As cost pressures continue across the built environment, organisations are under increasing pressure to balance commercial outcomes with meaningful social impact. This session explores how social value is being defined, embedded and applied in practice, and why a more consistent, outcomes-focused approach is becoming essential across the sector.

We’ll examine how social value is framed and measured in different ways depending on intent, and why clarity of purpose is critical to making it useful in practice. Speakers will share how organisations are using targets, indicators and minimum requirements to better connect social value with decision-making across operations, projects and supply chains.

The session will also explore the practical mechanisms through which social value is delivered, including procurement, workforce development, placemaking and project integration, and how these levers can be used more deliberately to strengthen outcomes across the value chain.

What you will learn:

• How to distinguish between different purposes of social value measurement and apply the right approach for each context

• How social value indicators and targets can inform decision-making across project lifecycles

• Practical ways procurement, workforce development and placemaking can be used to deliver social value outcomes

• How to identify and integrate social value opportunities through project design and delivery processes

• How stronger alignment between intent, measurement and delivery can improve consistency and impact

Who this is for
This session is designed for sustainability, ESG and social impact professionals across the built environment, including design, development, construction and asset management, as well as procurement, planning and project delivery professionals responsible for embedding and reporting social outcomes.

Speakers:

• Min Seto, Executive Officer, Alliance Social Enterprises

• Professor Martin Loosemore, Distinguished Professor of Construction Management, UTS

• Edmund McCombs, Head of Social Impact and the Lendlease Foundation, Lendlease

• Richard Mullane, Managing Principal/Board Director, Hassell Studio

• Helen Bell, Senior Manager, Research, Green Building Council of Australia