Communities

We take our role in society seriously, working to improve the UK’s built environment and delivering lasting change for the communities we work in.

Delivering a legacy of positive social value outcomes in the communities in which we operate is a key part of our strategy. This is the right thing to do as a responsible business and is also an increasingly important priority for our clients.

Management and compliance

Our Sustainability Policy sets out our commitment to assessing sustainability risks and opportunities, and taking appropriate steps to mitigate negative impacts and enhance positive impacts. Our Code of Conduct also explains our approach to being a good neighbour and the requirement to treat all our stakeholders with respect, courtesy and consideration.

We have a range of mechanisms for identifying and managing community impacts. Our project teams undertake a needs analysis with our clients to identify the key priorities in relation to employment, training, SMEs and wellbeing in the local area. This analysis is used to develop bespoke Social Value Plans and Employment and Skills Plans. The outcomes delivered are reported using the Social Value Portal aligned to the National TOMs Framework. Our approach to community engagement is also reviewed by our Stakeholder Steering Committee.

We also take part in the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS), which assesses sites on criteria including being considerate of local neighbourhoods and the public.

Key Performance Indicators
% of completed projects delivering >25% SLEV (1) as a % of contract value
% of completed projects delivering >25% SLEV (1) as a % of contract value Chart
Considerate Constructors Scheme performance (2)
Considerate Constructors Scheme performance (2)                                                                               Chart

1 SLEV (Social and Local Economic Value) is a measure for the social contribution made to society, in particular to the local community, estimated using the National TOMs
(Themes, Outcomes, and Measures) Framework. The threshold of 25% was selected based on the SVP’s (Social Value Portal’s) 2021 Social Value Benchmarking Report. The SVP’s
analysis of 1,480 UK construction projects completed in the seven years to 2019 identified that the average SLEV as a percentage of project value was 24.67%. In its 2022
report, SVP reported that in 2021, the average SLEV% was 19.55%.

2 During 2022, CCS changed its scoring methodology, meaning that the highest achievable score is now 50, if full innovation points are awarded. As a result, we have changed the
target to be greater than 39.0, which is the minimum score to achieve the ‘Excellent’ performance level.

Performance

Social and Local Economic Value

Delivering a legacy of positive social value outcomes is a key part of our strategy. This is the right thing to do as a responsible business and is also an increasingly important priority for our clients. The Construction Playbook states that central Government tenders must include a minimum of 10% of their evaluation criteria dedicated to social value, and the priority themes and outcomes are set out in 2020’s Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 06/20 – Taking Account of Social Value in the Award of Central Government Contracts.

We measure the community impact we deliver on our projects using the Social Value Portal (SVP), a tool which is backed by the National TOMs (Themes, Outcomes and Measures) Framework, and helps organisations measure, report and enhance their social value. We were pleased to exceed our target of at least 60% of our projects delivering a Social and Local Economic Value (SLEV) of more than 25% of project value. We delivered a combined Social and Local Economic Value1 (SLEV) of £328m. Of the 35 projects assessed, 94% delivered a SLEV as percentage of contract value greater than our target of 25% against our ambition for 60% of projects to exceed this threshold. Of the £328m in total SLEV, £323m is derived from procuring from small or medium-sized enterprises or businesses within a 30 mile radius of our project sites.

Considerate Constructors Scheme

The Group achieved an average CCS score of 43.4  (FY22: 41.8), which continues to exceed the industry average of 40.0 

Charitable giving

During the year we donated time, materials and money to the value of £347,000 (2022: £268,000) to charitable and community causes.

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