海角视频

Bianca Laura Latini, a Senior Engineer within 海角视频’s Sustainability and Physics team, took part in a forward-thinking panel discussion hosted by Women in Property, focusing on social value, placemaking and urban communities.

Social value is becoming more of a focus across the property industry and in our everyday lives. It is no longer deemed a secondary consideration, as more emphasis is placed on businesses supporting their surrounding communities. 

In this panel discussion, the focus was honed on the importance of social value and how to effectively communicate its impact.

Below, Bianca details her key takeaways from the session.

Speakers

• Bianca Laura Latini, Senior Engineer, Sustainability & Physics, 海角视频

• Dannielle Haskings, Willmott Dixon

• Emma Bull, Southern Construction Framework

• Katy Barney, Ambitious PR

What did we discuss?

Social Value is becoming increasingly essential to deliver and report on to demonstrate a positive sustainable impact.

The S in ESG is coming under the spotlight after years of the E overshadowing it. Developers, clients, and contractors, among others, are growing in awareness of social value. Towards the top of their priority list should be understanding, affecting, and monitoring how our buildings impact their communities and supply chains.

Measurement is a contentious topic albeit an important one.

There is no universally agreed way to measure social value.

Some vouch for the use of a quantified and monetised approach, and the ease that it represents for reporting. Others believe an outcome-based approach, or at least one with qualitative key performance indicators provides the most value in the long term.

Be as it may, the long-term understanding of social value, in an industry that rarely sees long-term involvement in RIBA Stage 7, is challenging. Taking advantage of the rise in energy monitoring and post-occupancy evaluation could enable wider thinking about social impact monitoring post-construction.

As delivery grows to become common practice, communication will play an important role in the extent of uptake.

In its complexity, it can be hard to communicate to clients and design teams what their role and the role of the project is in delivering meaningful social value.

Helping different stakeholders understand the impact they can have through design, construction, and operation through the things that they already make decisions on will help communicate where the creation of social value sits in the built environment.

Understanding how social value is affected by other aspects of sustainability can also help clients see how the sustainability commitments they are making are also contributing to positive social outcomes. Eventually, the development of successful case studies should communicate strategies and illustrate their positive effects within communities and supply chains.