‘Social Values’ Event Champions Community in Business

A recent social values event, hosted at Bradford College, invited public sector organisations, construction contractors, and consultants to consider how their work positively impacts the local community.

Organised by Procure Partnerships, the ‘Getting Bradford Connected’ forum focused on the ways organisations can work together to benefit society.

The term ‘social values’ refers to any positive impacts that projects and business practices have on people and communities, from increasing local job opportunities to using sustainable materials.

Social value targets can include prioritising local suppliers, hiring local firms, supporting community initiatives, making accessible or green spaces, encouraging social inclusion, and generating more local training such as apprenticeships and work placements – all of which boost the local economy.

Natalie Palframan, Key Account Manager at Procure Partnerships Framework, said: “Procure Partnerships Framework is in the unique position of working on projects with each public sector organisation within Bradford. With so much regeneration comes much opportunity for local economic benefit through social value initiatives. The session we facilitated in partnership with Bradford College enabled each public sector organisation to come together, along with their delivery partners, to share best practice, address common challenges and most crucially: unlock a more joined-up approach to social target setting and delivery.

“We look forward to continuing to support public sector organisations across Bradford to work together, generate more employment and training, and ensure we capture the reinvestment of the public sector pound spent, locally.”

The event at Bradford College’s state-of-the-art Garden Mills building brought together regional employers from the public and private sector. The networking opportunity promoted discussions on local social value priorities and looked at ways to improve consistency in measuring impact.

Attendees included representatives from NHS Teaching Trust, Bradford Council, Edge (construction consultancy), Arcadis (design & engineering consultancy), Hive Projects (project management), and Morgan Sindall (construction specialists), as well as Bradford College Projects, Work Experience, and Careers.

Kickstarted by a Procure Partnerships presentation, the schedule of activities included a talk on sharing best practices, a ‘Get Bradford Connected’ session, an open forum to discuss social value priorities and common ground across clients, an analysis of social value statistics and potential improvements to consistency and alignment, and a Q&A session – followed by lunch and networking.

Head of Projects at Bradford College, Pamela Sheldon, added: “As a college at the heart of our community, we are committed to uniting our partners and finding potential improvements to social value initiatives. The power of networking events like this is that they allow us to maximise social value outputs, whether creating career and work-placement opportunities or building rapport with a business to improve a project supply chain.

“Garden Mills is a perfect example of social value in action. Last year’s extensive £6.9m refurbishment programme delivered a significant social value return on investment of nearly £2million. Our contractor, Tilbury Douglas, ensured that 75% of orders were placed locally and contributed to the community through partnerships with Together Women charity and several local schools, such as Dixons Sixth Form Academy and Beckfoot Oakbank School.”

Other examples of Bradford College social value projects include student construction site visits, facilitated by Morgan Sindall. Two groups of Level 2 Joinery and Entry 3 Construction (Progression to Learning and Work) students are able to experience a working construction site through fortnightly visits to the new £17m Future Technologies Centre currently under construction on Thornton Road. Two T Level students will also shortly join the team at the site cabins, while employer masterclasses and one-week study programme placements are being aligned to fit with curriculum.

For more information about social value projects at Bradford College, contact Jelena Rizova (Projects Officer) on [email protected]. Alternatively, explore our dedicated Capital Bids & Projects page here.