’t been finalised yet.
If we can’t attract fresh and more diverse talent into the sector and provide them with stable, long-term employment and the training they need to be productive and to progress in their careers, we will not be in a position to respond to the challenges.
We’re not saying social value is a magic wand that will fix our productivity, our diversity and the skills shortage overnight, but if we place it at the core of everything we do across the sector I believe we will begin to unlock incremental improvements that combine to make a real difference.
Over the last 10 years, everyone has watched sustainability and equality climb the corporate agenda across the UK – and we’ve watched the construction sector fall behind on both. I believe we’ll see social value do the same over the next five years, and if we don’t take the chance now we’ll be behind everyone else once again.
Many across the industry are already blazing a trail on this – from Heathrow to EDF Energy – and it’s up to everyone to share best practice and work towards an industry-wide agenda on social value that can deliver real change.
Having launched Mace’s recent report on social value, we’re working with our partners and our supply chain to make sure that we turn our words into actions, but more of us need to work together to solve this conundrum.
Social value is going to transform how construction is bought and sold, so we need to make sure we’re leading the way. It’s long been too easy to mischaracterise the construction industry as being slow to adapt to a changing culture. Let’s not become a dinosaur – we know happened to them!
Source: Construction Manager