Social value practices in housing associations' construction procurement in northwest England

Abowen-Dake, R; Higham, AP; Farrell, P; Watts, GN

Abstract

Housing associations (HAs) embed social value (SV) in construction procurement
processes and use social clauses as contractual Mechanisms to compel construction
supply chains (CSCs) to deliver expected requirements. Whereas extant literature
provides perspectives of CSCs on challenges in addressing SV through construction
procurement, there is limited evidence of procurers’ views on this significant matter.
Given their social mission and sizeable annual construction expenditure, HAs present
a unique opportunity to investigate the current nature, foci and challenges social value
construction procurement (SVCP) presents in practice. Based on a review of
procurement literature and policies, supported by eleven semi-structured interviews
with social value managers in HAs, this paper builds on previous studies to provide
context-specific insights into the socially-oriented, not-for profit housing sector use of
construction works procurement to deliver SV to local areas and the challenges
thereof. The findings reveal a series of interwoven and cultural challenges impeding
the full realisation of expected benefits in construction procurement. The lack of
policy direction and a clear definition of what constitutes SV present challenges to its
advocates. The interviews reveal a series of major organisational challenges that must
be overcome if social value is to be delivered effectively. These range from the need
to change organisational culture to operational issues resulting from dismissive
attitudes among built environment staff.

Citation

Abowen-Dake, R., Higham, A., Farrell, P., & Watts, G. Social value practices in housing associations' construction procurement in northwest England. Presented at ARCOM 36th Annual Conference :building a common good in construction, Online

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: ARCOM 36th Annual Conference :building a common good in construction
• Conference Location: Online
• End Date: Sep 8, 2020
• Acceptance Date: Jul 8, 2020
• Publication Date: Sep 7, 2020
• Deposit Date: Sep 7, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 7, 2020
• Publisher URL: http://www.arcom.ac.uk/conf-archive-working.php
• Related Public URLs: http://www.arcom.ac.uk/conf-intro.php
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference