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Social Value- The Heart of the Matter

Social value is no longer something that is climbing up the corporate agenda; it’s sat at the head of the boardroom table. And it’s waiting for us to catch up.
Social value talks about looking beyond the price of individual contracts and looking at the collective benefit to communities, when contracts are awarded. So when we are tendering for a road or rail job, how can we show the customer and the end user that we deeply add that social value?

At Osborne, we want to focus on creating structures and solutions which provide an environment for people in which they can thrive. Our designs need to include social value at the outset, so a better outcome is provided for our customers. The fact is we all want to add value and it could be argued that this value is becoming more important than the cost it brings.

Social value needs to be at the heart of our industry to help us drive the creation of socially interconnected communities, which people can take pride in. This could mean that more sustainable materials in are used in our work or we have taken time and effort to create benches and put them in local parks.

We have the opportunity to help people understand and recognize the value our industry can bring to peoples lives and the wider society. It simply makes good business sense. As an industry, we should be putting social value right at the heart of what we do. This means getting the commitment to invest in it, right up front. Social value is crucial to the future of the infrastructure pipeline in order for us to deliver growth.

Is the next step for us, in the industry to formally categorize, measure and put social value at the heart of our tender submissions? And are we there yet?

Mike Todd is the Lead Business Development Manager for Infrastructure at Osborne.

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