Comment

Now more than ever, we need to focus on social value in the built environment

Associate Director, Strategic Communications, James Simondson argues that the built environment must change the way it approaches development to truly focus on people and communities, and realise its full potential to make substantial and lasting change in society.

Our work exists at the nexus between people and place. Today, both are facing a long list of worsening local, national and global problems including socio-economic inequality, a climate emergency, and the housing crisis. Development can address these problems by pursuing tangible social value uplift opportunities, supported and informed by a detailed evidence-base and extensive community and stakeholder engagement. However, such approaches are few and far between, and collective action is needed to drive positive change and improve the understanding and perception of our role in the built environment and wider society.

The rising relevance of social value

Much has been said over recent years about the built environment’s shift in focus from a financial mindset and metrics to an impact focused approach. Recent and current global events have hammered home that the built environment’s duty, is to promote and support quality of life, and improve social outcomes.

The public sector is another key factor in our industry’s shift. Social value is becoming far more prominent in public sector procurement and policy as local and national Government grapple with how to create positive impact. The current approach of many local authorities across the country prioritises social value, with numerous other local authorities actively working toward implementing social value policies. Social sustainability is one of three strands of the golden thread of ‘Sustainability’ in the NPPF, alongside environmental and economic, and unlike its counterparts, has only recently made a significant impact in the development industry.

Cultural change takes time, and it's encouraging that social value has gained traction in industry vernacular. However, the focus urgently needs to transition to delivery if we are to grasp several upcoming opportunities to make real, tangible change.

Policy shifts and public sector influence

With indications that a Labour Government looms in 2024, a renewed focus on equality, infrastructure and services, and importantly, housing is expected. At the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Shadow Housing Secretary, Matthew Pennycook MP told PoliticsHome:

“There will always be a core of people that don't want any development anywhere near them. But there is a far larger group of people, in my experience, who will have development, if it’s got good infrastructure... [and is] good at placemaking,” he said.

“I think, it’s essentially we’ve got to change the conversations… about what boosted supply means for communities and give them a better reason to get behind development,” he added.

Development is indeed a polarising concept in local communities. We have seen council campaigns fought (and won) on anti-development platforms across the country, with the greenfield context proving particularly challenging. Our experience on the ground at consultation events is the same conclusion – opposition to development is commonly to do with the lack of provision of infrastructure to keep up with housing growth. Other key concerns include fear of detrimental change without clear benefits, and widespread distrust and scepticism of developers, particularly with regard to what is promised and what is delivered.

Quite clearly, our industry will be crucial to helping achieve Labour’s vision. But Labour will want a risk-averse approach. Five years of pushing hard to deliver homes and new communities will be challenging for local Labour MPs – we have seen the same sentiment play out on the Conservative side in recent years.

Enter social value. As the Shadow Housing Secretary has said, we need to ‘change the conversation’ in order for the public to support development. But to change the conversation, we need to change the way we approach development, as a collective industry, and in partnership with the public sector. Re-marketing the status quo is not good enough.

Elevating social value

We need to embrace a gold standard social value approach, which will not only improve outcomes, but also support better collaboration and relationship with Government, improve wider perceptions of our industry’s contributions to society, and help attract young and new talent into our industry. But what does a gold standard social value approach to development look like?

Whilst a social value approach can (and should) be adapted to reflect the unique attributes and context for each development, in our experience there are opportunities to apply some common principles from the get-go and during the pre-application period. They include:

To take an evidence-based approach to a scheme’s social value, that analyses the socio-economic indicators, local needs of the local areas, and informs the development of a strategy to directly respond.
To engage early and comprehensively with key decision makers, stakeholders and the community, identifying priorities, opportunities and concerns with a solution-finding mindset.
To explore and progress social value creation/uplift opportunities, informed by the social value strategy, measurement and early engagement, that will provide benefits to both the existing community and new communities created, and refine/broker these with relevant stakeholders.
To commit to delivery of social value creation/uplift as part of a full and final social value strategy, embedded and measured across multiple aspects of the proposals, for submission with a planning application.
To lead with and demonstrate the social value approach and the committed benefits as part of wider promotion of the proposals, through pre-application activities and through the determination period, building support for the proposals across a range of different stakeholder groups.
Following planning outcomes, pivoting to a well-structured and rigorous social value delivery plan and reporting on progress.

Working side by side

Critical to the success of a gold standard social value approach is being open-minded, flexible, adaptable, and beginning at the formulaic stage, rather than coming in with a fully formed plan for what the development will be.

We are adopting this gold standard approach to social value, and are finding that an increasing number of our clients want to discuss how they can embed best practice social value from the outset of their projects. To further reinforce our commitment to these principles, we have recently become a member of Social Value UK, an professional body that support social value and social impact management.

We need to create new communities and improve existing ones, and we can only do this side-by-side with the communities themselves, with local and national Government, and with interest and stakeholder organisations. It’s time to show what our industry can achieve for people and communities, and put gold standard social value at the core of what we do.

For more information on our social value work please contact James Simondson or visit our Social Value page.

16 November 2023