Social Value in Construction: From Tick-Box to Transformation

For years, "social value" was the term buried deep in a tender document, a contractual obligation to be ticked off and, often, forgotten. But the UK construction industry now faces a new reality.

Driven by public sector procurement that now mandates a minimum 10% weighting, social value has evolved from a secondary consideration into a critical, accountable deliverable that can make or break a project.

Yet, as the industry grapples with this shift, a crucial question emerges: are we measuring what truly matters?

Jo Davis - Solve Social Value

For Jo Davis, a construction industry expert and co-director of Solve Social Value, the answer is often no. The sector, she argues, has become fixated on quantitative metrics, big, impressive-sounding “proxy values” that can mask a lack of genuine, lasting impact.

This article explores the evolution of social value in construction.

Moving beyond a mere tick-box exercise, it aims to position social value as a powerful engine for strategic and human return on investment.

The Human ROI: Reframing Social Value as a Strategic Investment

Having spent her career working in customer-facing roles for main contractors and in the public sector, Jo has witnessed the evolution of social value firsthand.

Her experience has led her to a core philosophy: the real story of social value is not found in a report, but in the lives it changes.

"We were working on a site in Stockwell, London," Jo recounts. "We gave an opportunity to a young man classed as 'Not in Employment, Education or Training' (NEET). That was three years ago. He is still flying as an electrical apprentice".

This single success story, she explains, is far more impactful than a report claiming thousands of pounds in social value, especially when apprentices drop out due to a lack of support, which unfortunately happens far too often. It’s essential to look beyond the numbers and focus on the real impact, which can be challenging to quantify.

"You get lots of big organisations pumping out these big numbers because they can sustain a full-term apprentice," she says. "But for smaller organisations, if those apprentices didn't finish their apprenticeship, that's a negative impact, not a positive one".

This is the core of her challenge to the industry: for social value to be effective, it must be reframed. It is not a cost to be minimised, but a strategic "investment" in your business, your people, and the future of the industry.

"It's people helping people," Jo states. "That's what it's all about".

A top-down cultural shift, from the board to the on-site project manager, is essential for this understanding. This transformation is fueled by direct experience of the impact, as the "feel-good factor" of witnessing positive change in someone's life cultivates a genuine passion for continued work.

The Practical Delivery of Social Value on Construction Projects

While the philosophy is powerful, the practical delivery is where many organisations fall short.

Too often, social value becomes a "burden" that is "dumped onto the business development person or the project manager on site" at the last minute, with no clear plan or resources.

This is the problem Solve Social Value was created to address.

Solve Social Value

Built on the mantra of "Plan, Deliver, Measure," the platform provides a tangible framework for turning social value from a reactive chore into a proactive strategy.

"The most impact for social value generally is by thinking about it at a planning stage, which isn't happening on smaller projects at the moment," Jo warns.

By integrating it into the earliest phase of a project, companies can genuinely understand community needs and identify opportunities, which can even be "the difference to whether that scheme gets planning consent or not".

The commercial case for this proactive approach to social value in construction is undeniable. Social value commitments can now account for 10-20% of the quality score in a public sector tender.

Failure to deliver on these promises can lead to being struck off frameworks or even facing significant financial penalties.

"I've got a client at the moment," Jo notes, "if they don't provide an apprentice before the end of the project, they will have to pay a penalty fee of £26,000 - in real money!”.

​​Ultimately, the message is clear. The property and construction industry must move beyond the tick-box.

By investing in a planned, measurable, and human-centric approach, social value becomes more than just a deliverable; it becomes a powerful engine for building a better business and a more equitable society.

Jo’s and the team at Solve’s perspective reframes social value entirely.

It is not a tax on development, but an investment in a project’s very soul. It forces a fundamental question upon every leader in the sector: are we merely building assets, or are we building legacies?

The answer, it seems, lies not in the financial value we report, but in the human value we are willing to create.