Social value in regeneration

What is social value?

Regeneration is about more than just building homes, it is about investing in building the communities around them too.

Social value is a term used to express the wider impacts regeneration can have – not just in terms of money, but also in relation to providing opportunities, spaces and places so that local people can meet, socialise, innovate, grow and learn in an environment that works for them.

All of these things add greater value to everything we do as a Council, meaning we can better support the longer-term wellbeing of our residents and communities.

Our social value outcomes focus on achieving the strategic vision to:

• harness the wider benefit of social value for local residents and businesses 
• ensure social value contributes to the long-term wellbeing and resilience of individuals, communities and society in general
• create a coordinated approach to ensure we maximise social benefits in line with the our commitments and priorities
• ensure we are achieving value for money in our activities

By working with key Council teams as well as external businesses like our joint venture partners, our social value strategy aims to help us to set clear objectives and expectations.

It ties together all our related strategies, to make sure we are working in a joined-up way to deliver the best opportunities and outcomes for Havering residents and businesses.

What does it mean for Havering?

It means that through all aspects of our regeneration projects, we are looking for ways to maximise opportunities for local people and businesses.

This can include:

• making sure small and medium local businesses have the opportunity to bid for contracts, and receive support in bidding for work too
• investing in local entrepreneurship – using local suppliers and services so that we boost the Havering economy and reduce the environmental impacts that occur when goods are shipped over long distances
• routinely requiring social value for all procurement contracts over £100k in value across the Council, and adding social value outcomes to smaller contracts wherever possible
• delivering education and skills support for career development – making sure that the jobs and training opportunities available in Havering reflect the needs and aspirations of our residents
• working with community groups and carrying out resident engagement with socially-isolated people to allow us to understand better how we can create opportunities, spaces and places now and in the future