With a portfolio dominated by public-sector projects, my practice is increasingly engaged in procurement processes that require detailed and costed strategies for supporting and adding social value. The highest social value contribution measured in cold, hard cash gets the most points. Simple.

The problem is that, like so much of the procurement process, there is a risk these exercises end up being distilled down to a box-ticking exercise, despite being founded on good intentions.

At Bell Phillips we’ve been thinking about how we can have a more direct and fundamental impact on social value, not just through the nature of our work, but also through how we operate as a practice.

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