Melanie Mills, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise West Midlands CIC, believes contractors and commissioners are missing out on a supply chain that can offer competitive pricing, excellent service and innovative solutions.

More than 150 delegates attended the Social Value in Construction conference at University of Wolverhampton Science Park, which also saw a series of best practice masterclass sessions delivered and a Meet the Buyer Exchange featuring Kier Construction, Balfour Beatty, Mears Group and Speller Metcalfe.

Commissioning organisations, including social housing associations, local authorities and the University, were also in attendance and all clearly demonstrated an appetite to increase their contracting opportunities with the third sector.

“Construction in the West Midlands alone is worth an estimated £8.7 billion so if we can leverage just 1% of spend it could be worth up to £87 million for social enterprises,” explained Melanie.

“I believe it should just be the start for this industry; it is already an early adopter and this can further help as they look to embrace more ethically based businesses by giving organisations outside of its mainstream supply base the chance to tender for work.”

She continued: “We have a significant number of social enterprises offering trade skills that can help fill the recognised construction skills gap, but it doesn’t need to end there. The offer could include wellbeing specialists, catering firms, landscaping or even providing the marketing collateral for major projects.

“There is a definite commitment from the wider construction sector to be involved in developing sustainable legacies in the communities in which they operate as part of their corporate social responsibility delivery.”

The Social Value in Construction event was the first of its type held in the UK and attracted a number of keynote speakers including Alan Smith (Kier Group), Tom MacDonald (West Midlands Construction UTC) and Professor Ian Oakes, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton

There were also a number of successful case study presentations on the Social Mobility Champions pilot (Mears Group and Aspire Group), social value through progressive procurement (PwC, Service Matters and Staffordshire County Council) and levering social value through the commissioning of projects by Amey.

Wates also gave an example of embedding social enterprise in their supply chain through its work with Argonaut Enterprises CIC.

All of this was geared around inspiring people to think differently about their purchasing choices, to explore suppliers that provide a product or commission a service that will deliver more than the face valve of the price you paid.

Hazel Blears, co-author of the Social Value Act, added her support: “We are challenging all construction firms and public organisations to go away and appoint at least one social enterprise contractor in the next six months.

“If they take this simple measure it will cause a positive groundswell of opinion in the sector and hopefully go some way to adding £87m to the social enterprise economy.”

Social Enterprise West Midlands is the leading business network and consultancy for social enterprise in the region.

The membership-led organisation offers access to expert consultancy, advice and guidance, as well as a series of event and workshops designed to educate, inform and promote the sector.