The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published new guidance aiming to de-mystify the practice of measuring the social value of buildings and places.
After the world recovers from the current crisis, social value is a topic that is likely to become even more important, with Mark Carney warning this week that “the traditional drivers of value have been shaken”.
For the built environment sector, the measurement of social value is already a critical part of the commitment to creating social value across the supply chain, and a rapidly evolving area of practice.
The guidance, Delivering Social Value: Measurement, helps to de-mystify the practice of measuring the social value of buildings and places and considers the relevance of social value metrics to practitioners acting at each stage of the project lifecycle. It explores social value measurement principles and methodologies and presents a series of best practice case studies.
In developing this guidance, UKGBC convened a panel of experts from across the industry, drawing together insight on the application of established and emerging measurement approaches. This work was made possible thanks to the support of UKGBC’s Social Value Programme Partners: Argent, Avison Young, Buro Happold, Federated Hermes, Rockwool and TFT.
With the creation of this guidance, UKGBC aims to encourage more organisations to measure social value, and understand which approach is most suitable for their circumstances.
John Alker, Director of Policy and Places at UKGBC said: “Social value has rightly become one of the cornerstones of responsible business within the built environment industry, and it has been encouraging to see a growth in the number of businesses focusing on the benefits delivered to local communities through the design, development and operation of high quality, sustainable places.
“However, measuring these benefits is complicated. This guide is designed to cut through the noise around social value measurement and help practitioners find the right approach for their project or organisation.”
UKGBC’s Social Value programme is set to continue throughout 2020 and beyond, with the team focusing next on an industry-wide common language for social value, through a ‘framework definition’.
