Social Value podcast: delivering beyond cost

Local government leaders have struggled through more than 10 years of austerity. Signs of financial distress and services stripped back to the statutory minimum are today commonplace in towns and cities.

The Social Value Act was introduced in 2013, in an effort to help public sector organisations cope with these challenges and get more benefit from the buying power they do have.

The biggest pay off for communities was expected to come from the built environment.

With construction the sixth largest source of employment in the UK, accounting for seven per cent of GDP, the industry undoubtedly has the capacity to elicit socioeconomic benefits which extend far beyond bricks and mortar.

• But six years on, how effective has this mandate been?
• How can we even define social value?
• And are we at risk of missing important qualitative changes by attempting to quantify it?

These are some of the questions discussed in this podcast which examines whether construction in the UK is truly delivering beyond cost.

The panel of experts debating this are:

Alison Ramsey, our Social Value and Performance Manager;

Sean Bowles, managing director for the Central region for Morgan Sindall Construction, our Construction framework delivery partner;

Dr. Ani Raiden, co-author of the recently published book ‘Social Value in Construction’ and senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University.