Social value refers to the positive social, environmental, and economic impacts of a project beyond financial gains. In a panel discussion organised by HIP V. HYPE, experts questioned and defined the meaning of social value, while making it actionable.
The discussion, moderated by Associate at HIP V. HYPE Alexandra Faure, took place at the Better Building Exchange warehouse in Brunswick.
Faure sat down with Samantha Peart, Global Head of Sustainability, Hassell, Ingrid Langtry, Place & Experience at Assemble and Gavin Ashley, Head of Better Cities & Regions and a Director of Sustainability, HIP V. HYPE.
There is currently no standardised way to define or measure social value in the built environment in Australia; this lack of clarity makes it hard to assess a project’s impact, maximise positive outcomes and ensure accountability.
Together, the four experts, along with the audience, have explored practical ways to define, deliver and measure meaningful social value.
“I think social value and the concept of social colour, it's actually the bits in between, and it's really, really difficult to define for people that don't understand or aren't familiar with the term itself,” Langtry says.
“And I often think about it as like an intra concept and then an extra concept. So in the built environment, in this segment of housing, it's all of the elements that are often immeasurable that help direct users, enhance the experience, create social cohesion, connectivity, and elevate the experience in housing.”
For Ashley, it’s also about defining who is the recipient of this social value and the role of architects in adding this social value.
“The question of who you're doing it for, like, whether you're directly seeking a benefit for that person, or you can maximise an indirect benefit to those stakeholders, is really important,” he says.
“Where I'm going with this is that it's actually more important to define your role in the creation process. If you unpack what we do, we're a sustainability advisory business.
“Take this place for instance: We didn't have to make this space into the Better Building Exchange warehouse as a temporary use of this space, but we saw an opportunity to maximise the social value output of a temporary space, and so we took it.”
Peart concurs, saying that when we're talking about value for people, the first principle of social values involves the stakeholders.
“I locked myself and 10 other people in our practice in a room with Simon Faivel from Social Ventures Australia, who is an expert on the technical elements of social return on investment and has been doing social work for a very long time, so that we could understand what the experts do, to understand what our role in this might be,” she says.
“And now we're taking that and trying to apply it to our design process case studies and our projects, so that we can figure out how to integrate it into our role and then communicate it in a way that makes sense to the people that pay our bills, so we're delivering value for them, but also to the people who are impacted by our decisions.”
Image: L-R Alexandra Faure, Gavin Ashley, Ingrid Langtry, Samantha Peart/Clémence Carayol
