WET News

6 WET NEWS MARCH 2019 | wwtonline.co.uk Stantec wastewater network modeller Rob Greenwood helps with renovation work at Ashorne Cricket Club as part of Stantec in the Community Week IN FOCUS SOCIAL VALUE relationships in the supply chain, the more money will recirculate in that area. "Companies contribute to the local economy through local jobs – employing people who don't drive hundreds of miles to come to the work site," Reisner says. "It's the classic example of the worker going into the local pub on a Friday night, getting the wages from the work to stay in that local area." Kier, which was nominated for the Government's Promoting and Mainstreaming the Social Value Act Award in 2016, has made real efforts to ensure these ideas are at the forefront of its thinking with its Shaping Our Communities umbrella strategy, which incorporates a wide range of initiatives. "Our operational businesses do these things all the time," Rondel says. "Why do we do it? Because people care. They think it's the right thing to do." ADDING WORTH TO WATER PROJECTS With UK water companies able to operate from permanent regional bases, the advantages of giving added value to their communities are obvious. "In my experience, the water companies really understand and value the key role they play in the communities they serve, and I think that's reflected in their vision and values," Stantec operations director Ben Clark says. "Increasingly the word 'legacy' is coming in – what's the legacy of the work we do in those communities?" He highlights Ofwat's change in focus towards outcomes in AMP6 and how that has resulted in a wider focus on the impacts that projects can have on communities and the economy, but he doesn't believe the regulator is leading the change. "It might be a catalyst, but I don't think the focus is regulatory driven," Clark adds. "It's a much broader manifestation of the desire across companies and their supply chains to build reputation. I've worked with Northumbrian Water for a long period of time, for example, and this is an absolute priority for them." Northumbrian Water – which won Best Contribution to Corporate Responsibility at last year's Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Awards – has helped to embed the idea of social value throughout its supply chain through its Responsible Procurement Strategy. "For every pound we spend, we want to see the maximum value we can generate, whether that's giving up time working with local schools, working with social enterprises, students visiting construction sites or highlighting STEM in schools," Northumbrian Water procurement category manager John Murray says. Fellow procurement category manager Laura McMain says the strategy emerged a™er the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act in 2015. "It required us to have a bit more of an insight into our supply chain and to ensure we were doing everything we could in terms of eliminating modern slavery," she says. "We realised we weren't where we wanted to be and that it was a bigger piece of work – it wasn't just modern slavery, it was about bribery and working with local businesses." At the same time, the company had a sustainability policy that did not match its ambitions, so they developed the strategy with the aim of bringing everything together and ensuring the whole supply chain had a clear understanding of expectations. A vital part of the strategy was the AIME programme, covering awareness, identification, measurement and enhancement. "Under each part of that we had a set of objectives," McMain adds. "One of our objectives on enhancement was increasing social value on contracts – how we were going to do it, what our timescales were, what the outcomes were." That has helped focus minds on delivering social value across a range of schemes, from SuDS projects to educational and recruitment programmes. "Our capital partners are really good at this," Murray says. "They come to us with ideas, they want to drive this with us, they appoint champions. They look at the projects and how they can add value. They've really bought into it." MEASURING UP Such approaches yield such obvious benefits that, inevitably, there is now a trend for water companies to ask contractors to demonstrate their commitment to social value as part of the procurement process. The Esh-Stantec joint venture was formed in 2015 to deliver Northumbrian's water and wastewater infrastructure programme and, even at that stage, there was a desire to ensure the social aspects would SHAPING OUR COMMUNITIES A core aspect of Kier's Shaping Our Communities approach involves making use of its 80 regional offices around the UK to work with local SMEs and boost the local multiplier effect, but its efforts go far beyond that and include a range of specific initiatives. For example, S-Skills was created to help its highways business address recruitment issues in Surrey, where unemployment levels were particularly low. The scheme sought to identify people who found themselves out of work due to wider issues, such as multigenerational unemployment or issues with alcohol, and give them an opportunity. "A number of people have progressed through that scheme and are now working for Kier – the benefit that gives them as an individual is massive," the company's Gareth Rondel says. "One of the things we know from apprenticeships is that if you're a working person, you tend to be in slightly better health and less likely to be involved in crime. By putting someone into work, you're taking the strain away from other sections of the state. You're not paying unemployment benefits and you're slightly reducing the strain on the NHS and the police force." Kier is also working with charities including End Youth Homelessness, which aims to give young people homes, support networks and the skills they need to work, and OnSide, which provides 'youth zones' that offer people aged 8 to 19 years old (or 25 for those with a disability) somewhere to go to develop social and life skills. Its Working Roots programme, meanwhile, aims to reintegrate vulnerable young people back into the community, and Shaping Your World has seen 450 Kier ambassadors work with more than 20,000 school children to promote awareness of career opportunities in the sector. "For every pound we spend, we want the maximum value" John Murray, Northumbrian Water Engagement with youngsters as part of the Shaping Your World initiative

• Cover