Social Value in Construction

While the concept of social value is not new, recent interest in social value in construction has grown because of new social procurement legislation around the world and an increasing acceptance of the need to ensure construction projects provide social value, rather than simply economic value. Despite this growing recognition, literature and professional guidance on the subject is hard to find. This is the first book looking at social value in construction and it sets the agenda by asking and answering important questions like:

• How is the construction industry developing and supporting social enterprise and social value and for who?
• How and when is the industry recording and measuring social value and its effect?
• Which organisations are doing things well and what can we learn from their experiences?
• What can industry players do together to consolidate efforts and drive improvements?
• What are the key challenges in the field and what does the future look like?

Drawing on a variety of professional and academic experiences and disciplines, the authors present global perspectives and lay the foundations for creating social value in the construction industry. This timely book makes use of real-life case studies and examples of best practice to demonstrate how innovative companies can utilise contemporary research to create social value through their projects. It is time the construction industry viewed community involvement and corporate social responsibility as an opportunity rather than a risk, and this is the book that shows the industry how. This is essential reading for all professionals in the construction, engineering, architecture and built environment sector. In particular, project managers, clients, contract managers, quantity surveyors, CSR and HR personnel will gain a lot from reading this book.

Ani Raiden is Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, UK. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the Association of Researchers in Construction Management, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Martin Loosemore is Professor of Construction Management at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building and has published many books and articles in the areas of social enterprise and procurement, innovation, risk management, corporate social responsibility and corporate strategy.

Andrew King runs Soul Value, a global built environment think tank and consultancy. He draws on his background as an academic, senior-level industry practitioner, and his work in the field of honest and authentic communication to help clients innovatively maximise social value on their projects. www.soulvalue.co.uk

Chris Gorse is Professor of Construction and Project Management, the Director of the Leeds Sustainability Institute, and Head of the Centre for the Built Environment at Leeds Beckett University, UK.