Costain unveils renewed approach to social value 

The new social value plan is aimed at maximising the positive impact Costain can make to people and communities, in addition to those that directly benefit from the projects that it delivers. 

Much of the impact to date has and will continue to be achieved through Costain’s partnerships with more than 40 charities, social enterprises and schools across the UK, including the Samaritans, Prince’s Trust and Business in the Community.

Catherine Warbrick, chief people and sustainability officer at Costain, said: “For more than 150 years Costain has been involved in delivering the UK’s most complex and critical infrastructure projects that create enormous value to communities and people. 

“We also have a responsibility to ensure that we are leaving a positive legacy and delivering social, economic and environmental benefits above and beyond what is required to complete a project.

“Our renewed approach to leaving a positive legacy is redefining how we engage with our communities, people, and stakeholders and scaling-up the social value we create. 

“We are measuring, monitoring and reporting our progress and outcomes, ensuring we make a positive impact on one million people by the end of the decade.”

As part of its social value plan, Costain is investing in a new software platform to measure social value impact, benchmarking it with third party data. 

The platform, to be rolled out later this year, will enable Costain’s people to document and log volunteering efforts and record the positive societal and environmental impacts achieved at every stage of the projects they are working on.

Claire Chapman, group social value manager at Costain, added: “Gathering real time data from our people who are volunteering, or from our community programmes, enables us to understand the real impact we are making to local communities and the environment. 

“With improved measurement accuracy, we will be able to benchmark our involvement by comparing the outcomes and performance of one project against similar schemes. 

“Not only will this help us identify where there may be further opportunities for us to increase social value in the future, but it will also help foster a culture of continuous improvement within the organisation.”