Following the publication of a Policy Brief on ‘Delivering Better Social Value in Urban Regeneration’, I was awarded a Brunel Public Policy “Policy Development Fund” to organise a workshop with cross-sector professionals who all work on social value in urban regeneration. The fund also allowed me to work with CALSS PhD student, Ramish Chohan, as a research assistant on this project.
The Policy Brief drew on extensive fieldwork at the Colindale Communities Trust (on the Grahame Park Estate) and recommended improved integration and support for VCSEs who already contribute to the social value of an area, through a system of commissioning and procurement. In regeneration programmes, this would be a way to consolidate existing community-based assets to address poverty and inequality during the regeneration while ensuring longer-term sustainability of a thriving mixed housing community where residents’ needs are met across different tenures. In aiming to further develop policy influence, it was essential to open a dialogue on social value between members of the VCSE sector, policy-makers at the local, GLA and national level, private consultants and developers who all have to work on social value but at times with different approaches, expectations as well as ways to measure social value.
The emphasis of this workshop was on making the recommendations in the policy brief more achievable especially as regards to changes in the way the VCSE sector can be supported in both better delivering social value as well as showing evidence of the social value that they are delivering on the ground.
The workshop held on the 21st of February 2025 was a fantastic opportunity to bring together a diverse group of people who work on Social Value and Urban Regeneration- academics, policymakers, VCSE leaders, and industry professionals - around the same table to explore how social value can shape more inclusive and sustainable urban regeneration. The insightful discussions, shared experiences and evidences of good practice, as well as the collaborative energy in the room highlighted the importance of embedding social value at the heart of regeneration efforts but also some of the challenges and barriers that we must address collaboratively. The workshop started off with presentations from Paul Bragman (Community and Economic Regeneration Consultant), Bina Omare (CEO of the Colindale Communities Trust) and Lucille Watkins-Brazier (Head of Social Impact at Lendlease Europe).
The workshop discussions and activities centred around three questions:
- In what ways can we best meet the needs of residents in mixed housing development (In an urban regeneration context)?
- In what ways can we best support the VCSE sector, which has had to increasingly fill in the gaps where the public sector has had to withdraw with years of austerity measures and a longer-term erosion of the welfare state particularly impactful during the period of regeneration that brings its own challenges?
- Can we shape a social value model or models that truly tackle the structural issues of urban poverty and disparities amongst marginalised communities in urban regeneration sites?
And the main take ways that will feed into a more extended report were the importance:
- to recognise the spatial and temporal particularities of urban regeneration in the UK and its complex governance characterised by public-private partnerships. This has a direct impact on the way social value is negotiated and delivered. It will also be essential for me to highlight further the importance of considering the disruptive period of urban regeneration and thus the role of community organisations in supporting residents for whom the promises of regeneration can feel distant during this period which can be very lengthy and brings prolonged uncertainties, instabilities and neglect in areas of deprivation undergoing both physical and social changes.
- To strengthen evidence mapping in order to gain greater ‘evidence of need’ at the local level ensuring that social value provisions are aligning with local residents’ needs and priorities. This would mean recognising what is already available but not always accessible in terms of assets as well as by strengthening the capacity of VCSEs (through more sustained funding) who are already working on the ground and who hold valuable trust, knowledge and relationships especially with the hardest to reach population but are not able and should not have to fill in the gap left by insufficient funding and resources.
- To discuss further the limits of: a monetised measurement of social value; an application of social value through pre-established TOMs (Thematic Objectives for Measurement) which can mean a misalignment between developer’s commitments, local authority’s expectations and local community’s needs and priorities.
- To pursue a consulted effort of collaboration. There is a recognised need for more harmonisation - although not homogenisation - in the implementation of social value. For instance, some developers have greater commitments than others, investing greater and longer-term resources into social value and impact and adopting an approach of ‘responsible procurement practices’. Local Authorities also vary greatly in their implementation of social value. We need to continue to share good practice across different sectors while recognising local specificities and addressing the question of funding in urban regeneration: both the amount and the distribution.
All of these points lead to the importance of continuing policy development by connecting the different actors of a complex and often fluctuating governance in urban regeneration. An effective delivery of social value will rely on greater collaboration and engagement between all actors and stakeholders throughout the different stages of procurement through to delivery as well in planning the future of a community and its social infrastructure with long-term sustainability in mind. This should be done through a processual approach to reflect and respond to the changes in circumstances of a community throughout the duration of the regeneration process.