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Measuring what cannot be counted – social value in built heritage and townscape 

16 Jun 26

This is where retrofit and repurposing become particularly important. Reusing an existing building might not score neatly on a spreadsheet, but what it preserves is irreplaceable, the cultural memory of a building or place, generations of people who come into contact with it, and the character that comes only from age and use. These are qualities that cannot be designed into a new build.

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This week I am in Edinburgh for the BCO Annual Conference, where I have been asked to sit on a panel exploring the question: ‘Why is social value so confusing?’.

The concept of social value can come across as confusing because we are often trying to apply standard industry measuring tools to inherently fuzzy, emotive, human concerns, particularly in relation to our existing buildings and townscapes. It is a term everyone in the built environment seems to be using, and yet almost no two people use it to describe quite the same thing.

In the UK there is no single legal definition. The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 obliges public bodies to consider economic, social and environmental wellbeing when commissioning services, but it does not tell us what wellbeing is, what aspects of wellbeing count, or who decides what is relevant.

To a developer, social value might be thought of in terms of apprenticeships or a Section 75 obligation (Section 106 in England), whilst to an investor it might be thought of in terms of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) matrices. We can end up reporting the same work against the National TOMs, the RIBA Toolkit, BREEAM, the SDGs and Scotland’s National Performance Framework, but how does this actually change people’s lives for the better?

The value of our built heritage sits awkwardly within these measuring systems. Heritage assets are among the clearest carriers of social value we have. They sustain memory, identity and a sense of belonging in ways that a new building cannot, at least not in the short term!

The heritage value of our existing buildings is not an ‘add-on’, the value is embedded and comes with years of inhabitation, use, experience, cultural memory, and the patina of time. That being said, not all existing buildings carry the same cultural, historical and social value. That is why significance, Impact assessment and the listings process is so important. We need to understand our heritage to safeguard the best of the past for future generations.

This is where retrofit and repurposing become particularly important. Reusing an existing building might not score neatly on a spreadsheet, but what it preserves is irreplaceable, the cultural memory of a building or place, generations of people who come into contact with it, and the character that comes only from age and use. These are qualities that cannot be designed into a new build.

Practically speaking, retrofitting an old building tackles fuel poverty directly and repurposing a redundant church, school or warehouse into offices or housing keeps our towns alive, and signals to a community that its history is worth investing in. The value here is not monetary, but it is real!

Scotland’s innovative Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 treats social value as a right rather than a procurement bolt-on. Under Community Asset Transfer, the ‘best value’ test explicitly weighs non-financial benefits, social inclusion, health, regeneration, cultural continuity, against the highest financial offer.

So, is social value that confusing? Strip away the measuring tools and the acronyms, and social value is really about recognising the effects of our decisions on local people, local businesses, communities and the environment. It is about how we empower people, work towards equity, and create places that endure, places that contribute to wellbeing, identity and a more sustainable future.

If you have any projects that are close to buildings of historical or cultural value, or are set within sensitive townscape locations, we are here to help assess significance and manage change.

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Nick Walker Director,Built Heritage and Townscape

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