ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we discuss the principles and good practice in assessing and measuring social value and demonstrate how different ways of approaching this task can help in reporting on the achievement of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Assessing and measuring social value is important because it helps in making explicit and communicating social value-related activity and outcomes, which, in turn, can help those tendering for work. Importantly, it also helps produce clear and convincing evidence to substantiate the case for social value (Sacks, 2002: 3). The world of work is largely metrics-driven, and social value is a relatively new aspect of managing organisations in the built environment. In this context, we recognise that monetised ways of assessing and measuring social value attract significant attention at the moment. It is important to remain cognisant, however, that social value is about co-creating value and achieving social impact, and both the process and outcomes may be difficult to measure in numerical form (as we discuss in Chapter 2).
