How Repair and Maintenance Partners Help Deliver Social Value

A Guardian roundtable event last November focused on the importance of social housing providers delivering social value. The agenda was partly about restoring faith in the sector following Grenfell, it was also recognising the fact that there is a ‘virtuous circle’ when providers reinvest part of their rental income into the communities they serve.

The themes that emerged were a partnership, sharing ideas and looking at meaningful outcomes, rather than box-ticking and counting outputs from social value activities. The factor that maybe wasn’t discussed enough was the critical role that a service provided partner can, and should, play in delivering social value.

Local authorities are required to consider social value in tenders by the Social Value Act. And for both local authorities and housing associations, social value should be an intrinsic part of their role. It’s easier to deliver on that responsibility with a service provider partner that shares the same commitment to community investment.

A Question of Values

As a family-owned business Osborne aims to deliver social value through every contract, whether that’s repair and maintenance, construction or infrastructure. All of our people are provided with a Development Day to devote to community and charity work.

The greatest value comes when we are able to work strategically with communities and partners to invest in programmes with long-term benefits. This can take many forms, including:

• Community investment activities and initiatives to increase opportunities for training, employment and skills development.
• Community regeneration projects and collaborative partnerships with third sector organisations to deliver improvements to community facilities and the local environment.

By working collaboratively with clients and their resident customers we aim to deliver social value and community investment initiatives that will make a noticeable difference.

But what does a meaningful commitment to social value look like? During the course of our partnership with Dacorum Borough Council, we’ve supported or delivered over 249 initiatives and improved over 52 community facilities – and we’re still in the relatively early stages of a long-term partnership. This came quite naturally because partnership working and social value are part of our company culture and ethos.

Jo Fletcher, Head of Engagement – Osborne Property Services