Our new Social Value Framework

We've unveiled significant commitments to supporting communities, people and skills, and the environment through our new Social Value Framework. A first in our 130-year history and reinforces our dedication to deliver meaningful and lasting benefits to communities across the south of England.

We've outlined a number of ambitions to achieve by 2030 - including a £500,000 fundraising drive for charities, creating 30,000 touchpoints to inspire new entrants to the sector, and cutting carbon emissions.

Social value coordinators in each of our five regional offices are supporting our newly appointed Social Value Manager, Paula Baleson, with the Framework. This year, Beard colleagues recognised all six of these champions as ‘employees of the month’ for their efforts in promoting social value.

The construction sector has enormous potential to make a positive impact on people’s lives and on the communities that we work in, beyond the boundaries of each site. Our Social Value Framework is designed to formalise our approach as a company to ensure benefits for our colleagues, customers and stakeholders, as well as for the business as a whole. It gives us a collective focus and I’m proud of the momentum that we’ve already built. Our efforts are the responsibility of the whole team, from bid stage through to post-completion. But my purpose, with the support of the social value team, is to drive forward initiatives and motivate us all to strengthen communities, attract and retain top talent, and improve construction skills. We’re also looking at ways to promote diversity and inclusion, minimise our environmental footprint, and elevate the public perception of the construction industry through our work.

Paula Baleson, Social Value Manager

Enabling pathways into the industry and boosting construction skills are a key priority area for Beard. It’s one that resonates with wider business objectives and industry needs, and where the social value team sees huge potential to elevate their impact.

As an example, Beard partnered with Swindon and Wiltshire Careers Hub to produce a ‘hard hats, high dreams’ video. Featuring interviews with real employees explaining their career journey, the video has been live-streamed to schools in the region. Teachers were able to share questions, with Beard colleagues answering in real-time. It has reached around 9,500 primary school aged children and will be accessible online through LearnLive until July 2025.

Beard has also rolled out a series of unique hoarding designs, putting faces to the variety of people and roles behind successful construction projects and aiming to inspire people to consider a career in construction.

Following the launch of the framework this month, benchmarks are being rolled out across Beard’s circa 90 construction sites. Around a quarter of sites have already adopted the framework within the past six months.

Creating a better future for the communities from which we draw resources has always been an integral part of how we work. This commitment is shared by our colleagues and supply chain, whose efforts enable us to bring meaningful and lasting value beyond our construction contracts. The introduction of our Social Value Framework allows us to measure our impact, which will give impetus to our continued investment in communities, local businesses and environmental sustainability. This remains at the forefront of our work, whilst also opening up exciting new career opportunities for our social value team, who have made commendable progress this year already.

Mark Beard, Chairman

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR SOCIAL VALUE COMMITMENTS

Social Value

21 October 2024

Our new Social Value Framework

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR SOCIAL VALUE COMMITMENTS