Episode 193 - Social Value

Hi and welcome to the Part 3 with me podcast. The show that helps Part 3 students jumpstart into their careers as qualified architects and also provides refresher episodes for practicing architects. If you would like to show your support for the podcast and help us continue making amazing content, click on the link in the episode notes to sign up to our subscription. I also offer one-to-one mentoring services to help you with your submissions, exams and interview. So head over to our website to learn more or reach out to me on LinkedIn through the Part 3 with me page or Instagram. My handle is @part3withme or email me at [email protected]. I am your host, Maria Scudari. And this week we will be talking about how can architects bring social value to projects. Today's episode meets PC2 of the Part 3 criteria and make sure to stay until the end for an example scenario. So what is social value in architecture? Architects increasingly encounter social value as more than a post occupancy valuation or add-on to a Section 1 or 6 agreement but as a central element in procurement and planning. Social value encompasses the holistic social, economic and environmental benefits that architecture delivers to people and communities from local job creation and well-being to strengthened social connections and climate action. Social value is best understood as the positive non-financial impacts delivered by a project or an organisation on individual well-being, community life and the environment. These impacts can range from safe, secure housing, improved health outcomes, opportunities for youth, employment, creation and stronger social capital, which fosters positive emotions through interventions, whether through connections with nature or offering opportunities for an active lifestyle which connects people and the environment in appropriate ways and in providing freedom and flexibility to pursue different lifestyles. The Social Value Act 2012 was also a catalyst bringing social value into procurement, contracts and planning but the focus is rapidly expanding from processes to long-term outcomes of design decisions. That's why the RABA and sector leaders are converging on a holistic definition that social value encompasses environmental, economic and social factors known as the triple bottom line of sustainability. So why does social value matter? Apart from being mandated, central government, client bodies and planning authorities are moving towards embedding social value in their frameworks for several reasons. Firstly, to quantify impact, social value is now considered a key element in bid scoring, pushing architects to prove their work's real-world benefit beyond statutory compliance or aesthetic quality. Secondly, due to procurement reform, updates like the Precurement Act 2023 and policy statements published in 2025 clarify that social value must be built into design, construction and community engagement from inception, not as an afterthought. The government emphasises the importance of the inclusions of a minimum 10% of the total score for social value in procurement. In local authority and social housing projects, social value is regularly part of the procurement using tools such as national themes. And lastly, due to increasing requirements for community and well-being metrics, supporting communities to help design and build their homes and neighbourhoods. Architects must show how their projects increase well-being, safety, engagement and inclusion with outcomes quantified using tools developed by HACT, UKGBC, the RIBA and client customer metrics. This shift towards having social value at the forefront of the design process demands reflective practice and robust methods of assessment, challenging architects to get feedback, learn more from users and gather evidence that connects design to lived experience and shared prosperity. So how can social value be measured? There are three core routes that are emerging for evaluating social value in architecture. The first one using qualitative and quantitative assessment methods, which consists of structured post-occupancy questionnaires forming the backbone of the evaluation. These harness well-being research to ask residents about pride, safety, connection, freedom and participation and comparing results before and after interventions and attributing outcomes specifically to design rather than broader social factors. The second route in measuring social value seeks to use monetization and proxy tools. Financial proxies transform survey data and outcomes into cash values using methodologies like social return on investment, the HACT's social value bank and Tom's framework. Examples include the willingness to pay for better mental health, safety and social networks, making it easier for policy and clients to justify investment based on measurable benefits. And the third uses narrative and participatory engagement. Guidances like the RIBA's toolkit, champions narrative, co-design and participation as an essential counterweight to quantitative metrics, ensuring the story of community voices and lived experience is part of the process. The BRE is also currently working on the development of a procurement tool that integrates multiple measures of value including social value as part of the procuring for value initiative by the construction industry council. For architects, a key tool for them to utilize and embed into every design process is actively seeking community engagement. Utilizing community engagement can be valued and supported through early procurement stages so that the measurement and valuation is carried through projects into operations and communities. Before embarking on any consultation, it's also important to give consideration to ethics, which can be done by giving participants adequate information on the project to understand what it entails, how the information will be used and how their data will be protected and by obtaining proof of their informed consent. This usually takes the form of a project information sheet accompanied by a consent form. So ideally, social value should be monitored before and after the design intervention so that the extent of change can be ascertained. Social value requirements can be placed in contracts and become part of the performance management over the lifetime of that contract. Each requirement can be a golden thread of evaluation and also monitoring as the project progresses and in doing this assurance becomes even more important, demonstrating that the social value that has been designed in actually does happen. It's clear that social value reporting will become as important as carbon and other ESG metrics. So the key takeaways for architects relating to incorporating social value into every project is first starting by looking at houses as more than buildings. Well-designed homes shape health, they shape dignity and opportunity. Then they should embed social value into the design itself, from material choices to the plan of work overlays, design decisions can support social value throughout. As mentioned, they should also seek a deeper community learning through long-term meaningful engagement which gives residents agency and ensures solutions respond to real needs. They should also advocate for better measurement as current frameworks undervalue the qualitative but architects can continue to strive for methodologies that focus on the design. And they should also strive for breaking