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 overseen by the ESG 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.

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 2023 report, SVP reported that in 2023, the average SLEV% was 23.6%.

2 The maximum achievable score is 50, if full innovation points are awarded. Our target is 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. On the 24 projects (2023: 35 projects) over £5m completed during the year, we delivered £303m in Social and Local Economic Value (SLEV), with 79% of projects exceeding our benchmark of 25% of project value (2023: 94%).

Considerate Constructors Scheme

The Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) is an industrywide organisation that strives to improve the image of the construction industry and leave a positive legacy through implementation of best practice in the areas of community engagement, the environment and workforce wellbeing. CCS scores and benchmarks construction sites in terms of their positive impact within their locality. We maintained an above target high score of 42.9 (2023: 43.4) out of 50, which remains above the industry average of 40.6.

Open Doors

We took part in the Open Doors initiative again this year, with 251 students visiting 12 sites to gain insights into how we operate our sites, how we work alongside our subcontractors and supply chain, and what a career in construction can offer. We delivered presentations about possible career paths, the work we participate in, and gave attendees the opportunity to take part in site tours and see how a live site operates. This work forms part of our early careers commitment and is part of the broader engagement with the communities in which we operate.

Volunteering and charitable donations

One of the most tangible ways in which we create a positive legacy in the communities we work in is through our staff and supply chain volunteering their time and resources to support community projects and causes. During the year, our own staff recorded 3,056 hours of volunteering time. However, as it is difficult to capture all volunteering time, including that of our supply chain partners, we know the true amount is significantly higher. To embed a volunteering culture, volunteer days are incorporated into our graduate training programme, and all  employees are able to take up to two days of paid leave to undertake voluntary activities.

In addition to volunteering hours, we donated time, materials and money to the value of £365,000 (2023: £347,000) to charitable and community causes including Crash, the UK construction industry charity for the homeless, which we remain a patron of.