Potential construction windfall for social enterprises

Melanie Mills, chief executive of Social Enterprise West Midlands. believes contractors and commissioners are missing out on a supply chain that can offer competitive pricing, excellent service and innovative solutions.

More than 150 delegates attended the 'Social Value in Construction' conference at University of Wolverhampton Science Park, which also saw a series of best practice masterclass sessions delivered and a 'meet the buyer exchange' featuring Kier Construction, Balfour Beatty, Mears Group and Speller Metcalfe.

Commissioning organisations, including social housing associations, local authorities and the University, were also in attendance and all clearly demonstrated an appetite to increase their contracting opportunities with the third sector.

"Construction in the West Midlands alone is worth an estimated £8.7bn so if we can leverage just one per cent of spend it could be worth up to £87m for social enterprises," explained Melanie.

"I believe it should just be the start for this industry; it is already an early adopter and this can further help as they look to embrace more ethically-based businesses by giving organisations outside of its mainstream supply base the chance to tender for work.

"We have a significant number of social enterprises in the Black Country offering trade skills that can help fill the recognised construction skills gap, but it doesn't need to end there. The offer could include wellbeing specialists, catering firms, landscaping or even providing the marketing collateral for major projects."

The Social Value in Construction event was the first of its type held in the UK and attracted keynote speakers including Alan Smith from Kier Group, Tom MacDonald from West Midlands Construction UTC and Professor Ian Oakes, deputy vice chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton

There were also a number of successful case study presentations including the Social Mobility Champions pilot between Mears Group and the Aspire Group, while

building firm Wates gave an example of embedding social enterprise in its supply chain through its work with Argonaut Enterprises.

All of this was geared around inspiring people to think differently about their purchasing choices, to explore suppliers that provide a product or commission a service that will deliver more than the face valve of the price you paid.

Hazel Blears, co-author of the Social Value Act, added her support: "We are challenging all construction firms and public organisations to go away and appoint at least one social enterprise contractor in the next six months. "If they take this simple measure it will cause a positive groundswell of opinion in the sector and hopefully go some way to adding £87m to the social enterprise economy."

The Public Services (Social Value) Act came into force on January 31, 2013. It requires people who commission public services to think about how they can also secure wider social, economic and environmental benefits.