Our Responsibilities
(Social Value)
Across our industry, social value refers to the responsibilities that companies must create through positive impacts on both the society and communities around the immediate requirements of the infrastructure that is being built or maintained.
The Public Service (Social Value) Act 2012 was introduced by the UK Government and calls for all public sector commissioning to factor in economic, social and environmental well-being in connection with public service contracts. In 2018, the UK government announced that they would go further and explicitly evaluate social value when awarding most major contracts.
We feel that it’s our responsibility to give back to the people and communities in which we work. McCann’s social value initiatives are based on four pillars that focus on environmental, education, skills and careers, and innovation.
Our Key Responsibilities
Promoting local
economic growth
McCann have key projects spanning the entire UK with regional offices/depots in over 10 locations. Where possible within our projects, we always try to utilise supply chain partners and subcontractors within the regions we are working in.
Our team promotes local economic growth with spending in employment, apprenticeships and regional depots.
To complement our local spend, we support local small businesses and entrepreneurs by introducing a local supplier development programme, which provides resources (such as workshops, mentoring and training) on tendering processes, project management and compliance requirements.
Inspiring through
education
Addressing the skills shortage is essential to meet both current and future demands of the construction industry and attracting the next generation is especially important to maintain the industry. Our teams promote construction careers to the future generations through education outreach, such as supporting local engineering colleges, attending skills and careers fairs and talks.
Recent careers days include:
- Midlands Collaborative Community (MCC) Highways Industry Careers Day at Newcastle College, Staffordshire
- Get into Construction event at West Nottinghamshire College
- FutureME at Nottingham College
- Suffolk Careers Day at Woodbridge School
Our team host weeklong work experience opportunities to students from local academies, giving them an introduction to the industry and insights into various sectors of the business, in both head office and on site. Our social value focus on skills and careers, doesn’t just extend to early careers. Our team have taken part in talks for the Unlocking Construction event at HMP Stocken, an employability day that aims to educate offenders due for parole and support them with finding future employment.
Strengthening
communities
Supporting the local communities, we serve is an important part of our social value initiatives. Through key partnerships and campaigns, we offer support to underprivileged children within educational settings. Our team enhance communities through Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) schemes for primary schools, which enhances the creativity, problem-solving skills, teamwork, and well-being of children through engaging outdoor play. Through these initiatives our team have installed trampolines, donated cable drums and palettes, upgraded sand pit areas and created play tunnels to schools across the UK and in our local communities, including Ash Lea Community School, St Margaret Clitheroe Catholic Primary School, St Anns Wells Academy.
Every week in the school year, we have a group of volunteers within our business who volunteer 30 minutes of their time to assist with reading support for children.
Chapter One is an online reading programme that pairs corporate volunteers with 5–8-year-old children. The programme is designed to provide one-to-one reading support for children from disadvantaged backgrounds during their time at primary school.
Room for One More is our national campaign to fund free places, every school day, at after school clubs for children who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend. This means that children would have access to a safe space after the school bell rings which includes a nourishing meal, creative, social, and physical activities, a caring adult who knows and supports them and time away from any potentially unsafe environments.
Championing
sustainability
Our social value initiatives that focus on the environment and sustainable practices include supporting local wildlife and nature conservation through partnerships with the Wildlife Trust, reusing materials for OPAL, volunteering our time for litter picking as part of our Midlands Collaborative Community Net Zero Working Group, gardening at Easington Ponds Nature Reserve and Keech Hospice, donating sheds and greenhouses for The DeMontfort School Eco and Garden club area and planting wildflowers at Humber Bridge Country Park, to name a few.
These all complement our work on our Carbon Reduction Plan 2025, which is our plan to capture and reduce the environmental impact that our operations have. Our approach includes engaging with suppliers and supply chain to obtain comprehensive environmental product declaration data, ensuring that we uphold our commitment to sustainability and transparency.
