Social value

Our work has a huge impact on people’s lives. We see every one of our projects as an opportunity to help individuals and local communities to thrive. We want to create inclusive, equitable and resilient communities: improving the quality of life for individuals and fostering social equity.

‘Making possible’ is about delivering a social legacy that we can all be proud of. Sustainable benefits and the wellbeing of communities are important social outcomes for BAM too. 

What does that mean in practice? For BAM, it involves taking an evidence-based view to each project, from start to finish, to make sure we deliver measurable benefits in terms of social mobility, social inclusion and the foundational economy.

We’re committed to delivering an ambitious 35% local social and economic value (SLEV) against BAM UK and Ireland revenue by the end of 2026.

Social sustainability is a key priority for BAM’s clients as well as for BAM as a responsible company.

It’s all about building a local legacy: because we see it as a huge opportunity for the communities where we work: not just to create jobs and build skills, but as a catalyst for a wider social impact.

To make this a reality, collaboration is vital. So we’re working closely with our customers, suppliers and with trusted partners to benefit local communities and deliver the three key elements of our social sustainability strategy, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Social mobility is all about opening up inclusive and accessible pathways in education, jobs and training, to develop not just skills but careers. We want to inspire the next generation into construction. In practical terms, this involves partnering with education and training providers to offer work experience and career mentoring. We’re also focused on helping people from disadvantaged groups – who face barriers to work – to access training, job and career opportunities.

Social inclusion focuses on creating a sustainable legacy and engaging with local communities to understand and help directly address their needs. Importantly, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of everything we do. That means joining forces with charities and community organisations to deliver tangible outcomes at a local level.

When it comes to the Foundational economy, we concentrate on helping to build wealth in the community by procuring locally wherever it’s practical, investing in social businesses (voluntary, community and social enterprises) and volunteering our time, skills and expertise to support education programmes or local projects. We are committed to spending locally: supporting small, medium and micro businesses, to build a resilient supply chain.

Planning for social value

To deliver social value with real impact, our specialist social sustainability team works proactively with the business at every stage in the project lifecycle, to understand our client’s aspirations even before we’ve submitted a tender. We recognise community needs, establish priorities and identify potential local partners including businesses that could be part of our supply chain.

Informed by an analysis of local data and identification of local need, we develop a social sustainability plan for every construction and infrastructure project. This includes input from the project team, and BAM commercial and procurement specialists, as well as our sustainability, HR, early careers, and health and safety teams. Of course, the client’s contribution to this plan is paramount. Local community partners bring great insight and we involve our local supply chain as early as we can, as their commitment and collaboration are essential to delivering the highest impact.

Then, throughout the project, we monitor and report on our commitments and key targets in the plan. 

Measuring and reporting our impact

It’s important to have objective ways to assess our outputs and outcomes, and to track our progress.  So we use the UK’s national themes, outcomes and measures (TOMs) framework, as well as the financial proxies associated with it, to calculate the social, local and economic value of each of our social sustainability activities.

We track and measure the impact of our social value work, so we can make well-informed decisions and continually improve. Our in-house reporting tool gathers information and ensures consistency. Using this robust data-driven approach, we create detailed monthly reports that help BAM Group to report in line with the European Corporate Sustainability Directive (CSRD).

More to discover

Find out more about sustainability and diversity and inclusion at BAM.

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