Over the past few years, we have completely changed our approach to reporting and delivering social value. From merely recording the number of hours volunteers delivered on reactive community initiatives, to planning and delivering targeted social value to create legacy and impact.

To support us in our journey, we have implemented Community Wants and Needs Assessments (CWaNA) around our offices to target local initiatives that deliver impact to our local communities. We have since extended these reports to our larger schemes and frameworks which have enabled us to gain true insights into local areas and to deliver target activity to those specific communities. 

To actively measure and certify our Social Value progress, we engaged with Social Value Quality Mark (SVQM) to support us along our journey. Our transition through the levels of the SVQM has provided structure to our delivery. The outputs from this have led us to create our own definition of what Social Value means to Carnell and have created pledges and Key Value Indicators around SVQM themes.

Internally, we have taken steps to invest in our people: improving our provision of employee assistance and training, demanding fairness, inclusion, and respect. Low-carbon innovations have in many cases delivered efficiencies to us and our clients, while re-thinking what we buy and from who has also provided value to local communities.