Our social value work

Foundation for Future London, Changing Minds In Challenging Times by Catalyst in Communities CIC

Social value is a way of understanding and measuring the benefit to society from the delivery of goods and services. These can be environmental, economic or social benefits which, when experienced by people create added wellbeing and a better quality of life.

The London Sustainable Development Commission are looking at how social value can be delivered as part of London’s regeneration and development. We are examining how social value-led approaches to the development process can lead to better outcomes for London’s diverse communities. There is much work underway in the area, developers are integrating social value within their development processes, local authorities are using planning, procurement and commissioning processes to lever in social value deliverables and urban design practitioners are developing an awareness of the impact of their designs on the social fabric of schemes and the communities they serve.

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for London’s communities, businesses, public and voluntary services, challenges that have demonstrated the resilience and strengths of our neighbourhoods but also the stark inequalities in opportunities and outcomes that exist within our city. Through London’s recovery, we have a unique opportunity to reflect on how a social value-led approach can create an inclusive, equitable and social-value-rich city.

The Commission’s work on social value includes:

• Research on the strategic and policy background to social value, how it fits with activity in London, and the latest thinking and practice around social value.
• A working group made up of policymakers, local authorities, developers, academics and researchers helping to shape our thinking.
• A stakeholder workshop to explore social value in regeneration, how effectively it is currently delivered and opportunities for actions and improvements.
• An insights paper examining the role of social value in London’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic to be published in February 2021.
• A consultation process on social value as part of London’s regeneration and development to gather further evidence which will result in a final recommendations report to be published later this year.
• A Social Value Playbook, which highlights best practice examples for delivering social value in the built environment, with examples from London, the UK and oversees.
• A Social Value report which make recommendations for how how social value can be effectively embedded in planning, development and regeneration across London.
• A report on embedding social value into the London Plan, making recommendations for incorporating stronger Good Growth policies and outlining key considerations for this process.