Walk onto almost any construction site or office today and you’ll hear about social value. Community volunteer days, charity partnerships and seasonal donations have become familiar fixtures across the industry, and rightly so – these activities matter. They bring teams together, support local causes and can have a very real impact on people’s lives.
But the challenge is that visibility doesn’t always equate to impact. And at times, as an industry, we’ve been guilty of confusing the two.
Social value is often measured in what can easily be captured, or what makes a good photo, and converted into proxy values – such as hours volunteered, pounds donated, carbon reduced or KPIs met. Those metrics absolutely have a role to play, but when prioritised in isolation, they can quietly pull focus away from what genuinely changes lives, and towards one-off, higher ‘point-scoring’ activities that are easier to evidence. Over time, that risks social value becoming transactional or performative – well intentioned, certainly, but limited in reach and not always tailored to the needs of people or places.
That’s not what social value is meant to be. At its core, social value is about putting people first – a point my colleague, Ian Gresser, recently explored in his article on what social value done right really looks like.
Every town, city or location has its own unique social challenges. While desk-based Local Needs Analysis provides an essential starting point, as a social value leader, it's important not to stop there. It is essential that we ground ourselves within the places we are working, seeking feedback from those who live and work locally,. This way we gain a richer understanding of where value can genuinely be added.
At HBC, social value has long been part of our delivery approach, but we’ve become increasingly clear on one thing: we’re not interested in chasing numbers for the sake of it. What matters is creating a legacy that lasts long after the build is complete.
Over the years, this has led us to prioritise social value that’s woven into how we operate day to day, rather than activity that sits alongside the work purely for visibility or on a project-by-project basis.
Beyond the ‘easy wins’
There will always be a place for traditional community investment. Seasonal donation drives, school visits and volunteering days are often the first touchpoint young people have with our sector, and the importance of that should never be underestimated. But on their own, these initiatives rarely alter long term life chances.
It’s important for the industry to acknowledge that the greatest impact doesn’t always come with a camera ready moment. Sometimes it comes from quieter decisions – the ones that happen in HR meetings, supply chain discussions and site-based recruitment conversations.
We made one such decision recently when choosing to employ an individual on Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) from an HMP, filling a genuine vacancy on site through one of our subcontractor partners. This wasn’t part of a headline grabbing employment scheme or a time limited placement, it was a sustainable role, created by stepping away from ‘business as usual’ recruitment routes and asking whether our industry could do more to support reintegration and long term employment.
There’s no photo opportunity attached to that decision, but there’s a real chance to alter someone’s trajectory – through stability, skills and the dignity of work – and that feels like social value in its truest form.
Choosing impact over optics
Employing someone from the prison system is not without its challenges – it requires trust, internal alignment and support structures, alongside a willingness to accept that some outcomes cannot be captured quantitively.
But construction is no stranger to complexity; we manage risk for a living. If we can design, plan and deliver large scale infrastructure, we can also design pathways into employment for people who are historically excluded from our workforce.
The key difference here is intent. This wasn’t about chasing social value numbers or standing out in a tender response, it was about making a deliberate choice to do something different because it aligned with our values as a business. Crucially, it was also about working in partnership with our supply chain – supporting and guiding them to operate differently, while providing opportunities to diversify, build capability and create meaningful social impact together. In doing so, we’re helping to address long term workforce challenges in a way that is both practical and sustainable.
From competition to collaboration
This thinking extends beyond individual actions, as I recently joined a roundtable discussion in Sheffield with organisations from across the sector – including competitors – focused on improving social value outcomes at scale.
That conversation reinforced an important truth that many of the social challenges we face are too systemic for isolated solutions. Employment pathways, skills shortages and rehabilitation support can’t be solved one project at a time or one company at a time.
Collaboration isn’t a threat to competitiveness; it’s a necessity for meaningful impact. We’ve seen this first-hand through our work at Hilltop School, delivered as part of Yorkshire Children’s Charity’s Great Yorkshire Build. As the first contractor on site, HBC provided full main contractor services on a pro bono basis and worked closely with our supply chain to help mobilise skills, time and materials in support of a common goal. Alongside more than 50 Yorkshire construction firms, this collective effort has transformed teaching spaces for staff and 180 children with complex needs – demonstrating the life-changing impact that’s possible when the industry unites around a shared purpose.
That’s why if the sector genuinely wants to move the dial on social value, we need to be more open about what works, where we’ve struggled and how we can align efforts rather than duplicate them.
Embedding social value into business practice
The most powerful social value initiatives are those embedded into decision making – from how people are recruited and how supply chains are structured to how partnerships are chosen and how success is defined.
This approach demands a shift away from chasing volume – more hours, more activities, more logos – and towards examining outcomes.
Asking questions such as: Did a decision challenge the status quo in a way that genuinely mattered? Did it create long term opportunity? Did someone gain sustained employment, or did we focus on meeting a new jobs KPI even if the role itself was short term?
These outcomes are harder to quantify, but they are far more closely aligned with the responsibility that construction has to the communities it serves.
Raising the bar for social value
None of this is about discrediting traditional community initiatives. As I outlined at the very start, they remain a vital part of supporting local wellbeing and engagement and will always need to be considered. But as an industry, we have an opportunity, and arguably an obligation, to go further.
True social value maturity means trusting quieter actions, prioritising depth over breadth and embedding purpose into everyday business choices. It means recognising that some of the most transformative work will never make a brochure, but it will stay with individuals for a lifetime.
As the conversation around social value continues to evolve, it’s increasingly clear that real industry progress depends on prioritising what’s right over what’s easiest to measure or what simply makes for a lovely photo.