down silos by having open conversations which can align social value commitments and prevent duplicated efforts. And lastly, they should support access to the profession by allowing work experience, mentoring and providing inclusive recruitment to diversify architecture and extend social value beyond projects for the next generation. Architects are still developing better methods and data sources for providing social value particularly around long-term outcomes and intangible impacts. So embedding social value at the heart of design thinking rather than relying on post-hoc metrics remains a sector-wide challenge. So to conclude, social value is evolving, shaping everything from procurement frameworks to project management to long-term outcomes for UK communities. For architects is both an opportunity and a responsibility to evidence, measure and deliver real improvement to people's lives, the environment and the economy. The RIBA's social value toolkit provides guiding principles, also processes, proxies and strategies and should therefore become a key toolkit for all architects for each and every project. The greatest social value for architecture is not just what is designed but what is actually delivered which is safe, inclusive, empowering projects that build resilience, wellbeing and real legacy for communities. Now before I move on to a real-world example, let's quickly sum up what we ran through today. So social value in architecture is about the positive, non-financial impact of design on people, communities and the environment. It's not just a planning obligation or post-occupancy extra but should form part of the core brief and procurement. Policy and procurement are now aiming at incorporating social value into projects through the Social Value Act 2012, the Procurement Act 2023, utilizing minimum 10% scoring in procurement and local authority frameworks. Measuring social value is evolving through a number of routes, three of the key ones include mixed method, post-occupancy valuation and surveys, monetized proxies like SROI, HACT and TOMS and narrative or participatory approaches that foreground community voices and lived experience. Embedding social value requires early, ethical and ongoing community engagement, carrying communities through contracts, performance management and post-occupancy monitoring. For practice, this means reframing homes as enablers of health and dignity, integrating social value into design decisions and the plan of work, breaking down silos with collaborators, improving measurement and extending social value through access to the profession itself. So that covers briefly what social value is and how it can be implemented into designs and how it can be measured. Now as always, I like to provide you guys with a scenario just to put what I just went through into context. So the scenario relates to a scheme by Lewisham Homes which successfully demonstrates how social value can be embedded into local authority housing delivery and procurement with a systematic process designed to ensure real community focused outcomes. So Lewisham Council began by embedding social value into its core procurement and housing strategies, aligning every stage of development to broad corporate goals including ambitious, inclusive and collaborative action. Residents were placed at the heart of the agenda and the council developed a resident engagement strategy, harnessing feedback to identify the four main themes residents prioritized for social value investment. These included training and employment opportunities, youth programs to improve life chances, digital support for employment and benefits and activities to promote health and well-being. They then set rigorous social value criterion procurement whereby for contracts exceeding a defined threshold, often around 50 000, social value was allocated a fixed percentage which was a minimum of 10% of the tender evaluation scoring. The council set out measurable KPIs under four themes. The first one was skills and employment such as apprenticeships, work placements and so on. The second was around economy and growth, supporting local SMEs, living wage commitments and so on. The third related to community engagement through sponsorship and community asset investment and the fourth theme was around environmental enhancement by providing more funding to improve parks and create more sustainable design. Bidders were then required to make concrete, contractually binding social value commitments across these categories and suppliers and contractors had to demonstrate trackable delivery against these KPIs throughout the project's life. So to ensure social value spending was resident led, the council established the community investment fund and a resident community investment panel. This panel, demographically representative of tenants and lease holders of the area, had direct authority to allocate funding to local priorities, social enterprises and youth and skills projects. So project managers and procurement officers rigorously tracked and reported both quantitative and qualitative social value outcomes from these. Tools and contractual requirements ensured all delivery aligned with the agreed social value KPIs and non-delivery was identified and dressed. So the outcomes achieved from this process and the steps that Lucien took included employment and training whereby they provided numerous local apprenticeships, a number of work experience placements and jobs for priority groups that were created as a direct result of these procurement commitments. Then they provided investment in youth programs which reduced anti-social behavior and expanded access to sports, arts, outdoor facilities which contributed to improved well-being and community pride. Then they tailored digital support initiatives helping residents to improve their job prospects, managing benefit applications and overcoming isolation especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Contractors also funded initiatives such as the Luisham Greening Fund and provided in-kind support for community gardens and shared spaces which raised local environmental standards and empowered community stewardship. Then through the resident panel model real decisions were made by local people which ensured that the benefits were felt and remained in the neighborhood and matched the community's priorities. This built sustained trust and accountability between the council, the contractors and the residents. Social value procurement requirements also encouraged suppliers to support local business growth, investing in skills development and help drive prosperity in Luisham beyond the time frame of individual projects. So in summary, Luisham's approach to social value is a practical replicable model by embedding measurable resident-driven targets into every stage of commissioning and asset management and by tracking delivery with real accountability, the borough has shown how social value can produce concrete sustained improvements in employment, well-being, environment and trust within communities. So that's what I wanted to discuss today, hopefully that gives you a good overview of social value and how it can be applied into real practice. So that's all for now, thanks for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode. If you would like to get in contact with me please feel free to email me on the address provided in the show notes. 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