By Hannah Vlasak (Assistant Sustainability Manager, Mace Consult)
One theme that has stayed with me from UKREiiF is the persistent gap between intention and delivery when it comes to social value. Across panel discussions, project case studies and informal conversations, the consistent narrative was that, as an industry, we are no longer short of frameworks, targets or ambition. The issue lies in how this translates into meaningful, measurable outcomes that genuinely benefit the communities we design for.
Measuring social value
Social value has become embedded in procurement processes, scoring criteria and strategies across both public and private sector projects. Having been in the industry for only a couple of years, I have already seen the significant progress in measuring social value through quantified outcomes, monetary proxies and benchmarking. However, this has shifted focus towards what is easiest to measure, creating a culture where social value becomes a tick-box exercise rather than a driver of real community growth.
Early engagement – data tells one side
Early engagement with communities from the outset was frequently referenced at UKREiiF. However, after talking in depth to individuals about this, what I discovered in practice was that, by the time engagement begins, key decisions around design, budget and delivery have often already been made. This means that developers are often checking that projects are acceptable to communities, rather than designing them with communities in mind. The projects that demonstrated the most meaningful impact were those where communities were involved from the outset, with their needs, concerns and aspirations actively shaping the brief.
This linked to an interesting data-driven discussion I attended. The speakers highlighted the risks of relying solely on data to inform decisions. This challenged my perspective on traditional desk-based local needs analysis (LNAs), which can overlook the nuances of real community experience. As a result, insights drawn from LNAs may only be partially valid.
Data should therefore be used reactively, supporting insight alongside real-life context rather than replacing it. In practice, this could involve bringing LNAs back to communities and asking whether the data reflects what is happening on the ground.
Perspective shift
From a young professional perspective, I believe the industry needs to become more comfortable with the complexity of social value, recognising that meaningful impact is rarely linear or easily quantifiable. While this may not always align with traditional measures of success, such as economic return, social value should be positioned as a core component of what makes a development successful.
This means asking questions such as:
- Are we capturing what truly matters, or just what is easiest to measure?
- Are communities influencing decisions, or simply responding to them?
- Are we designing for long-term impact, or short-term KPI performance?
Ultimately, spaces are created for people, and their success over time depends on how well they respond to the needs of those who use them. As young professionals in the industry, we need to challenge the narrative that social value sits separately from cost, programme and design. In reality, the success of all three depends on how well we listen to and respond to community needs.