Measuring social value in construction

Within the UK construction industry Social Value (SV) is a public sector procurement criterion of such importance that how a contractor engages with SV could ultimately be the difference between procurement success and failure. Contactors are increasingly expected to measure and communicate their SV. Therefore, they must do so in a way that is understood by numerous clients simultaneously or must measure and communicate SV numerous different ways for each of the clients they work with. This is due to clients and contractors arguably having unique SV interpretations, and so reaching an agreed definition is often problematic. It can be said that a conflict exists at the heart of SV between the subjective nature of SV and the objective way SV is expected to be measured and communicated. Popular SV measurement tools attempt to circumvent these problems by reducing SV to monetary metrics. Although these arguably miss the wider, nuanced and more difficult to measure aspects of SV. The aim of this paper is to explore how the wider and nuanced aspects not captured in financial metrics can be measured and communicated in a way that is understood by multiple stakeholders simultaneously. After a review of existing SV measurement tools interviews and questionnaires are conducted with construction contractors, public sector clients and the recipients of SV practices. A SV measurement tool is then developed that addresses the subjective nature of SV in an attempt to reconcile the conflict at the heart of the heart of the concept. The research findings reveal the tool measures and communicates the subjective nature of SV in a way that is simultaneously understood by diverse stakeholders